Whoop Whoop – Miss Frankie is 1!
The two main questions I get asked – excluding ALL the repetitive questions my kids ask (generally related to food) like: “What are we having for dinner?”, “When will dinner be ready?”, “Can I have dessert?” Blah blah blah – are “What made you start a nail polish business?” and “Why did you call it Miss Frankie?” So, here it goes…
I high-five myself every day for starting Miss Frankie. As many of you would know I ran a nail salon for 11 years, but was well and truly over it. It no longer suited where I was at in my life – three kids, living further away from the city, service business with staff… the list goes on.
However, I felt I knew a lot about nails and what women wanted.
As a result of the Shellac/SNS market exploding, women began to come into my salon saying: “My nails have turned to shit! They are weak, dry and brittle, and I want to get this stuff off my nails and go natural.”
So, bubbling away in the back of my mind I knew there was an opportunity to create a quality product that was Australian made, vegan and cruelty free, and most importantly, free from all the nasties found in traditional nail polishes.
Ultimately, it was an easy decision for me to develop my own nail polish brand.
As an experienced manicurist, my initial range was heavily focused on colours that I knew would suit a variety of skin tones. I made sure I chose a thicker, flat brush as I knew most of my Miss Frankie customers would be painting their nails themselves – l wanted to make application easy.
I also felt it was imperative that I offered a full range of products, not just multiple shades, but treatments too. Applying a base and top coat is key to achieving a flawless manicure. Without the two, your base won’t be as smooth, you’ll miss out on a shiny finish and your manicure won’t last as long.
Like many of us, I too am a sucker for branding, so having beautiful packaging for my product was essential. I didn’t want just another bottle of polish sitting in a stand, I wanted people to buy a Miss Frankie polish as a gift for themselves or a friend.
I worked with an amazing graphic designer to achieve Miss Frankie’s branding, and am constantly receiving positive feedback about how amazing my branding is. I’m very glad I spent the time and the money nailing this (pardon the pun!).
Why the name Miss Frankie? Well, I was always going to call it Miss French, as my nail salon was called French Pink. Once we perfected the branding I actually thought Miss French was a bit ‘prissy’, so I changed it to Miss Frankie and instantly loved it! Plenty of people think one of my daughters is called Frankie, but no. However, I do have SO many people called Frankie that message me telling me they love having a product with their name on it :)
So, one year in and I am really happy and proud of my little business. Plenty of ups and a few downs, but lots of learning and SO much more to come.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I love sharing my story and my journey so far.
Kara xx