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Any self-respecting nail art fanatic will have heard of Wah. It started life as a fanzine in 2006, before opening a supercool Dalston salon – and has since ventured into retail, with its own covetable range of nail products and a genius collab with Asos. But the Wah empire wasn’t stopping there. They’ve just opened a new flagship salon on Peter Street in Soho and it’ll knock your run-of-the-mill nail salon out of the park (or flick it away with a perfectly painted talon). Here’s why.
1. It’s run by the formidable Sharmadean Reid, one of the beauty industry’s most innovative and hardworking talents. She got an MBE for her work last year, at the tender age of 31. Boss.
2. The salon resides in a ridiculously cool space with futuristic ticker tape displaying messages, concrete walls and a perfectly pastel seating area downstairs.
3. It has virtual-reality headsets that let you design and visualise your mani on your own hands, plus calculate how much it’ll cost. Glittering smileys? Neon tartan? The sky (and your bank balance) is the limit.
4. It has its own bar, for when you suddenly, urgently need a mid-manicure cocktail (hey, we’ve all been there).
5. On the ground floor there’s an awesome range of products by independent beauty brands – including lipsticks by MDMflow and holographic make-up brushes by Spectrum Collections – the majority founded by women. Girl power!
Photo: Roger Harris
Wah Soho is at 4 Peter St. Book now at www.wah-nails.com.
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