Watermelons, toothless pirates or adorable fairy bread sprinkles – you can now have any or all of these on your fingertips. I Scream Nails has an extensive nail art menu, and owner Celina Cecchi tells Time Out that since opening her first salon in Melbourne, the concept has really taken off. She now employs more than 25 nail artists across her two salons in Collingwood and Newtown.
“A lot of people visiting our Sydney store have only been once or twice,” says Cecchi, who ditched a corporate career to bring amusing hand-painted designs to our digits. “The Melbourne clientele want to create their own designs – they bring in dresses and patterns that they want to match to their nails.”
Cecchi’s top tip for newbies is to browse the menu before you visit. As a specialist nail art salon, they do a quick buff and tidy up before painting popular designs such as unicorns and mermaids, but if you’re looking for a mani-pedi or Shellac, then you’re in the wrong place.
“We get crazy requests all the time,” says the 38-year-old with laugh. “The X-rated ones are the funniest; the other day somebody wanted a penis with a little face. We don’t put those pictures on Instagram!”
A dry polish with up to five different designs costs $55, and it’ll take around an hour per appointment. Cecchi revamps the menu every six months or so, but the salons can work with custom designs and embellishments, too, such as a diamante encrusted feature nail. I Scream Nails also produces and uses its own nail polish, which is available to buy online and at the two salons for $14.95 a pot.
“We launched those last year and three of those colours sold out within a month,” says Cecchi. The polish is vegan, non-toxic and made in Australia – and since 2014 she has released another ten colours. “It took us a year to develop it, because we wanted something that we could stand behind,” adds Cecchi.
Aside from individual appointments, I Scream Nails offers private bookings for parties and often collaborates with major partners to run pop-up salons at locations such as Westfield and events including the Netball World Cup.
“We’re getting really busy with private bookings,” says Cecchi. “We do one nail with nail art and rest plain so people can keep drinking and have a good time. It works really well in different environments, like Christmas parties, bat mitzvahs, baby showers… and it’s a great alternative for a hens’ party.”