How to capitalise on festival beauty needs

Sharon Sandhu, category manager for nails at Salon Services UK & Ireland, serves up advice and ideas for capitalising on beauty needs for festivals this summer…

Summer is just around the corner, which means festival season is about to begin – and whether people are planning on going to a festival in their local park, the countryside or abroad, creating a standout look is an essential part of the festival vibe. This is an extremely lucrative time of year for beauty therapist and nail techs, but how can you make the most of it?

1.Create bespoke and dramatic designs

Festival-savvy clients will have been glued to social media looking for inspiration to fuel their festival looks, so be sure to have plenty of ideas for designs up your sleeve by browsing social media and Scratch. Invest in on-trend products for your most fashion-forward customers.

If you have an iPad or tablet, download your favourite nail art designs and prepare a slideshow to give your customers something to be inspired by. If you don’t have a tablet, you can get some nail tips pre-designed on a craft board to showcase the designs you and your team are comfortable creating – I’m also fan of good old fashioned mood boards, which are always impressive!

Some of the hottest nail trends we’ve seen this year that are sure to continue throughout the summer are bold animal patterns (think zebra or cow print), rainbow colours, playful star designs and bright neon nails.

2. Offer add-on services to get the whole look

Whatever nail design your clients are after, you can inspire them and help them achieve the whole festival look – from head to fingers to toes – with add-on services.

From brows and waxing to tanning and hair styling, there’s a long list of treatments that you can offer to complement a festival-goer’s pre-party mani/pedi and help boost your bottom line. You can even offer extra post-festival treatments, to clean up chipped nails and provide a relaxing massage after their return.

If such add-ons are new to your service menu, chat with your customers to find out what they might be interested in. Not only will this help to inform your offering, it will also demonstrate that you value your customers’ opinion, helping to boost loyalty. You can then train up your staff with the necessary skills to fill any gaps. For instance, the Tantruth Ultimate Spray Tanning Course (£60 ex VAT) is perfect for beginners wishing to add tanning to their existing services.

3. Glam up your retail game

As customers get excited for the summer season and styles, salon owners and managers should think about how to capitalise on that festival feeling with retail.

There are so many great options – from colourful eyeliners (such as the Lash FX Eyeliner Pen in Marine Blue, £7.95 ex VAT), stunning lashes (like the Naturalash Extra Volume Lashes £2.99 ex VAT) to brilliant body gems and glitter (try BeautyBLVD Stardust Glitter £7.99 ex VAT, for instance).

As you select retail products, consider how you’ll advise clients to use them to create different on-trend looks and styles. After all, the more expert advice and inspiration you can provide, the better your retail products will sell!

All products mentioned are available via www.salon-services.com