A Paris-based nail brand is taking on Sephora U.S.
Manucurist, which began in 1996 as a French nail salon business but was taken over and turned into a product line in 2016 by the original founder’s daughter, Gaëlle Lebrat Personnaz, is launching its clean nail offerings online at Sephora U.S. in October.
The foray comes after years of rapid direct-to-consumer growth in the region, with Manucurist’s DTC U.S. revenue going from $100,000 in 2021, to $12 million in 2024, to a projected $30 million this year.
That’s without including revenue from its growing brick-and-mortar footprint, where the brand now sells at Goop, Anthropologie and Printemps New York, and is set to enter all 185 Bluemercury doors by the holiday season.
Manucurist joins a relatively minimal nail assortment at Sephora U.S., where present offerings include Gucci and Dior polishes, also only available online, and Glamnetic press-ons. With interest in at-home nail care growing post-pandemic, though, the brand bets it can make its mark at the retailer.
“The nail category has been dusty for some time, and people are coming to Manucurist because we have something new to say,” said Lebrat Personnaz, adding that her goal is to “democratize the art of the manicure. We’re not only selling color — we’re showing you how to take care of your hands, how to prepare your nails — we are living the ‘skinification’ trend.”
The brand is known for its vegan, nontoxic polishes including its hero Green Flash gel polish, which retails for $19 a bottle while the LED lamp meant to cure the polish is an additional $49. The Green Flash polishes are up to 84 percent plant-based, as are Manucurist’s $14 Green polishes, which don’t require LED curing.
Nail care products in Manucurist’s Active range.
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Manucurist’s Active range, which includes serums, polishes and balms meant to strengthen and exfoliate, features up to 99 percent plant-based formulas. The line’s hero is the Active Glow Raspberry treatment, which retails for $19.
“Our core customer is the 30- to 40-year-old woman, because our products are a bit more expensive, but we cater to a wide range of ages,” said Lebrat Personnaz. The brand sells in 30 markets, with retailers including Galeries Lafayette in France; Sephora across Europe; Selfridges in the U.K., and Mecca Beauty in Australia.
Manucurist’s products are made in France and sold in roughly 2,000 French pharmacy doors, both of which are key selling points for Manucurist’s growing U.S. consumer base, Lebrat Personnaz said.
“It’s quite an important signal for the U.S. customer, because they understand that the French pharmacy is not an easy channel to get into; it’s kind of a reassurance in that way,” she said. “Manucurist is both clean and rooted in pro nail culture, which is not a common combination.”
Manucurist founder, Gaëlle Lebrat Personnaz.
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Direct-to-consumer sales account for 70 percent of Manucurist’s global business, and with the Sephora expansion, the founder anticipates the U.S. will become the brand’s biggest market this year.
“The U.S. is a huge market, and while we are still a small company compared to our competitors, we are growing very fast — we felt that Sephora would be our best companion for the region,” Lebrat Personnaz said.
Indeed, a July measurement by Spate of the top beauty brands by growth in TikTok buzz depicted Manucurist at number four, with views of organic content mentioning the brand growing 3,768 percent year-over-year.
More than 50 percent of first-time U.S. customers reorder within 30 days, added the founder.
On whether the brand will enter Sephora U.S. stores, “we are waiting and seeing, but I’m sure we will,” said Lebrat Personnaz, adding that online-first was how Manucurist entered Sephora in Europe, too.