Jessica

Jessica is a United States nail-care brand founded by Jessica Vartoughian, built around the treatment of the natural nail rather than artificial enhancements. Its origins trace to Beverly Hills, California, where Vartoughian opened the Jessica Nail Clinic in 1969 — described by the company as the first nails-only salon [1]. The brand's products are sold in more than 60 countries and aimed largely at the professional salon market [5].

Since December 2025 the brand has been owned by Gerrard International, a UK professional-beauty company that had distributed Jessica in Britain for decades before acquiring it [6]. The change followed the death of the founder in April 2025, and the brand now operates as part of Gerrard's portfolio rather than as an independent company.

Jessica Vartoughian was, by Scratch Magazine's account, born and raised in Romania and moved to Los Angeles as a teenager without speaking English. She enrolled in beauty school, where an interest in nail anatomy and the differing needs of individual nail types took shape. In 1969 she opened the Jessica Nail Clinic in Beverly Hills, which the brand records as the first nails-only salon and the point from which it dates its founding.

The retail product line came later. The two sources differ on how the brand's age is reported: the company itself uses 1969, the year of the salon, as its founding year [1], while BeautyMatter places the launch of the Jessica brand in 1978, built on the principle of treating nails "from the foundation up" [6]. This article follows the brand's own dating of 1969 as the origin, with 1978 as the launch of the product line.

The early years established Vartoughian as a public figure in nail care. In 1971 the New York Times named her the "First Lady of Nails," a title she retained throughout her career [1]. The salon drew a high-profile clientele that, per Scratch Magazine, included Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross and Ronald Reagan; when longtime client Nancy Reagan moved into the White House, Vartoughian travelled regularly to Washington to do her nails [5].

Product and system development continued over the following decades. The company introduced its Natural Nail Cultivation System in 1978, a method for matching treatments to specific nail conditions, and entered the United Kingdom in 1992 through a partnership with Gerrard International. Later launches included the professional GELeration soak-off gel system in 2010, the Phēnom polish system in 2014, and BioPure, a bio-sourced nail polish, in 2022.

Jessica is owned by Gerrard International, a UK-based professional-beauty supplier and training academy founded in 1992 by manicurist Susan Gerrard and her late husband Ian Gerrard [6]. The two companies had a long commercial relationship: Gerrard distributed Jessica in the United Kingdom — the brand's most successful market since 1992 [1] — and, according to BeautyMatter, managed the UK business for 35 years before acquiring the brand outright in December 2025 [6].

The acquisition placed Jessica alongside other names in Gerrard's portfolio, including Mii Cosmetics, BeautyLab London, Hair Gain, Spongelle and Happy Paul. Vartoughian's daughter, Nadia Shamsi, who had led Jessica Cosmetics International, framed the sale as a question of trust, saying there was "only ever one family and one company I trusted to carry her legacy" [6]. The transfer also shifted corporate ownership of a US-origin brand to a UK parent, while the brand's heritage remains American.

The brand presents itself as an authority on cultivating natural nails, arguing that nails need specialised care in the same way as hair and skin. Central to this is a prescriptive approach: rather than a single universal product, Jessica classifies nails into conditions — dry, brittle, damaged, peeling and others — and matches a treatment to each. The company summarises its outlook in a quote attributed to the founder: "Beautiful nails are a must to give a woman complete grace and charm... well-groomed nails give confidence and power." Products are positioned for the professional market, with parts of the range, such as the GELeration gel system, supplied only to salons.

Jessica's range centres on nail colour, base and top coats, and treatment products, supported by a set of proprietary systems. Among them are the Natural Nail Cultivation System, the trademarked Natural Nail Transplant procedure, and GELeration. The brand's products are described as enriched with botanicals, antioxidants, vitamins and proteins, and its treatment regimens are designed to be used over a course of several weeks rather than continuously.

Signature offerings span several eras of the brand: Custom Colour, now numbering over 200 shades; the GELeration soak-off gel introduced in 2010; the Phēnom polish system from 2014, marketed for chip resistance and up to ten days of wear; and the more recent BioPure line, which the company describes as bio-sourced.

Beyond the 1971 New York Times title, press coverage of the brand has centred on its founder. Scratch Magazine, a UK nail-industry publication, ran an obituary in May 2025 marking Vartoughian's death and reviewing her career and the founding of the first nails-only salon. In the same year, BeautyMatter reported Gerrard International's acquisition of the brand.

The brand is active but under new ownership. Jessica Vartoughian died in April 2025 [5], and in December 2025 Gerrard International acquired the Jessica Cosmetics brand, which it continues to operate within its portfolio [6]. The brand's website remains in service, and its products are still distributed internationally. The brand's status is best described as acquired, reflecting this ownership transition rather than any halt in trading.