Manucurist

Manucurist is a French nail-care brand based in Paris, known for plant-based and bio-sourced nail polish and for Green Flash, an LED-cured gel polish the company positions as a gentler alternative to conventional semi-permanent gels. The brand is independently owned and female-led, with founder Gaëlle Lebrat-Personnaz holding a majority stake [8]. It sells through pharmacies, department stores and concept stores across more than 30 countries [1].

The brand's origin is dated differently depending on the source. Manucurist traces itself to 1996, when Lebrat-Personnaz's mother, Fanny, opened a nail salon in Paris under the name Manucurist [1]. Editorial accounts emphasise a later turning point: Lebrat-Personnaz took over the family business and relaunched it as a consumer brand in 2016, with the flagship Green Flash polish arriving in 2019 [6].

According to the company, everything began in 1996 with Fanny's first Paris salon, where her daughter grew up around clients and nail professionals. Lebrat-Personnaz went on to work in visual merchandising and marketing for fashion houses including Louis Vuitton, Prada and Saint Laurent before returning to the family business [6].

She has described her motivation as wanting to keep the pleasure of the salon ritual while removing its drawbacks — particularly the smell of solvents and the harshness of gel removal, which she says affected clients and professionals working with the fumes all day. That concern shaped the brand's eventual move into plant-based formulas.

The brand identifies three turning points. The first is 1996, the year Fanny opened the original Paris salon. The second is 2016, when Lebrat-Personnaz took over and recast Manucurist as a consumer-facing brand [6]. The third is 2019, the launch of Green Flash, described by the company as the first plant-based, non-damaging LED gel polish [1]. The brand says developing it took more than two years of research, framed around the goal of a clean polish that could last roughly twelve days yet be removed at home in about a minute without acetone.

Manucurist is described as independently owned and led by women, with Lebrat-Personnaz holding a 51% majority stake [8]. No parent company or acquisition history is documented in available sources.

Manucurist positions itself as an eco-responsible alternative to damaging semi-permanent gels, offering salon-quality results that the company frames as plant-based, vegan and made in France. Its stated mission is "a formula designed for you and the planet," and it has used the tagline "Nail polish the new way." In a founder interview, Lebrat-Personnaz summarised the brand's differentiator as performance, health and desirability together [6].

The retailer Cult Beauty describes Manucurist as a nail-care brand "bringing French sophistication to your fingertips" that aims for salon-worthy results without difficulty or damage.

The brand's best-known product is Green Flash, an LED-cured gel polish the company markets for wear of up to twelve days, removal in about a minute without acetone or filing, and a HEMA-free, bio-sourced formula. Manucurist also makes Green, a conventional nail polish it states is up to 84% bio-sourced, and the Active and Active Glow ranges, which it calls all-in-one care polishes that combine colour with nail-care ingredients.

Several ingredients are drawn from plant biomass: ethyl acetate from sugar cane, acetyl tributyl citrate from corn, butyl acetate from cassava and nitrocellulose from cotton. The company highlights a proprietary strengthening complex it calls KeraHCE+, which it describes as a patented, vitamin-enriched formula, alongside a top coat marketed as Xtrem Flash. Its formulas exclude a list of nine substances the brand blacklists, among them formaldehyde, toluene, camphor, parabens and phthalates.

On sustainability, Manucurist says its products are produced in France through short supply chains, working with an ESAT — a French facility that employs people with disabilities — under a corporate social responsibility policy. The brand reports that its care range reaches up to 99% bio-sourced ingredients and that it removed the compound TPO from its formulas in 2019, ahead of regulatory bans. Its ranges are certified vegan by The Vegan Society, and parts of the line carry Cosmos Organic certification [3].

Green Flash and the brand's later products have featured in beauty-press awards. The company lists a Marie Claire Excellence Award in 2020 and a Cosmopolitan UK award in 2021 for Green Flash, followed in 2023 by Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire honours and a Beauty Shortlist "Best Nail Brand" win. In 2024, the Active Glow Raspberry shade was recognised by Cosmopolitan, ELLE and the Pure Beauty Global Awards [4]. These awards are listed by the brand on its own site.

Manucurist is active. It continues to sell internationally — by the company's account, in more than 40 countries [6] — and maintains active social channels. Its most recent documented activity is the run of 2024 product awards for the Active Glow range.