Nails.INC

Nails.INC is a British nail-care brand founded in London in 1999 by Thea Green, a former fashion editor who set out to bring fast, affordable manicures and fashion-led nail products to the UK market [2]. Stylised as "Nails.INC" in its marketing while trading legally as "Nails Inc London," the company built its reputation on colour-led nail polish, treatments and a steady run of first-to-market product launches. Since October 2024 it has been owned by Pacific World Corporation, though it continues to operate as a standalone brand with new launches into 2025 [8].

The brand sits at the prestige end of the mass market and is sold internationally through retailers and department stores. It also gave rise to a sister cosmetics line, INC.redible, launched in 2017.

Before starting the company, Thea Green was a fashion editor at Tatler. On regular work trips to New York she noticed how quick and efficient the city's nail bars were, and that they lacked the fashionable, high-quality products she expected; returning to London, she set out to fill that gap. According to the company, the idea was that "everyone should have nice nails," in deliberate contrast to a UK nail scene she described as having been "aimed at ladies at lunch" [7]. Green has said she thinks of the result as "as much of a fashion brand as a beauty brand."

Nails.INC opened its first site on South Molton Street in London's West End in 1999, backed by £200,000 of investor funding. The brand's own materials and editorial profiles credit Thea Green as sole founder [1]; Wikipedia's entry additionally lists MT Carney as a co-founder [6].

Through the 2000s the company expanded from a single location into department-store concessions and salons, and in 2003 it set up a training academy for beauty therapists in London. A US expansion followed in 2014, the same year it released two limited-edition polishes with Victoria Beckham.

Product launches became the brand's signature. In 2015 it introduced what it called the world's first spray-on nail polish, sold in a paint-can format [6]. Later collaborations leaned into novelty and pop culture, including chocolate-scented polishes with the ice-cream brand Magnum and a Percy Pig collection with Marks & Spencer in 2022, and a limited-edition set with the fragrance label Jo Loves in 2025. In 2017 the company launched a separate cosmetics brand, INC.redible.

In October 2024, Nails.INC was acquired by Pacific World Corporation [8]. The brand has continued to operate under its own name following the acquisition, with new products and seasonal content appearing through 2025.

Nails.INC positions itself around innovation and trend-setting rather than trend-following. "We aim to dictate trends rather than follow them," the company has said, framing its work as introducing new nail technology to solve everyday problems for customers [8]. Commercially it targets a broad audience looking for fast, affordable and fashionable manicures, a market it contrasts with the older, more exclusive salon clientele.

On ethics, the brand states that it is "100% cruelty-free" and does not test on animals, and describes itself as a "100% vegetarian brand working towards being 100% vegan" [3]. These are self-declared claims; the harvested sources record no formal third-party certification such as Leaping Bunny.

The range centres on nail polish, including gel-effect, chrome and press-on formats, alongside base and top coats, treatments, removers and tools. The brand's hero technology is Superfood NailKale, a treatment formula built around kale as an antioxidant ingredient and associated in press coverage with model Alexa Chung [7]. Other proprietary lines include gelLED, a gel-effect system paired with an LED lamp, and It's Topless, launched in 2025 and described by the company as its first 4-in-1 polish, combining base coat, treatment, colour and top coat in a single step [8].

In 2013 Nails.INC received the Queen's Award for Enterprise for International Trade [9]. Founder Thea Green was appointed MBE in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to the beauty industry [9]. The brand's own listings also cite a 2020 Beauty Award and a 2025 Allure Best of Beauty award. Green and the company have been profiled by outlets including Refinery29, the Design Museum and the trade publication TheIndustry.beauty.

Nails.INC remains active. It was acquired by Pacific World Corporation in October 2024 and has continued trading as a standalone brand, with its most recent visible activity including the March 2025 launch of It's Topless and a December 2025 collaboration with Jo Loves. The brand reports operating across markets including the UK, US, Australia and Japan, and exporting to more than 30 countries.