ST. THOMAS – Nicole Turnbull is not only celebrating 25 years in business with her nail salon, but also the grand opening of her full-service Paradise Nails and Beauty Bar, which officially opens today. The salon, located at Four Winds Plaza, has expanded to include hair and makeup services, massages, body treatments and more.
High school graduate Charlotte Amalie Turnbull had painted her friends’ nails throughout high school. Although she studied psychology at the University of the Virgin Islands, her interest in nails continued to grow. She landed a job as a nail technician at Wavelengths Hair Designs in Tillett Gardens in 1996 and within two years she had enough stable clientele to open her own nail studio, Nailed in Paradise. At the same time, she continued her studies online and graduated from UVI in 1999.
For 15 years, Turnbull had his nail salon upstairs in the courtyard of Four Winds Plaza. Mainly because of some of her elderly clients who had difficulty with the steps, she went down to the courtyard on the ground floor when a small space became available in 2012. She stayed there until the Hurricanes Irma and Maria passed in 2017 and severely damaged the entire resort.
“It was my little house until the storms of 2017, and it was completely damaged, so I was moved,” she said. “It was a very unfortunate situation for me. I cried so much, but had to find another place to work, ”she said.
One day, while she was cleaning up and meeting the SBA, the owner of the salon next door told her that she was closing her salon and that the space next to her would be available, knowing that it was Turnbull’s dream of expanding and opening his own one day. full service salon.
It was an important decision, and she did not take it lightly.
“The thing is, I didn’t know if I was ready for this, I was still so disheveled from this traumatic experience. I approached the landlord and they said to me ‘Of course you’ve been our tenant for so many years, it’s only natural.’ It was a comfortable fit. It was obviously an opportunity and I was like “if I give it up, I don’t know when something like this will happen again, and since Four Winds has been my home for so long, why not?” I can’t say financially it was the right time, but I still showed faith and went, ”said Turnbull.
Construction began in October 2018 and lasted until recently. In the meantime, a small space at the front of the yard was available and Turnbull was using it as a temporary location to keep her business afloat and she could be nearby to oversee the construction of the salon. Now complete, Turnbull hosted a big opening party for their regular customers on Sunday and officially opens the Paradise Nails and Beauty Bar today as they approach their 25th year in the nail business.
“I see it as my year of signing, my jubilee year because it’s 25 years, a step in itself, and now I’m moving to another level. So, it’s a little scary, but I can’t wait for the challenge. This is something new. It’s fresh. I have a lot of ideas, a lot of plans for here, so I can’t wait to be there, ”she said.
In addition to nails and pedicures, the Paradise Nails and Beauty Bar now has hairdressing stations and offers massages and other body treatments such as body wraps and scrubs. Turnbull already has two masseuses, a makeup artist and a hairdresser on board to start. She takes her time to find the right people and build a strong business. Gradually, she will add additional services such as teeth whitening, waxing, tinting eyebrows, eyelashes, body contouring, skin camouflage for stretch marks, Yoni steam and others. medical spa type services.
Turnbull says his approach with the salon is more holistic, building on his background in psychology, in an effort to redefine beauty. She strives to create an environment that welcomes all ethnicities, “a retreat that is designed to, in addition to nurturing their beauty, be a place where they can find their mental and physical balance and then, inevitably, the love of self. I have the impression that if you feel good on the inside, that’s where it should go, it will breathe on the outside. You walk through these doors and it is Zen, and you can feel that feeling of relaxation. Besides the physical, it can also be a place of mental distress for you, to empower you in more ways than one.
Paradise Nails and Beauty Bar is open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. Call 340-775-7300 for more information, or visit them on Facebook and Instagram. A website will be online soon.
