Actress, dancer, and singer Teyana Taylor unveiled her new ’90s-inpired nail salon with OPI, Junie Bee Nails. The salon’s namesake comes from her 2-year-old daughter with Cleveland Cavaliers Iman Shumpert.
Teyana Taylor flashes her red acrylic nails.
The interior embodies classic Harlem with neon sneakers dangling from a power line to a graffiti train as the waiting room and even ’90s pop culture cartoons adorning the nail stations. Taylor says she wanted to create a space that brought a barbershop vibe into nail salons. “We didn’t have a lot of nice nail salons – growing up you had a couple fold out chairs,” Taylor laughs. “Nails are important to me and my community.” She hopes her first nail salon will also create opportunities for Harlem
It’s not just the salon décor that’s unique about Junie Bee Nails, but also the techniques and nail art offerings. As Taylor describes bringing back the airbrush technique, she herself is sporting long coffin-shaped nails with a sponged-on red acrylic.
Next to Taylor is her partner, Coca Michelle (@cocamichelle), a London-born nail technician with fluorescent orange braids. The pair met while Taylor was filming America’s Best Dance Crew and hit it off immediately. Taylor knew Michelle was the person to help her shake up the idea of what a traditional nail salon looked like. “I’ve never seen someone like her in the nail salon. She had big baggy clothes and tattoos – seeing her was like a diamond in the rough. […] I asked her to go on tour with me. She was really able to express herself,” says Taylor. Just as she hand-picked her business partner, she did the same for her staff. Michelle and Taylor recruited nail technicians through Instagram. “I’m a visual person and I want to see it. We went through every single DM and hand chose every person.”
OPI named Taylor its newest brand ambassador. Taylor had Junie Bee Nails in the works before the professional nail company and her even began their partnership. “OPI came to see it [Junie Bee Nails] when it was still a bakery. They could have given up on us, but they believed in us.”
The salon will be part of an exclusive partnership with OPI products offering a full range of hand and foot care, as well as the brand’s newest lacquers and products.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Teyana in what’s sure to be an incredible year ahead for her, starting with the opening of Junie Bee,” says OPI co-founder and brand ambassador Suzi Weiss-Fischmann. “We can’t wait to see Teyana’s salon vision come to life. It will be such a fun and unique space.
Junie Bee Nails officially opened on Feb. 20.
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