Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet
COSTA MESA, Calif. ― When you walk into Polished Perfect by Twila True, it’s hard not to notice how different it is from the mom-and-pop salons you are used to seeing on the corner of every nearby strip mall. There’s a mini cafe in one corner and chic decorations. The meticulously lined nail and beauty products by CEO True give off an air of opulence and luxury not often found in typical nail salons.
A guest receives a manicure at Polished Perfect by Twila True in Costa Mesa. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
For Cherri Phan, 32, who joined the Polished Perfect team several months ago, this foray into the luxury nail studio concept is indicative of the changing needs of the next generation of men and women looking to pamper themselves.
“Our parents worked so hard to provide us with the option of choices,” Phan said. “I feel like with the nail industry, most nail stylists, who are around my age, they choose to do nails because they love it, not because they have to. The industry has been around for a while now and it’s evolved. Every industry evolves and this is the evolution of the nail industry.”
Molded from parents who came to America with nothing, Cherri started doing nails on the side when she was 17 to earn extra money. Her mom, Xi Phan, 53, worked as a manicurist and owned her own nail salon in the past but didn’t want Cherri to follow in her footsteps.
“Growing up,” Phan said, “I worked with my parents at their nail salons and they told me, ‘Don’t do nails. Go and get a college education.’ So I did. I got my degree in business finance. But on the side, I always did nails on the weekends even through college. That’s when I found the Nail Lounge and started working there when I was 20.”
Cherri Phan, right, and her mother, Xi Phan, left, pose together at Polished Perfect.(Photo: Nhat Anh/Nguoi Viet)
Phan worked at The Nail Lounge in Costa Mesa for four years as she continued with her studies at California State University-Long Beach and also after graduation, even when she found work in the finance industry. When the owners decided to sell, the wheels started turning, and Phan began discussing plans with her business partner to buy the salon. The only problem? She didn’t have any money.
That’s when she turned to her mom for help.
“I said, ‘Mom, can you help me buy the salon?’,” Phan recalled. “And she said, ‘What?’, and then she said, ‘OK.’ And so she sold all her diamonds for me.”
Polished Perfect features an opulent setting for customers to get their manicures and pedicures done. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
Those diamonds were in the safe, a nest egg intended as gifts for Cherri and her younger brother when the time came for them to get married. It also amounted to roughly $24,000 in seed money that allowed Phan to take over the shop and go from manicurist to small-business owner at age 24.
“I didn’t really want Cherri to go into the nail business, but she really liked it and wanted to try,” Xi said. “I thought, ‘OK, it’s worth a try. If it works, great, and if it doesn’t, that’s OK too.’ It would be like starting over and just coming to America all over again and having nothing.”
That was six years ago, and Phan did so well as part owner of the Nail Lounge that she was able to open her second location in Costa Mesa two years ago. But that is just the beginning of Phan’s journey in taking the nail business to the next level.
The pedicure station at Polished Perfect. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
After meeting with Twila True, an Orange County investor and entrepreneur of Polished Perfect, Phan sold her Nail Lounge locations to True and joined her team to bring the luxury, health-first nail studio to the county.
“We’re all about cleanliness,” Phan said. “We go above and beyond state regulations. Whatever cannot be sanitized or sterilized, we give to our guests. Our implements, we soak them in a disinfectant solution for 20 minutes, and then we package them and we put it in our autoclave which heats up to 300 degrees. We want to make sure nothing is left on the tools that shouldn’t be there.”
In addition to the opulently styled studio, beverages are offered to guests and a bakery counter also makes up a portion of the studio. At True’s second location, hairstylists and other beauty experts will also be available to guests all under one roof.
Polished Perfect uses products exclusively made for the the studio by owner Twila True, an Orange County entrepreneur and philanthropist. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
Phan’s Nail Lounge locations will be remodeled to fit the Polished Perfect concept, but that will take place later in the coming year. In the meantime, Phan is focusing on the current locations in Costa Mesa at 801 Baker St. and 103 E. 17th St.
Polished Perfect does not offer acrylic nails. That’s to create a healthier environment for the stylists that doesn’t include the chemicals and fumes used in acrylic manicures. Stylists also use an E-file instead of cutting cuticles, a new method that is not widely available. It includes the use of the Valentino system, which absorbs nail dust and odor through the filter, leaving the air odor and chemical free.
A Polished Perfect Nail stylist works on a nail art design. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
“This is just so much nicer,” said customer Bobbie Montecino, 52, who said she had not been to a nail salon in three years. “It’s different. When you come in, it’s a different atmosphere. Even with the manicurists, they’re different. They’re really talkative and friendly and they seem to just really want to please you.”
Although the nail studio charges a bit more for their services than the ones you find in other parts of Orange County, Phan and her customers say it is worth it. For example, a natural manicure at Polished Perfect is listed at $29, while the average place in Westminster could cost under $15.
“The artists here are phenomenal, and the service is superb,” said customer Socorro Mendoza, 31, a resident of Newport Beach. “You don’t find a lot of salons like this in Orange County, so now I won’t have to drive to L.A. for this type of service.”
Bobbie Montecino, 52, smiles as she has a manicure for the first time in three years. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
“I feel like we all deserve to pamper ourselves and spoil ourselves and that’s where Polished Perfect comes in,” Phan said. “There’s definitely nail salons out there that’s not like Polished Perfect, but I feel like they serve a need. And here, one of our top priorities is to take care of our nail stylists, and providing our full-time manicurists with health insurance is a great thing. So we’re just different from other nail salons.
“I really want people who go into the nail industry to be really proud of it and not feel like you are just a manicurist,” Phan said. “You are more than that. You change people’s lives because clients come to you and sometimes they feel like they have no one to talk to but at least they have you. I really feel like it’s not a nail business. It’s a people business.”
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