If you’re at all like me, getting your nails done is the opposite of relaxing. In fact, it’s downright awful!
From the fanciest of organic nail spas (huh?) to the most chop shop of $20 mani/pedis and everything in between, it all always amounts to the same damn things: creepy feelings near your toes, never symmetrical shaping and trapped for 24 hours afterwards because that’s how long it takes for polish to dry enough to put on workout gear.
Now, this doesn’t mean I don’t loooooove nails – I do, all nails. Two of my favorite places to obsess on Insta are @jennynails, who does Rihanna’s nails (gah!), as well as some other minnnnnnor filler work for some random magazines and such, and @karlasoriginailkolors, who does some amazing work in Woodland Hills.
But looking at nails and getting my own nails done are two very different things.
At this exact moment even, I’m already fretting about January, the only month where I force myself to get my nails done twice (versus once) because of all the damn tradeshows – and it’s already agonizing me to no end! At times like these, I find myself wishing for… an at-home manicure machine?
Enter Coral.
Coral is a company that wants to, as they say, “simplify the personal care space through smart automation.” In my view though, in spite of its gendered nature (who says women are the only people getting their nails done?), their more effective tag line is definitely: “Changing the way women do their nails spend their time.”
Per TechCrunch, Coral’s first step towards accomplishing these goals is developing an at-home, fully automated machine for painting your nails. “Stick a finger in, press down, wait a few seconds and you’ve got a fully painted and dried nail,” TechCrunch summarized. “More than once in our conversations, the [Coral] team referred to the idea as a ‘Keurig coffee machine, but for nails.’”
Apparently Coral already has a functioning “Nail Keurig,” but it’s definitely still in the prototype stage.
According to TechCrunch, Coral is keeping the Nail Keurig details under wraps, declining to explain the specifics behind how their machine actually works. They did, however, share some fun facts about the Nail Keurig with TechCrunch. They said:
— It paints one finger at a time
— It takes about ten minutes to go from bare nails to all fingers painted and dried (holy fuck)
— To speed up drying time while ensuring a durable paint job, you must use Coral’s proprietary nail polish
— The Coral polish will come in pods (like a Keurig!)
— The pods will be able to be bought individually or via subscription
And the final key secret: cost! How much will a Nail Keurig set you back?
Coral co-founder Ramya Venkateswaran told TechCrunch that she expects it to be a “premium device” — which I imagine means “expensive AF” — but they haven’t *nailed down* (ha!) the exact amount yet.
Flush with $4.3 million in funding to date, Coral is on its way though. The company plans on turning their prototype into a consumer-ready device and will be running a small beta program soon. You can sign up for that right here. Do it, and tell us how it goes. In my view, if a Nail Keurig makes Janbruary even a smidge less stressful, it’s worth it.
Here’s a video from Coral — enjoy!
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Erika is a sex positive people watcher (and writer). Email her at erika@ynotcam.com.
