About seven years ago, Sharmadean Reid transformed the face (or rather nails) of the beauty world by opening her nail salon WAH in Dalston, later followed by a temporary second space in Topshop and her own line of nail products at Boots, as well as a couple of nail art books and her own fashion line – though that's another story. All of a sudden, every cool girl in London had a personalised manicure, from ombre nails to tiger prints and intricate, textured designs. Sharmadean and her team single-handedly started a nail revolution. Bye-bye boring French tips, hello eye-popping patterns cropping up all over Instagram.
Now Sharmadean is back, paving the way in the beauty world yet again with an innovative salon which opened in Soho this week. The new, tech-enabled space introduces to the market a Virtual Reality Nail Designer, allowing customers to digitally create and trial nail designs as well as share them on Instagram, before having them fully realised by the WAH team.
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The 900-square-foot Peter Street salon, situated next to the cult Supreme store, is set across two levels. The ground floor is an interactive discovery zone, with nail printing and product testing, while the basement houses the treatment area with six manicure desks, three pedicure chairs and a cocktail bar. Alongside the full product offer from signature label WAH London, an edit of product from the WAH team's most coveted independent beauty labels is also available in-store.
Sharmadean Reid MBE explains: “I chose to open my WAH London flagship in Soho as this area has created so many memories for my life in London. From studying at Central Saint Martins to my first job on Shaftesbury Avenue, to me Soho IS London. I love the existing locals as well as the next generation of entrepreneurs, and I’m extremely excited to be part of the community of Soho. I am looking forward to bringing this new innovative concept store to the area where trends historically have started.”