I was lucky enough to be invited by
Tammi and Thabiso from Establishd to the media launch of A.Fox Studio in
Fairmount, Johannesburg this past Saturday and while I obviously did some
research on the place beforehand, I was just not prepared for what I
encountered.
Before I get into the nuts and bolts
of my visit, I just want to start by saying that Alina Kuzmenko, the owner of
A.Fox Studio, is one of the loveliest humans I’ve ever encountered and has such
an inspirational story about the founding of her studio. Alina came to South Africa from the Ukraine
around 4 years ago, after Russia invaded the country. She packed up her family and settled here,
where she started working at other salons as a nail technician.
Eventually, Alina found a way to open
her own salon – with all the bells, whistles and standards of an Eastern European
salon in sunny SA. She told me how the
landlords of the space that she had wanted for her salon (which she is
currently in) had denied her proposal on the basis that the centre already had
a nail salon. Alina described how she
had barged in on a board meeting with her proposal and samples of her work,
declaring loudly that she is an artist
not a nail technician and she knew her business would be a success.
And here we are.
First of all, can we talk about how
luxurious this nail salon is? The navy
and royal blues with metallic accents spoke to my actual soul and I was
instantly in awe. I absolutely love that
Alina thought of the little capes with the ribbons because she works with
machines to buff nails and she didn’t want to ruin outfits.
One wall is adorned with trophies and
others with nail art on another level to anything I’ve seen in Johannesburg
(Muffins, the self-proclaimed expert :’D).
On the counter, in a glass case like a
Fabreges egg, are tiny acrylic sculptures that Alina created for
competitions. Alina has 96 first place
prizes for nail design competitions around the world. It was probably at this stage that I realised
that I was fairly out of my depth as a beauty blogger.
As the first person to arrive, Alina
gave me a personal tour of the salon.
She explained to me that her studio is a cut above the rest for two
reasons: firstly, her nail design is unique in South Africa and secondly, she
invested thousands into a sterilisation room for all her instruments. Coming from the Kiev, Ukraine, around 3 years
ago, Alina found that South African salons did not have the same sterile
standards as those of Eastern Europe. So
when she opened her salon, she made it a priority.
I should probably interject at this point
with a shameful admission: I took photos of everything except the sterilisation
room and then my battery died. So I can’t
show you, but I can tell you. All
instruments are sterilised three times before they are individually sealed for
each customer. This way, your nail
artist opens sterile instruments in front of you each time you go. Nail files are disposed of or given to the
customer. Alina will only keep your file
if you are a regular customer and she will only use it on you. As someone with obsessive compulsive
behaviours, this part of the salon spoke to me on a truly spiritual level.
Other services provided by the salon
included nail art design and other courses, as well as permanent makeup and lash extensions.
Alina did my nails personally during
my visit. I told her I like blush pink,
navy blue, glamourous things and evil eyes/religious iconography. I told Alina to show me what she could
do. Well, ladies (and gentlemen, erm,
Mark), Alina went for the kill and gave me the nails of my dreams.
First of all, Alina uses a machine to
buff your nails and painlessly lift your cuticles. I personally cringe when I see that little
wooden stick coming out at a nail salon.
This was completely pain free.
Secondly, she doesn’t use tips and
sculpts the acrylic by hand, like you
see in Instagram videos. Every singly
nail on my hand was individually sculpted by Alina and her little brush.
She copied the evil eye design from a
photo I found on Pinterest freehand as well.
If you die for those nail art videos
on Instagram and Facebook, A.Fox Studio is definitely where you need to be
getting your nails done. I’ll be real
about the price: they are not what you could call a budget salon, but at the
end of the day, Alina and her ladies are not your run-of-the-mill nail
technicians. They are well-trained
artists who cater to a very specific type of client. If you’re looking for your typical gel-mani,
I can recommend other places. If you’re
looking for a stand-out, one-of-a-kind, totally unique and supremely luxurious
mani, look no further than A.Fox Studio.
You can contact the studio on 0606040300 and find them in the Genesis Centre in Fairmount, just off George Avenue.
Also, be sure to follow Alina on Facebook (@A.foxnails, @AlinaFoxacademy and @AlinaFoxArt) and Instagram (@a.fox_studio and @alina_foxsa).
Wishing you love and light until next
time ♡♡♡