The #1 question a nail tech asks me: "How do I know if my price is fair?" The answer is a formula, not a feeling. Here it is, broken down so you can apply it to any service — full set, fill, pedicure, art, or a custom design.
The 4-Part Formula
- Base service — the structural work (Gel-X, hard gel, acrylic, structure gel). This is your floor.
- Length & shape — longer and more sculpted costs more in both time and materials.
- Art & effects — chrome, cat-eye, French, hand-painted. This is where the "wow" is priced per nail, not per hand.
- Bling & add-ons — charms, gems, piercings. Priced by count, because placement is pure labor.
Why "feeling it out" fails
If you don't have a formula, the client does. They'll open their phone, find a tech who charges $60 for a full set, and say "Why are you $150?" A defensible formula — that you can actually show a client, line by line — is what separates a business from a hobby.
Try it live
Lacqr's Lens does exactly this: snap a photo of the set you want, and the AI returns an itemized, explainable estimate with the same 4-part structure. You (or the client) can adjust any line — and if a line feels off, you now have the vocabulary to correct it. That's the whole point of a pricing tool: not a black box, but a shared language between you and the client.
The rule of thumb: if you can't explain a single line of your quote, you're either not pricing correctly or not pricing clearly. Fix the one that fails. That is the entire game.