How much does nail training cost, and what should be included

Cost is the question everyone has and nobody likes to ask, so here it is plainly.

At The Studio, a one-day gel polish course is £720, builder gel is £495, and e-file is £195. Each one runs on a Saturday: gel polish 10am to 5pm, builder gel 11am to 4pm, e-file 10am to 3pm. If you booked all three separately, including a starter kit, you would be looking at roughly £1,660 and up, spread across three different days and three different rooms.

Doing all three as the Ultimate Nail Tech Qualification is £1,300 for the three days. The saving is real, but the bigger difference is that the three days are sequenced properly and taught by the same two people, so nobody has to guess what you already know.

That fee includes your kit. It should. If a course price looks unusually low, check what you are expected to buy on top, because a cheap day that leaves you buying a full kit on the morning is not a cheap day.

It also includes the ratio: eight students maximum, two educators. This is the line item that is hardest to price and easiest to get wrong. On a course with twenty students and one tutor, you will get a certificate and very little correction. The reason our days cost what they cost is that the room is small enough for someone to watch your hand.

Payment is flexible, and that is deliberate. You can pay £1,300 in full, spread it over three with Klarna, use Clearpay, or put down a £500 deposit and pay the balance in six monthly instalments. We would rather you started on a payment plan that suits you than waited a year for a lump sum.

Before you pay anyone for nail training, ask four questions. How many students are in the room? How many tutors are there? Do you keep the kit? And is the course accredited in a way that gets you insured?

If a course cannot answer those four clearly, that is your answer.

If you want to talk through the cost before you commit to a date, book a chat with us and we will tell you honestly what we think you need.