Aim Colours personalizes your nails with a mobile app

This article was originally published on Infobref.

Decorating your nails requires the use of several cosmetic products that can be harmful to your health and the environment. Montreal-based Technologies Aim Colours has designed “intelligent”, customizable false nails that eliminate these drawbacks.

The problem the company is tackling is that many products used to decorate nails are made from chemical solvents and generate non-recyclable microplastic waste. “The techniques and products used to decorate nails have evolved very little over the last 100 years,” explains Allie Huerta, co-founder and CEO of Technologies Aim Colours. Most products are harmful to both human health and the environment.”

She cites the following examples:
* removable nails, which are not recyclable and inevitably end up in the garbage can;
* the action of polishing a varnished nail, which sends microplastics into the environment; and
* the use of solvents, which contain products that are harmful to health.

Aim Colours’ solution is an adhesive nail with electronic components. The company calls this product ePolish. It is applied to the nail like a removable nail. It features a small screen that gives color to the nails and allows various patterns to be displayed. Color and patterns can be chosen or changed instantly using a mobile app.

As well as avoiding risks to human health and the environment, this electronic adhesive nail offers practical advantages, according to Allie Huerta. It’s much faster to use ePolish than to apply and decorate traditional false nails,” she maintains. In the long term, ePolish is less expensive than applying false nails, which can cost over $500 a year.

The company’s business model is based on 2 complementary components. First, the company will sell its false nails directly to its customers. Secondly, customers will pay a periodic fee to subscribe to the application associated with these nails. Via the app, customers will also be able to purchase certain virtual designs from independent designers with whom the company will form partnerships.

Technologies Aim Colours is one of 20 start-ups selected this year in Startup Montréal’s Bourse+ program.

Next steps: The company will begin pre-seed financing this fall, with the aim of raising $1.2 million. Allie Huerta hopes to close its first sales by the end of 2025. In the long term, the entrepreneur would like her company to diversify into the customization of fashion items such as shoes and hats.