How much do foreigners love nail art?

On TikTok, #nailtips hit 1.5 billion views in three months, and the whole category exceeds 50 billion views a year.

Source: Jiangsu Provincial Committee News Network

The nail economy has already risen high.

But the most unlikely "nail brand" winner isn't a press-on nail factory—it's a 13-year nail lamp factory called ONAIL.

How profitable is ONAIL?

According to Echotik, ONAIL launched on TikTok Shop this year, with total revenue of $2.55 million and 11,600 units sold.

Its products have reached over 110 countries and regions, covering more than 40 core overseas markets, and serve over 10 million nail techs and consumers.

A Pro Max Nail Drill sells for $200–$400, not cheap, and has made $785,700 (about RMB 5.25 million) on TikTok.

Its users aren't general beauty consumers, but professional nail technicians.

Such order value and audience achieving this volume on a short-video platform in half a year is rare in professional equipment.

Three reasons behind ONAIL's rise

Three things helped ONAIL stand firm.

First, it applied "AI" to professionals' pain points.

Nail techs use nail drills every day.

Loud noise and strong vibration can numb hands after long use—these are very real issues.

ONAIL's AI nail drill features AI silent control, adjusting power and speed 100 times per second.

It dynamically adjusts power and speed based on usage and stops automatically when needed.

For average consumers, "AI nail drill" may sound unfamiliar.

But for nail techs who work hours a day and use the device repeatedly, less noise and vibration mean real improvement.

Second, it turned cold specs into scenes consumers understand.

Professional equipment has a common problem:

There are many specs, but consumers may not understand them.

For example, "50,000 RPM" (up to 50,000 rotations per minute).

The number may look impressive on a product page, but users can't easily tell what it means.

Replace it with "quick removal," "gel comparison," or "filing process," and it's totally different.

One TikTok creator video with 20,000 likes didn't start with specs.

It cut from the interface to actual filing, showing the drill touching the nail up close, then the storage case and grip details.

The whole process feels natural and relaxing, because the filing sound makes it feel like an ASMR sleep video rather than an ad.

Users may just scroll onto a nail tutorial and gradually notice the device in the creator's hand.

The product link is right below.

This content saves users from parsing specs before judging the product.

Third, finding the right creators matters more than top influencers.

A $200–$300 professional nail drill won't sell through general beauty influencers—their followers aren't buying at this price. ONAIL bet on Nail Tech, Nail Artist, and nail education creators.

For example, U.S. creator @ciannas.creations positions herself as a Nail Tech. Her videos are either nail work or daily vlogs, very authentic.

In her nail videos, she files a client's nails while capturing dust being sucked away, with a caption: "Finally found a good dust collector."

Products from such creators feel naturally used, not merely recommended. That credibility can't be bought by a top influencer's ad read.

How can ordinary sellers learn? First, filter for the right creators.

The real challenge on TikTok is: how do you find these people?

Nail Techs, Nail Artists, and Nail Educators on TikTok don't appear neatly on one list.

If you manually scroll one by one, you can't find many truly matching creators in a day.

This is where Echotik's creator filtering feature fits.

Then open creator profiles and check engagement and followers to further select suitable partners.

Even professional creators with moderate follower counts can be discovered precisely.

For a professional tool brand like ONAIL, the first step isn't follower count.

It's confirming: is this the kind of creator your target users actually watch every day?

Followers can be bought, but whether a creator really does nails daily and understands the product is clear from their content.

Final thoughts

What's worth studying about ONAIL isn't just "how hot the nail category is."

A hot category is only the backdrop.

What deserves analysis is how it found its place in an already hot market.

AI solves real pain points for professionals; specs become visible results through short video; creators are chosen for fit, not size.

All three actions point to the same thing:

Find the people who truly need you, then tell them about your product.

Nail art is just one entry point.

Press-on nails target mass consumers, while professional tools, AI hardware and other niche demands can also scale.

So rather than chasing the next trend, sometimes it's more worthwhile to look back at your own product—which group is still being overlooked by the market?