Getting Girly At the Hackathon With Indulge: The Nail Snob App

Ladies (or so inclined gentlemen). Picture yourself at the nail salon, searching for the precise color you want applied to your fingers or toes. If you’re anything like me, you make that selection based on snappy nail polish names. After you’ve dried and you’re on your way, you text a picture to your girlfriends and inevitably the question comes: “What is the name of that color?”

…Blank. “I can’t remember!”

Indulge, introduced at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon aims to solve a very real problem, automating what was before a legitimate concern among the impeccably manicured set. Here’s how it works.

When I arrive at the nail salon, I check in through Indulge. After choosing my color, I then scan the bar code on the bottle and Indulge records that data for posterity. Once I’ve dried, the app will send me a push notification prompting me to take a picture of my beautifully polished nails, which I can then send to my various social networks if I want, all through Indulge.

The trio behind the app, Velina Ivanova, Hristo Hristov, and Paul Llanos, built version one of Indulge at the Disrupt Hackathon, but it took Ivanova a full year to convince Hristov that the app solves an need. Only recently did he relent and join the hackers overnight at the Manhattan Center.

Ivanova (like me) had been manually performing this common manicure dance on a regular basis. Judging by my personal reaction backstage listening to the Indulge pitch, I think it will be well received by nail enthusiasts.

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