He sold nail polish on push carts. Now he’s building the ultimate nail art app for women.

Daryl Chew, co-founder and CEO of Nail Deck.

Daryl Chew wears many hats, but selling nail polish? Many people are surprised by this.

Yet here we are, sitting in an office in Singapore, with a surplus of beauty products idling by the window. We talk about various shades of red and how odorless nail polishes are, like, the next big thing.

The conversation then shifts to how his team is trying to create the go-to app for nail art enthusiasts.

To explain the chain of events that led to this day, let’s start with his then-girlfriend (now wife), who six years ago wanted to buy color-changing nail polish from the States, but was deterred by the high shipping tax.

That sparked an idea: what if he could buy these products in bulk – the tax would spread across all of them – and sell them in Singapore?

So he bought 500 bottles, gave some to his girlfriend, and went door-to-door selling the rest to salons.

Soon he was talking to suppliers everywhere, and he made steady income selling products on Zalora, a major ecommerce site which had just entered Southeast Asia in 2012.

“I thought they were just a blogshop,” says Daryl, who visited Zalora’s office and was surprised to find 50 people crammed into workstations.

Because Zalora was new, they were willing to work with anyone, including this baby-faced unknown, who quipped he got good deals because people took pity and didn’t see him as a threat.

Daryl ran push carts too, and he shuttled between schools to man them. “Everybody thinks I’m helping my girlfriend run this business,” says Daryl.

Who is Luxola again?

He wasn’t just hawking his wares in schools and fairs. Daryl ran an ecommerce store and attempted to drive his offline customers to his online shop. They didn’t bite, preferring to test his products in person.

Eventually, he ran out of ideas and shut down the business.

“I love the idea of creating something that can last beyond your lifetime.

A nail polish printer