About the studio
Fresh Set opened in spring 2025 with one rule: build sets that photograph well and wear properly. We don’t do cheap. We don’t do magical. We do clean prep, careful cuticle work, real artistry, and a studio that feels like the friend who happens to do really good nails.
Christine spent seven years moving between studios in Toronto and Hong Kong, learning Japanese gel and Russian dry-prep technique from people who taught it the old way. By 2024 she'd filled enough notebooks to know what the GTA was missing: a small studio that took prep seriously, charged honestly for art, and didn't sell you a luxury experience that was actually just an assembly line in a fancy chair. Fresh Set opened in April 2025 with two stations. We're six now.
Every set is a small architecture project. Cuticles refined, surface clean, base layer thin, apex placed where the stress lives, finish chosen to flatter your hand and not just your phone. Nail art is layered on top of that — never instead of it. If your prep is off, the prettiest art chips at day five. Our techs spend more time on prep than on colour. That's why most clients leave on the long end of the wear window.
Watermelon-pink wall, butter-yellow stations, glossy white tables, a real ring-light corner for the post-set photo. We play music loud enough to talk through, and quiet enough to think over. Our reception desk has a cold-brew tap and a tea station. The pedicure room is a real room, with a door, with a quiet light setting on request. We are not a fake spa. We are a studio that treats you like a person who has somewhere to be after.
We don’t do soak-in foot baths without disposable liners. We don’t do drilled-down extension removal. We don’t do silent pedicures where you can’t talk to your tech. We don’t do "we’ll figure out pricing at the till." We don’t do Tier 3 art at Tier 1 prices, and we don’t do the reverse either.
We hire for hands first and personality close behind. Every Fresh Set tech does a half-day prep certification with Christine before they touch a paying client. We don't take percentages off our techs' tips, and we pay above the GTA median because the work is harder than it looks. Most of our team has been here since opening — read about them on the team page.
By the numbers
200+
sets per month
6
techs full-time
4.9
avg. star rating
85%
monthly rebook rate
The team
Christine Ng
@christinenails.fs
Founder · Lead Tech · Tier 3 Custom
Opened Fresh Set in 2025 after seven years at studios in Toronto and Hong Kong. Specializes in hand-illustrated and 3D sculpted custom work. Trained in Japanese gel + Russian dry e-file prep.
Mei Tanaka
@mei.fs
Senior Tech · Extensions
Five years specializing in Gel-X and BIAB. Builds the cleanest apex in the room. Fan of long coffin and short almond — she will steer you to the shape that lasts longest on your nail bed.
Yuki Park
@yuki.fs
Senior Tech · Acrylic + Bold Lengths
Started in acrylic at age 16. The person to book if you want a really long, really durable, really pointed set that doesn’t snap on day three.
Andrea Costa
@andrea.fs
Tech · Chrome + French
Hand-paints French tips faster than anyone we’ve ever worked with. Ran a chrome pop-up at TIFF in 2024 and brought the technique here. Fluent in English, Portuguese, and conversational Korean.
