New Green Bay Nail Studio Blends Custom Art With Sustainable Practices

Tucked into a storefront along Green Bay's Baird Street corridor, Bay Lacquer Nail Bar doesn't look like a typical nail salon from the outside. There's no wall of neon polish bottles visible through the window, no scent of acetone drifting onto the sidewalk. Owner Dana Marchetti designed it that way on purpose.

"I wanted people to walk by and not immediately smell a nail salon," Marchetti said. "That was actually one of our first design goals, believe it or not."

Marchetti, a Green Bay native who trained in nail art in Chicago before returning home to open her own studio, built Bay Lacquer around two commitments: elevated, hand-painted nail art as a genuine art form, and a ventilation and product system designed to cut down on the chemical waste and odor that have long defined the industry.

Custom Art as the Core Offering

Unlike many salons that treat nail art as an upcharge on a standard manicure, Bay Lacquer positions custom design as its primary service. Clients book appointments specifically around a concept, whether that's a Green Bay Packers game-day look ahead of a Lambeau Field tailgate or a hand-painted floral design inspired by the gardens at Green Bay Botanical Garden.

"We spend the first ten minutes of almost every appointment just talking through references," Marchetti said. "Some people bring in photos, some people describe a color story, some people just want us to freehand something based on their outfit that week."

The studio employs three nail technicians, each with a different specialty ranging from airbrushed gradients to fine-line freehand illustration. Marchetti said turnaround for the most detailed designs can run close to two hours, considerably longer than a standard manicure, but clients have been willing to book further in advance to secure appointments with a specific technician.

Rethinking Salon Waste

The sustainability piece came from a more personal place. Marchetti said years of working in traditional salons left her with skin sensitivities she attributes to constant exposure to acetone and uncontained dust from filing. At Bay Lacquer, each station is equipped with a downdraft ventilation table that pulls dust and fumes away from both the technician and client, a system more commonly found in nail schools than in commercial salons.

The studio also uses bulk-refillable soak-off gel systems rather than single-use bottles for its core color line, and pays a local partner to collect and properly dispose of acetone rather than sending it down the drain, a practice Marchetti said is still common among smaller salons that aren't aware of local wastewater guidance.

"None of this is required by law," Marchetti said. "But once I understood what I'd been breathing in for a decade, I couldn't open a salon and not do something differently."

Early response has been strong enough that Marchetti said she's already looking at leasing additional square footage next door to add two more stations. She's also fielding interest from other Wisconsin salon owners curious about the ventilation setup, something she said she's happy to talk through.

"I don't see other nail studios as competition in the way people might assume," she said. "If more salons in Green Bay adopted better ventilation, that's good for every technician in this industry, not just mine."