Formulas for Success

Step inside the Light Elegance laboratory with company chemist,

We all have that one thing that makes us feel beautiful. For some, it’s having a hair root touch-up, while for others, it’s a fresh application of make-up. For me, it’s always been nails. I feel most put-together when wearing my go-to nail style: coffin-shaped enhancements with a coat of colour.

I started getting my nails done in high school. I began with classic French L&P acrylic nails, and the smell of monomer still reminds me of that time. When I was in college, I couldn’t afford to go to a salon, so worked on expanding my nail lacquer collection. I would spend hours in the bathroom with toothpicks, brushes and cotton swabs, experimenting with new designs and colour combinations.

I have always loved pretty nails, but I have also always loved science. I took my first chemistry class after high school, completed an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry, then attained a Master of Science qualification in Organic Chemistry. I finished school and started working in an industrial laboratory, but felt my affections fade. The lab jobs weren’t as fulfilling as I had hoped, and I had no idea where to turn to reignite my excitement. Then it clicked: why couldn’t I marry my two passions and work as a chemist in the nail field? I began to research great nail companies and started the dreaded process of cold calling.

The LE journey

Jim and Lezlie McConnell founded Light Elegance two decades ago. For the first 10 years, Jim was the sole formulator behind every safe, strong and beautiful product that came out of the lab. But, by early 2014, the brand had reached so many salons that he needed to expand the team. At the same time, I realised I belonged in the nail industry. Sometimes, life can be serendipitous. After weeks of meetings and conversations, Jim welcomed me into the lab and entrusted me with Light Elegance’s formulations.

Since then, I have been working with Jim: learning where to find the safest oligomers, which concentrations of ingredients make the strongest nail structures, and observing the love and care that is put into every Light Elegance product. When we were crafting ButterCreams, we sent formulation developments across the lab bench to one another, until the product truly started to brush onto nails like butter. When I began the development of P+ QDbase Soak-Off Base Coat, Jim was the first person to test its adhesive qualities, suggesting monomer variations until the formula offered the perfect balance of adhesion and soak-off quality.

After years spent focusing on the importance of safe ingredients in the products that I wear, I was gifted a new reason to care about safety. In 2023, I welcomed my daughter, Iris, and the passion of motherhood has been a joy to experience. Fun fact: if you check out our lab picture in the ‘About Us’ section of the LE website, you can spot a little bump poking out from my lab coat. Iris was a great lab assistant! During my pregnancy, I felt safe working with raw chemicals in the lab, because Light Elegance only uses high-quality ingredients in its products. Thanks to Jim, I know the role and identity of each one. When I pick Iris up from daycare, I know that I don’t have to worry about her coming in contact with HEMA monomer that may have splashed onto my clothes, because we don’t even stock it in the building. At the end of the day, what really matters is what’s inside: our passions, families and the chemicals in our nail products.