Marisol Trenowden
Founder, extensionsTrained in Seoul and worked eight years in Melbourne before opening Frenumi in 2018. Builds every hard-gel and fibreglass set herself, and is the person who will tell you no if the answer is no.
About Frenumi
Frenumi: a small nail studio on George Street
Frenumi has been building gel manicures and nail extensions on the sixth floor at 341 George Street since 2018, and it has never been anything more than two technicians, one chair each, and a booking book that stays honest about what fits in a day.
2018
Opened on George Street
2
Technicians on the floor
4.9
Average rating from regulars
Six floors up
Away from the street noise, with daylight on every chair
The story
It started with two chairs and one lamp
Marisol Trenowden spent eight years in Melbourne salons before moving north in 2017. She took the George Street space because it had north-facing windows, and daylight is the only way to check a set honestly. Two chairs, one UV lamp, and a rule she has not broken since: one technician runs the appointment from beginning to end.
By 2020 there were four stations and a second technician. The chairs changed, the rule did not. Nobody hands a half-finished set to someone else, nobody takes a call while holding a file, and nobody gets told a length will work when it will not.
Roughly eighteen regular clients a day come through the door. Most of them have been coming since the first year, which is the only review that has ever mattered to us.
What we stand for
Three rules, kept without exception
Philosophy sounds grand on a website. These are the things that actually get enforced at the chair, every day, whether or not anyone is watching.
01
Honest about length
If a natural nail will not carry the extension you want, we say so before the first file stroke. Turning down a booking is cheaper for you than a broken set in ten days.
02
The clock is real
Ninety minutes for a gel manicure means ninety minutes of a technician's attention, not forty minutes of work and fifty of waiting. The book reflects it, which is why we take fewer clients.
03
Prep before colour
Cuticles are worked dry, the natural plate is never drilled down, and the tip edge is sealed on every coat. It adds fifteen minutes to the appointment and roughly ten days to the set.
The people
Two technicians, no rotating door
Between them they have built roughly eight thousand sets. Neither of them has ever worked from a photo without checking the natural nail first.
Linh Pham
Gel technicianTrained in Hanoi and on the Frenumi floor since 2020. Runs the gel manicure list and handles colour mixing for custom shades, which is the reason the studio keeps about forty bottles in rotation.
Where we have worked
Recent sets and studio projects
A selection from the last few months, all built at the George Street studio and shot under daylight with no filter applied.
What we do
The two things we are actually good at
The menu has been short since 2018 and there is no plan to lengthen it. Doing two services properly beats doing eight halfway.
90 minutes
Signature Gel Manicure
Dry cuticle work, a flexible base build and colour sealed at the free edge on every coat. Around forty rotating shades sit on the shelf, with bottle pre-orders by message.
$95from
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150 minutes
Luxury Nail Extensions
Hard gel, soft gel or a fibreglass wrap over the natural nail, built to an apex that survives typing, dishes and a Sydney summer without tipping.
$160from
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Visit
Get in touch
Come and see the room
Level 6, 341 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000. Tuesday to Saturday, with an hour of daylight left on every chair through the afternoon.
Get in touch
Book a chair with Marisol or Linh
Wednesday and Saturday fill first. Ring before ten on a weekday and there is usually a same-day gap in the afternoon.