Crow Nail Studio
Address: 1328 South 2100 East
Telephone: 801-994-4979
Website: crownailstudio.glossgenius.com
District: East Bench
“Now I’m able to take a deep breath, and when I look back, I just think, ‘What in the hell? How did I get here?’ It was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but I made it.” For Lori Sartain, owner of Crow Nail Studio in East Sugar House, life did not begin with expectations of comfort, stability, or ease. Dreams of owning a business, buying a home, traveling, or building something beautiful were not part of her childhood. Survival was.
An only child who never knew her father, Lori was just nine years old when her mother’s health began to decline. Lupus, heart problems, chronic pain, and eventually addiction transformed Lori from a child into a caretaker. By age eleven, knowing money was scarce and basic needs were uncertain, she found work delivering newspapers to help them get by.
Home was something Lori kept hidden. She was bullied at school and never invited anyone to the tiny apartment she shared with her mother. Once she was even called into the principal’s office for smoking. The truth was far simpler and sadder - Lori’s mother was a heavy smoker, and Lori’s clothes carried the smell of cigarettes with them wherever she went. “I grew up either having hot water or power. We never had two at the same time. Either it was boiling water to take a bath or lighting candles so we could see at night.”
Raised Mormon, Lori often felt caught between worlds. Because she came from a broken home, many of the children she wanted to spend time with were not allowed to be around her. Skateboarding and snowboarding became outlets, but by fifteen she had begun drinking, and soon alcohol became how she spent many of her weekends. By seventeen, she had moved out of her mother’s apartment and dropped out of high school. Still, amid the instability, Lori inherited something that would shape the rest of her life. “My mom taught me how to change oil, how to light a pilot light, and basically said if you need something done, don’t ever rely on someone else. You’ve got to learn to do it yourself.”
Nails entered Lori’s life almost by accident. In the early 2000s, she enrolled in cosmetology school and quickly realized that she loved the nail program far more than hair. Although she never finished beauty school, she pursued nail education, worked in some of Utah’s top salons, and refined the careful, skilled, health-focused approach that now defines her work. Later, she became an assistant instructor at a nail school, though for years she was too intimidated to pursue her own instructor’s license.
Then Lori met the man who would change her life. He became her greatest source of encouragement. At a concert at Urban Lounge, a bartender walked up to her and said, “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” She turned around, assuming he must be talking to someone behind her. That man was Mike. They have now been together for fifteen years and married since 2013. Lori calls them late bloomers. Mike eventually graduated from the University of Utah at forty. Together, they created something neither had grown up expecting - a home, a marriage, and a future built through hard work, perseverance, and love.
When they were dating, Mike asked Lori what she regretted most. Her answer came immediately: not finishing school. “Go get it,” he told her, and at twenty-six, Lori earned her GED.
Years later, as her mother’s health worsened, Lori entered one of the most demanding chapters of her life. She worked long days, managed her mother’s rent and medical expenses, and became her sole caregiver. Hospice workers and Lori were often the only people present as her mother moved in and out of the hospital and struggled with severe physical and mental decline. Through it all, Lori’s mother remained fiercely determined to stay alive.
Although, their relationship was complicated and often painful. Lori knew her mother loved her, but she also knew how deeply her words could hurt. “She was a good mom when I was down, but whenever life was going well for me, she beat me down verbally.”
Still, Lori kept going. She worked sixty-five hours a week without breaks. Before work, she cared for her mother. At lunchtime, she checked on her again. After work, she returned once more. Every day became a cycle of caregiving, working, worrying, and trying not to collapse under the weight of it all. When her mother passed away, Lori organized a yard sale from the belongings left behind. Her mother had been a severe hoarder, and the sale brought in four hundred dollars. With that money, Lori finally applied for the instructor’s license she had wanted for years.
Three weeks before her mother died in September 2021, Lori opened her own private studio. Money was almost nonexistent. Then the nail desk she was transporting fell out of the car and shattered on the street. “It’s really emotional for me to tell because Mike and I had one hundred dollars to our name, and a desk was five hundred dollars.”
Determined to keep moving forward, Lori added permanent jewelry to her business. She spent weekdays doing nails and weekends working farmers markets and pop-ups. The extra income helped cover rent and gave her enough space to pursue an enormous next step - writing an apprenticeship program. For someone who had once dropped out of high school, it became one of the hardest things she had ever done. Using that program, Lori has now helped license five nail technicians in Utah. Three remain part of her team today.
Crow Nail Studio opened in April 2024. Tucked quietly in the back of a building, the appointment-only salon reflects Lori herself - elegant, artistic, a little dark, and unmistakably her own. The name came from a conversation with her friend Memorie, owner of Troubadour Salon. “She said, ‘what about crow nail studio, your spirit animal is definitely a crow.’”
The name fits the space perfectly. Black cabinetry accented with gold hardware and a bold gold CROW sign across the back wall create a setting that is both elegant and distinctly Lori. Colorful abstract prints by San Francisco artist Rex Ray bring movement and splashes of color to the room, while a handful of carefully chosen art books invite clients and art lovers to pause and browse.
Crow Nail Studio is an odor-free salon focused on sanitation, education, and the health of natural nails. Lori continually studies chemistry, product safety, and advanced techniques, investing thousands of dollars each year in continuing education. She currently trains with German educator Olena Ozman, one of the leading nail educators in the world, and includes free education for the artists who work in her studio.
The salon specializes in restoring damaged nails and offers waterless pedicures, Gel-X extensions, hard and soft gel services, gel polish, and Dazzle Dry manicures. Lori does not offer acrylics and is careful about the products she brings into the salon. She uses Luxio line by Akzentz, a premium Canadian gel system that meets European beauty standards, and whenever possible, chooses the cleaner and healthier products available on the market.
Education and mentorship have become as important to Lori as the work itself. Today, she teaches one-on-one classes, hosts larger courses, and travels to share what she has learned. One of her own mentors recently invited Lori to Tennessee to teach her techniques she wanted to learn from Lori.
Away from work, Lori and Mike live in Sugar House with their two cats and a dog. They love to travel and treasure the home and life they have built together. Lori also spent years volunteering at Clementine Ranch, a vegan sanctuary in Herriman, finding comfort among rescued animals while caring for her mother. “People thought I was crazy to go out there while I was caring for my mom and working, but I always said the animals took care of me while I took care of them.”
Today, the girl who once delivered newspapers at a very young age, dropped out of high school, and spent years caring for her mom, has finally given herself permission to enjoy what she and Mike have created together. There are still dreams ahead and goals left to reach, but after everything they have endured, she knows something she never knew growing up - that happiness is possible. “Things weren’t handed to me, so it feels good to look at this and see it now. It’s not quite where I want it yet, but it’s close. Things are finally falling into place.”
