
Meet Tenoverten’s Nadine Abramcyk
Written by James Kicinski-McCoy
Photography by Heather Moore
Nadine Abramcyk is co-founder of the cult favorite nail salon Tenoverten. She started the brand alongside business partner Adair Ilyinsky after they were frustrated with the manicure experience in New York City. Now with an impressive six locations in three different states, the flourishing brand has a full range of namesake products including a rainbow of killer polishes and an all-natural, rose flower cuticle oil. Here, the successful mama-of-two (daughter, Zoe Lee, 5 and son Solomon, 3) opens up her Tribeca home to talk the nail business, personal style, and motherhood.
- “We live in Tribeca, a neighborhood in lower Manhattan. We love our home so much, mainly because of the community that surrounds us.”
- “Our space feels warm and lived-in. It has elements of found objects mixed with modern furniture, and loads of detail.”
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“It changed for practical matters, such as finding clever places to store toys when they aren’t in use. But otherwise, it has pretty much remained the same.”
Nadine wears a Dries Van Noten dress. Zoe Lee wears a Capezio leotard and ballet skirt. Solomon wears a Crewcuts graphic tee and Bon Ton shorts.
- “We keep toys either in our kids’ bedroom, or in these large bins that we built under an extended window seat we have in the living room area. I don’t get too precious about toys being in our living space since they all have a place to be put away. And, I purge the toy collection often, so it doesn’t get out of hand.”
- “I tend to believe in ‘less is more’ across all areas of my life including decorating. However, in an environment when you layer texture and details in a room, it can have the most amazingly inviting effect. I used to think it was busy, but now I welcome the idea of layering when it comes to decorating. I also love a personal touch, and am constantly moving things around.”
- “We have a painting that Curtis Kulig made for my daughter Zoe Lee when she was born that has her name in it, and is incredibly special. Our couch is by Cassina and worth its weight in gold. Everyone can sprawl out on it. It is deep and durable, and has beautiful modern lines.”
- “My bedroom. My room’s walls are lined with wood that was restored from the MercBar, a bar I used to frequent with my husband when we were much younger. When they closed, he bought the wood and surprised me by wrapping our bedroom walls with it. The result is this cavernous, sleep-inducing, amazingly cozy room.”
- “Our largely open and unfinished portion of the living room because that is where we can have dance parties, and the kids can use their scooters. Thankfully, we have no downstairs neighbors!”
- “We painted both rooms with darker and more mature Farrow & Ball paint colors. Solomon’s is a dark grey called ‘Mole’s Breath’, and Zoe Lee’s room is an eggplant called ‘Brassica’. All the bedrooms are a darker color to keep them inviting for sleep. Their rooms are also a constant work in progress. Both started with cribs, and now have more adult furniture. I bought them both proper beds as the next step from a crib that could be used down the road as daybeds if needed elsewhere in the house. They have large oversized windows in their rooms, which lets in an incredible amount of light. It’s wonderful, but they are constantly filling up the windowsills with little items and treasures of any kind. It feels sweet, as though they are creating their own visual experience from their imagination.”
- “Their beds.”
- “Neither have a family name, just names that both my husband and I loved. Zoe Lee is a double name. I thought it would quickly shorten to Zoe, but she calls herself Zoe Lee, so it has stuck. And, Solomon calls himself his full name too, so no nicknames yet either.”
- “Solomon has no limits to the amount he will let you kiss and cuddle him. Zoe Lee is incredibly compassionate.”
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“Tailored and classic. I try to buy pieces that are timeless, so I can wear them for many seasons to come. I like my clothes more with time, and the memories of times they’ve been worn in the past.”
Nadine wears Khaite jeans and a blazer from The Row.
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“Less silk pieces in my wardrobe.”
Zoe Lee wears a striped dress and leggings from Zara. Solomon wears a Rockets Of Awesome tee and grey sweatpants from Zara.
- “High-waisted anything!”
- “Acne, Stella McCartney, Apiece Apart, and Hatch.”
- “The high-waisted bikini comeback is just my speed.”
- “I typically shop in New York if I have somewhere to go, and nothing to wear because I don’t love shopping. I don’t buy a lot and have very few items in my closet, but love them all. I do, however, adore shopping on vacation because then you can take something back that’s sort of a memory of a moment in time that was likely special.”
- “Anything from Bon Ton for the kids. They have a store in Los Angeles, so I try to stock up whenever I go there. For me, I’ve got my eye on this Céline bag, as well as a piece of jewelry from Taryn Toomey’s Airlume Line.”
- “I am a natural beauty junkie, and most of my routine involves skin care. I wash my face with Josh Rosebrook cleanser, and then use his Hydrating Accelerator, which acts as a toner. I also always use a moisturizer with SPF before heading out the door, even in the dead of winter. I like the Elta MD sunscreen with a minimum of SPF 40. I will curl my eyelashes and use a dab of RMS concealer and blush. I always brush my brows, and will use the Kimiko Superfine Brow Pencil to give them more definition.”
- “I have my wellness rituals that fall either daily or weekly. The ones I do daily are: drink a tall glass of warm water with lemon (and sometimes ginger) first thing in the morning; take vitamin D, a probiotic, Omega 3, prenatal vitamin, and immune defense pill; tongue brush with a copper scraper in the morning; and light sage and put my phone on airport mode, so it’s less disturbing to my sleep at night. Weekly, I: dry brush twice a week prior to showering and exercise four times a week. This is just as much for my mind as it is for my body.”
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“I am sure it ebbs and flows, but for the most part I try to be nurturing above all else. I think a lot about how growing up in New York City can be an overwhelming thing at times, and since I myself didn’t grow up in such a big city, I am constantly trying to temper that with a sense of grounding and support at home. I want them to feel rooted in their community, and safe above all else.”
Nadine wears an Isabel Marant dress. Zoe Lee wears a Capezio leotard and ballet skirt.
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“I’ve learned an extreme amount of patience, which has led me to be more accepting of the ever-changing nature of life. You must be flexible as a parent. It’s a lot easier to go through life being flexible.”
Solomon wears a striped tee and camouflage pants from Bon Ton.
- “Motherhood forces you to become selfless, which is an incredible transformation for most people, including myself. I am excited to observe the relationships that I have with each of my children develop over the years.”
- “I am so nervous that my kids won’t be the best of friends. My own relationships with my siblings have given me so much joy, that I am petrified they won’t develop that same closeness over the years.”
- “How resilient these little beings are. From day one, they emerge with their own personalities and perspectives on life. They take it in, and process experiences so unique to themselves from the very beginning.”
- “Sleep before the baby comes. And when the baby arrives, try your best to sleep when the baby naps. Sleep deprivation is a real thing.”
- “I would say to not get too caught up in the schedule for the baby, and let it disrupt your older child’s rhythm too much.”
- “Yes, more and more as they get older.”
- “I’m an ordering-in kind of gal if I can’t cook, or I always keep as Annie’s frozen pizza with spinach in the freezer.”
- “Weekends are complete family time. A mellow, ideal family day would be eating breakfast around the corner from our house at Yves, and then heading to the Whitney for their kids art session, which is an incredible program. We enjoy taking them to the park where they can run off some energy, or in the winter time, going ice skating at Brookfield. An early 5 p.m. dinner with friends and their kids is the best way to end the day. These don’t happen often enough, but when they do, it is quite magical. I love that my kids are not only friends with their classmates from school, but also have had relationships with our friends and their kids since they were very young.”
- “I wish I would find time to meditate daily, even if it were just five minutes.”
- “I’m similar in many emotional ways from the support that I try to give our children. Physically, I am not around as much as she was since my mom didn’t work. But, I try to make up for that in other ways.”
- “My sister in law, Amy, is a mother of four kids very close in age, and a real role model to me when it comes to motherhood. Also, my dear friend Margaret Zakarian who runs multiple businesses, has three kids, and manages it all in such a graceful manner is also a mother I look up to.”
- “Be present.”
- “I loved The Contented Baby Book when my kids were newborns, but no parenting books have stuck with me just yet.”
- “I feel a stronger sense of need to protect our future. I hope to be open with them about our current political environment as they get older and have questions. I also like to bring the idea of affecting change back to our daily lives, where we can make an impact through being a strong member of our community. That’s very important to us as a family.”
- “Keep working on communication because it helps to be on the same page.”
- “I am the co-founder of tenoverten.”
- “I worked at Time Magazine as a publicist for seven years. Then, I started a women’s boutique in New York City after that called ‘Mick Margo’, which I ran for eight years, and overlapped with the start of tenoverten. After having my first baby and running two businesses, something had to give. So, I closed Mick Margo, and focused all my time on my growing family and tenoverten.”
- “I love the women I work with. We have such an amazing staff of talented and hard working people that have become like family to me. It has completely enriched my life in so many ways.”
- “It has greatly affected my career path because I was pregnant when tenoverten was just a concept. As I became more aware of the toxins and chemicals in beauty products, for me personally, it eventually made its way into our business model. We developed a line of safer nail care products because we couldn’t find them ourselves.”
- “I try my best to spend every weekend minute with my family, and during the week choose a couple of things I will participate in, so that my kids can know when to expect me to be around. During the week, I find that routines help greatly when having to juggle work and motherhood. I know going into the week what my schedule will be, so I plan exactly when I am doing school drop off, etc. and am not pressuring myself to do more or less for the kids. For example, I always pick up my daughter from school on Wednesdays and take her to ballet. She knows to expect me and we have that routine weekly.
- “Absolutely. So many moms in my area going through a similar phase in life.”
- “We’ve opened six tenoverten salons in the past six years, so I would like to continue bringing our non-toxic vision to more neighborhoods, and expand our safer nail care product line.”
- “Yes, and not now!”
- "Tiny’s & the Bar Upstairs, Playgarden as an indoor playspace when they are very little, Children’s Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum, and The Pier 25 Park."
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"Yves restaurant for a delicious dinner and good drinks. The King Cole Bar at the St Regis Uptown for drinks. It’s special to us because it is where we got married.”
For more on Nadine, check out the tenoverten Instagram and website.
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