SINGAPORE - He billed himself as a nail artist to the stars.

And manicurist Deniz Lee, 33, dropped their names when advertising his services online. Actresses Jesseca Liu, Kym Ng and Dawn Yeoh were mentioned, as were blogger Wendy Cheng (better known as Xiaxue) and Malaysian singer Shi Xin Hui of Project Superstar fame.

But now, Mr Lee is in the soup.

Three people who bought manicure packages from him say he has become uncontactable.

They speak about how tough it is to book an appointment, even when they call a month in advance.

They also accuse him of constantly changing locations, renting spaces in shops at places like Holland Village and Somerset.

In March, Mr Lee set up a shop in Marina Square with two partners.

It was "nicely decorated", said civil servant Joanne Lee, 30, but she added that it was still difficult to make an appointment.

Then, the shop closed without warning in July, she said, leaving her and other customers like student Serene Tan, 20, stranded.

They had paid for $300 and $500 manicure packages.

The women claimed Mr Lee did not answer their calls or SMSes. Attempts to contact him online failed - his blog and Twitter account had been shut down.

Ms Lee, 30, had bought Mr Lee's online voucher while preparing for her wedding in December.

She recalled: "When I first visited Deniz, he was renting space from a spa. There was only one massage chair on the second floor and he was tending to customers on his own, surrounded by trolleys of nail polish."

She paid for a $500 package, which included 10 manicure and pedicure sessions, with free French tips (a type of French manicure) and five rounds of nail art thrown in.

Ms Lee said the package was not cheap.

"It's actually about the same as the market rate (about $45 to $50 per session). But I was drawn by the freebies," she said.

The star wattage helped too.

"He had appeared on television before. He had celebrity customers," she added. "Xiaxue talked about him on her blog. The glam factor was definitely there."

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