Have Tools, Will Travel

THE BASICS

These are the essential items all traveling techs are sure to bring along.

Application brushes	Extension cord	Orangewood sticks
Base coat	Hand sanitizer	Polish (a variety of colors)
Buffers and files	Implement sanitizer	Polish remover/acetone
Cotton	Implements (cuticle pusher,	Table lamp
Cuticle oil	nippers, nail clipper, etc.)	Top coat
Cuticle remover	Lotion	Towels

 

Kimmie Kyees

Home base: Los Angeles

Some travel required: MobileSPA Los Angeles nail tech and Luxe Management celebrity tech

Won’t leave home without:

✓ A few kitschy drugstore polishes (in addition to 100 or so professional polishes)

✓Organic silk soaps

✓Homemade sugar scrubs (a blend of organic sugar, apricot seed oil, grapeseed oil, and almond oil that I store in a screw-top jar)

✓Scented massage oils (to blend into the sugar scrubs on location)

✓Candy tower (for the clients)

✓Pedi-slippers (only if on set)

✓Magazines (People and Us Weekly are the two most popular)

✓Portable speakers and my iPod

✓My new portable airbrush machine (it seems to be popular on sets)

 

Spa Chicks on the Go and MaMa Spa, Prenatal Spa On-the-Go (standard toolkit for all techs)

Home base: New York City

Some travel required: sister mobile spas that service Manhattan clients, as well as other select metro areas

Won’t leave home without:

✓The latest magazines

✓ Essie polishes, plus SpaRitual (popular with MaMa Spa’s pregnant clients)

✓Waterproof bag for all the liquids (like nail polish remover and cuticle remover)

✓Towels to wrap anything glass (an essential when traveling via New York City subway)

✓Scented candle

✓ Spa gifts like a free nail polish or box of chocolates (when it’s in the contract)

✓Granola bars (for energy)

✓Aquafina water (for hydration)

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Spa Movement (standard toolkit for all techs)

Home base: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Some travel required: mobile spa that services clients throughout Ontario

Won’t leave home without:

✓Essential oils	✓Candles and a lighter
✓Two sets of implements	✓Scented room spray
✓Scrubs	✓Incense
✓Hydro Masque	✓CDs (ambiance music)
✓Box of gloves	✓Laundry bag for soiled towels
✓Tissue box	✓Manicure and pedicure stools

 

DeVonne Sturdivant

Home base: Atlanta

Some travel required: Bliss Mobile Spa nail tech

Won’t leave home without:

✓Be Natural Callus Eliminator

✓Custom blended foot scrubs and creams

✓Tea Tree Oil

✓Just Add Honey teas (for breaks between clients)

 

Sara Holden

Home base: Bullhead City, Ariz.

Some travel required: INM educator

Won’t leave home without:

✓Every color from every INM colored acrylic collection

✓ Pencil boxes to store the .25 oz. jars (so they’re easily accessible during a demo)

✓Nail tips

✓Forms

✓Extra pair of shoes (for walking to and from the tradeshow floor)

✓Soda cans, water, and snacks (for nourishment)

✓ Air can (to remove the dust from the nail plate, instead of using a manicure brush)

✓Demo-specific products, like fiberglass, gel, or acrylic systems

 

Nail Taxi (standard toolkit for all techs)

Home base: Atlanta, Chicago, Washington D.C., Richmond, Va.

Some travel required: mobile spa that services clients in four different metro areas

Won’t leave home without:

✓Pink table towels (the official company color)	✓Toe separators
✓Warm lotion dispenser	✓PDA or cell phone with text messaging enabled
✓Belava foot tub with disposable liners	✓Breath mints
✓Pedicure slippers

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Jenna Hipp

Home base: Los Angeles

Some travel required: The Celestine Agency celebrity tech

Won’t leave home without:

✓ Dermalogica Hydro-Active mineral salts, stress relief treatment oil, and other products (to incorporate into manicures and pedicures)

✓95° and Sunny customized crystal glass manicure files with my name on them

✓95° and Sunny breast cancer awareness products

✓ Carolyn New York entire polish line (DBP-free!) and Essie Polishes

 

Rachel Mouritsen

Home base: Vancouver, Wash.

Some travel required: top-ranked competitor

Won’t leave home without:

✓Heating pad (to keep my nail model warm)

✓Can of air (to remove dust from the table area and off the model)

✓Shop towels (really thick and great absorption!)

✓INM Winners Red nail polish (red polish is required to compete)

✓Add-ons depending on the competition — for example, if it is a design competition, I’ll pack my colored powders.

 

Lynn Lammers

Home base: Redlands, Calif.

Some travel required: top-ranked competitor

Won’t leave home without:

✓Bright green name tag (for the suitcase itself, to identify it at the airport baggage claim)

✓The red nail polish required to compete

✓ Coffee cup warmer (to use under a metal bowl to warm water for washing nails)

✓ Greens+ Natural Energy Bars (you don’t get much time to eat during a competition)

✓Blanket (for whomever I may be working on)

✓Travel clock with a thermometer

✓Orbit gum

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Heather Matteson and Amy Sassman

Home base: Atlanta

Some travel required: Bliss Mobile Spa nail techs (the sisters work many mobile events together)

Won’t leave home without:

✓Pumice stone

✓Towels scented with J.R. Watkins lavender essential oil

✓Yankee Candle tealights (for that spa experience)

✓ Spiral notebook (to write down polish color requests and directions to where we’re headed)

✓Arbonnes Lavender Dead Sea Salts (for spa-style pedicures)

✓Rose Petals

✓Dasani water

✓Nature Valley granola bars (for in-between-client snacks)

 

Beth Fricke

Home base: West Hollywood, Calif.

Some travel required: Artists by Timothy Priano celebrity tech

Won’t leave home without:

✓“Rag mags,” like Us Weekly (Unless, of course, I’m working on Lindsay Lohan or Katie Holmes; in that case, those magazines definitely stay in the car.)

✓First aid supplies

✓Give-aways (files, oil, lotion samples)

✓Gum

✓Bit of a rubber glove (to open tricky polishes)

✓Disposable flip-flops

 

Oasis Mobile Spa (standard toolkit for all techs)

Home base: Barrie, Ontario, Canada

Some travel required: mobile spa that services clients in Barrie and its surrounding areas

Won’t leave home without:

✓Crock pot (to heat the towels)	✓Tablecloth
✓iPod and small speakers	✓Stool for pedicures
✓Tealights with holders	✓Decorative baskets to display products
✓Folding table	✓Q-tips
✓Folding chairs (2)

 

Arlene Estrada-Hernandez

Home base: Los Angeles

Some travel required: MobileSPA Los Angeles nail tech

Won’t leave home without:

✓Bamboo mat	✓Boombox and spa music CDs
✓Candy jars	✓Wrist pillow (for the client’s comfort)
✓Sterling silver manicure and pedicure bowls (easy to clean)	✓Pedicure slippers
✓Paraffin bags and mittens	✓Toe separators
✓Candles and a lighter (to create a spa ambiance)