Part of winning the Cup championship is the invitation to do the nails for the December cover. It is very exciting! If you have never had the opportunity to be a part of a photo shoot for the cover of a magazine, (especially our trade magazines!) well, let me tell you...do what you need to do to get offered one because this is a must for any manicurists’ bucket list.

And, I’ve said this before but the best way for a manicurist to get your name at the top of the call list for cover shoots is to get your name and face and exceptional work out there through the competition arena. There’s no doubt about it. Before you know it, you’ll be on a first name basis with the editors of the magazines! *wink*

Let me tell you about my day. Fortunately, I live in Southern California and can drive to the shoot without too much trouble (like airplanes and hotels and such.) But I’m actually about 75 miles east of L.A., and this particular day, it was raining. Anybody that is familiar with SoCal knows that between 5am and 9am traffic just stinks and the rain only compounds it. I was on the road by 7am because my call time was at 9:30am, and I was certain that I could make it on time. And even with the rain I was only 10 minutes late. Quite a feat in it’s own right.

After I was introduced to the model and the photographer, I quickly set up my working area and got started. The hair and make up stylists were supposed to arrive at 11:30am (which was still too early, I knew, but I nodded and got to work anyways.) On this shoot, there were several things going on. Not only were we shooting the cover, but also a spread for the inside of the magazine portraying what goes on behind the scenes of the cover shoot, a video of the behind the scenes for the website, as well as an audio segment that will be used with the video and everybody (videographer, still photographer, and candid photographer) wants step by step shots of the application process.

So, even though I spent the better part of the prior day making the extensions of the nails to be applied and adapted on set and ultimately save time, the application process still took almost four hours to complete. Finally at 1:30pm, the model and I broke for lunch, and everyone else had already eaten. After lunch, the model had her hair and makeup done, and while she was doing that, I had my head shot taken (most everyone had already had theirs taken) and at 3:30pm I applied the final touches to the nails.

By 4:30pm, everyone piled into the studio for the shoot, the editor, art director, photographer, assistant photographer, model, hair stylist, makeup artist and manicurist all trying to see the final outcome (which was amazing!)

At 6pm, after much joking and laughing, the shoot was a wrap, but not for me or the editor, art director or model. Next comes the heart wrenching part, removing the nails.

The nails were so wicked-long that the model needed help just buttoning her jeans so there was no way that she could leave the studio with the nails on. I used the electric file to cut off the majority of the extension and put her in to soak the rest off while the editor, art director, and I recorded the audio portion of the behind the scenes video. It had been such a long, busy day, that the three of us had become punch drunk and laughed until we cried, but we got it done anyways. Finally, I was able to get back to the model to remove the rest of the nails and send her on her way. In the meantime, everyone else had cleaned up and left, and the editor and I were the last ones to leave the building at 7:30pm. I still had an hour and a half drive home, but man, what a day! And all because I compete.

Get out there!

— Lynn