The fulerton files: mar 09

Chatting to movie stars and seeing the sights of Chicago are all in a day's work for session nail technician Andrea Fulerton.

So what's new in my world? The American actress and ex-model Kate Bosworth (right), for starters. I worked with her for the front cover shoot for Marie Claire and there's only one word to describe her - gorgeous!

 

She is totally 'stateside' groomed, so needed very little work. Using Creative's cuticle nippers, I gently snipped away any dry skin in the corners, but not the cuticles.

One thing I've learnt, especially when working with Americans, is always ask and show what you are about to do when it comes to cuticles and nippers. This comes from 'getting what you pay for' at $10 manicure nail bars on every NYC corner. I've seen and heard of lots of disasters with poorly trained manicurists who often don't speak English.

Kate's (left Rex Features) hands and feet were painted Sheer Buff by Revlon, after shaping them with a Creative Black Velvet nail file and buffing gently, to prepare the surface, with a Leighton Denny four-way buffer. As it was one coat and without a base coat, the varnish dried fairly speedily allowing me to smear a thin coat of easily-absorbed Avojuice Skin Quencher on to the hands - just what you require on a shoot as it doesn't transfer onto clothes or hair.

I also spent two exciting days in a Winnebago driving to locations in downtown Chicago with the fashion editor of The New York Times, her team and a production company. The shoot was for next month's travel supplement, T magazine. 

Our model was a true pro of Amazonian standards. She was NY-based, so clearly used to the brisk autumn temperatures considering how little she had to wear.

I came prepared with full kit - enough to do mani, pedi, fibreglass repairs, acrylic extensions, quick-fix Broadway stick-on nails and 40+ varnishes in various shades of white, red and black from Essie, Leighton Denny, OPI, Nubar, Jessica, Creative, and Ciaté to name a few.

The photographer decided on natural nails, meaning clean and buffed with a lick of clear varnish - Essie Good to Go fast-drying topcoat worked a treat. So again, apart from a little tidy up by way of  file and buff, she really was good to go.

In the meantime, I got driven around the sights, in between giving a quick mani to crew and hand massage to my model.