HARD AS NAILS
The Evening Standard (London)
January 27, 2010 Wednesday
UK
JESSICA VARTOUGHIAN IS THE EAST EUROPEAN REFUGEE WHO BUILT A BUSINESS
EMPIRE FROM NOTHING. NOW ‘THE QUEEN OF MANICURES’ HAS CLIENTS SUCH
AS JULIA ROBERTS AND DEMI MOORE
LIZ HOGGARD
You have dry, brittle nails," Jessica Vartoughian tells me sternly.
"The nails are filed down too much at the side, you need to let them
grow, and round them up as much possible, because that will support
the length. And you have some peeling nails. You’ve got to keep polish
on so the nail will be protected." Described by the New York Times as
"the First Lady of nails", Vartoughian’s A-list clients include Drew
Barrymore, Julia Roberts and Demi Moore.
She’s the woman who invented the nail bar. But her team of "nail
cultivists" do more than varnish and buff â~@¹ behind this business
is a complete nail-care philosophy. "I’ve never wanted to just slap on
a coat of varnish and push a cuticle back," she explains, "that’s not
a manicure. But with the proper products, a difference should be seen
in six weeks, and in three months you will have long, healthy nails."
Vartoughian’s logo â~@¹ the double JJ â~@¹ is a marker of quality
(like Chanel for fashion). Considered the world’s foremost authority
on natural nail care â~@¹ no artificial or acrylic nails, thank
you â~@¹ she launched the world’s first ever nails-only salon on
Sunset Boulevard at the age of 23. And thereby created a new industry
overnight. Before that, people simply went to a department store to
have their nails trimmed.
The biggest honour in Hollywood is to have a Jessica nail varnish
named after you. There’s a purple Barbra (Streisand), a red Elizabeth
(Taylor), a brown Hillary (Clinton) and a crimson Sophia (Loren).
She’s currently mixing a champagne shade for Demi, which she promises
to send me. Vartoughian introduced the French manicure to America. But
her lightbulb idea was realising that, like skin and hair, nails
are not alike. The Jessica System divides customers into damaged,
dry, brittle or normal â~@¹ with different basecoats and treatments
for a specific nail type. "For me, it started with Vidal Sassoon,
who was the first man to have shampoo for different types of hair."
Her flagship store is on Sunset Boulevard but since 1992 Vartoughian
has had a London presence. You can book Jessica nail treatments at
premier salons from The Sanctuary, Covent Garden, to Ultimate Spa
on Westbourne Grove and Spa Illuminata on South Audley Street, where
we meet.
Now in her sixties, Vartoughian radiates old-style Hollywood glamour.
She got her big break when Lucille Ball dropped by the salon incognito
(and recommended it to her friends). She did Cyd Charisse’s nails. For
years she visited Nancy Reagan at the White House for a fortnightly
application of Dusty Rose.
And boy, she’s strict. At first I’m terrified. But she turns out
to be very maternal. And a fabulous gossip on everything from the
state of the Obamas’ marriage ("separate beds," she says confidently)
to Princess Diana conspiracy theories.
Today, she presides over a multi-million pound empire that distributes
in more than 28 countries. But when the Romanian-born Vartoughian
first arrived in America, aged 16, she didn’t speak a word of English.
Her Armenian father was a shoe designer. Her wealthy family lost their
fortune under the communist regime. They arrived in America penniless
after burying their jewellery beneath their house in Romania. "My
ambition was to be a psychologist but my father said, Å’You have to
make a living to help us’," Vartoughian says. Beauty was a bit of
a comedown but the easiest way to learn English. And, coming from a
European background, she knew how to take care of nails, hands and
feet. "My mother was a well-groomed woman. My father had pedicures and
manicures; he always went to the spa." At beauty college Vartoughian
found she had a real gift for polishing nails. She started work in a
department store in Beverly Hills, then opened her own store on Sunset
Boulevard in 1969 â~@¹ "a tiny place for four customers. I had to line
the walls with mirrors to make it look bigger." She developed her own
range of polish and in 1978 started Jessica Cosmetics International.
FROM someone who made her name in La-La land, the Jessica manicure
is based on sternly natural principles. Vartoughian loathes nail art
â~@¹ very vulgar. When it comes to red carpet glamour, she insists
stars such as Nicole Kidman stick to old school colours â~@¹ pillar
box red, neutral â~@¹ maybe at a push her Purple Essence.
Her products are specifically developed to maximise the natural
healing powers of the body and promote well-being. She keeps an eye
out for signs of surgery, stress and hormonal changes. "The nails
are the mirror of your health. White spots signal dryness. If you
have ridges or suddenly have yellow blushes, as Mrs Reagan did,
I’d recommend you see a dermatologist. Sure enough, she had a sugar
problem." Protein is very important, plus lots of water. And, yes,
she can tell if her clients have been drinking or taking drugs.
Vartoughian was the first to use heated mittens and booties to
soften and soothe skin. She shows me her special electric wand â~@¹
which smooths the cuticles back instead of using nasty sharp metal
instruments. Cuticles at Jessica are never trimmed, just softened and
pushed back. The nail is filed sensibly round, the nail bed massaged
and strengthened with whichever treatment is deemed necessary. There
is a rejuvenation formula for dry nails, a restoration one for damaged
nails, and so on. And the Phenomen Oil (£12.55) he gives me for my
faulty cuticles is brilliant on dry feet and elbows.
Most excitingly, Vartoughian invented the Natural Nail Transplant. If
Demi breaks a nail skiing, she saves the broken portion and brings it
straight to Jessica’s elves for an immediate glue-on. For those who
can’t find the lost tip, one can be attached invisibly with clippings
from the clinic’s nail bank (many donated by celebrity clients).
Vartoughian doesn’t do nails any more (I am very privileged today). As
the CEO of her company, her main role is as educator and lecturer.
It’s an enviable lifestyle. She has a son and a daughter and lives in
the Hollywood Hills. She wears Armani and Chanel and killer shoes. Her
weakness is white orchids.
There have been painful challenges. In 1993, an acrimonious divorce
from her husband of 25 years, another Armenian, left her with nothing.
"If you earn more than your husband, you must be sure that he’s a
secure person. I paid the price for that. I made him a king but he
didn’t know how to keep his kingdom."
But Vartoughian rebuilt her company. She comes from tough stock. Her
father designed shoes at night and worked as a busboy in restaurants.
"After four years in the States, my father owned a shoe store in
Beverly Hills. What he achieved was incredible." It’s fascinating how
many beauty icons have East European roots â~@¹ Helena Rubinstein,
Dr Hauschka, Eve Lom. And Vartoughian is like a heroine from a Harold
Robbins novel. She made the American dream come true. But she never
wanted clients to be her friends. "I stayed very respectful. That’s
my European training. Or perhaps I’m very shy." She knew Princess
Di â~@¹ "She had no nails, she bit them through nerves. I trained
her manicurist" â~@¹ and cried buckets when she died. And men
â~@¹ including Michael Douglas, Bruce Springsteen and Seal â~@¹
trust Jessica. "We do a lot of men; it’s chic. It shows they have
self-respect. I have designed a matt polish especially for them." Demi
comes to the salon once a week with the whole family â~@¹ "She comes
with Bruce, her ex-husband, and his new wife and their girls. And they
all sit like this" â~@¹ Vartoughian throws her hands in an expansive
gesture. "They get along. She’s a very special woman, very down to
earth. And a fabulous body," she says with that forensic look.
She applies polish and topcoat to my nails; I need to wait an hour
before I can open my bag or find my keys. "Ask a man for help,"
she advises. I sense we are from different eras.
But it’s lovely to be pampered. "When you touch someone’s hand you
have to be very gentle because it goes all the way to your soul," she
explains. "Who else holds your hand for an hour and 15 minutes? It’s
tender loving care."
NAIL TIPS
File in one sweeping movement and the sides should be rounded at
45 degrees.
Apply basecoat, two coats of colour and top coat every two or three
days. Tap fingers regularly often on a hard surface â~@¹ nails
are nourished by blood flow. Wear polish â~@¹ it protects nails as
they grow.
FIVE BEST NAIL BARS
Glow Urban Spa Cindy gives the most precise manicures around and
it’s the only salon to offer one colour on top and a flash of
vampish red underneath. 8 Motcomb Street, SW1 (020 7752 0652,
)
Bliss London Quick enough to fit in your lunch break and polish
will last a good week. 60 Sloane Avenue, SW3 (020 7590 6146,
)
Neville Try Gwyneth Paltrow’s matte manicure. Great hand massage too.
5 Pont Street, SW1 (020 7235 3654, )
Anita Cox Glam winter nails in just under an hour. Also big fans of
Jessica’s colour range. 55 Old Church Street, SW3 (020 7751 4527,
)
Leighton Denny Studio Cancellations are rare here so be prepared to
wait. Urban Retreat, 5th Floor, Harrods, SW1 (020 7893 8333)