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Manicurist hopes
to nail it as a singer
Scientific and medical breakthroughs that promised younger-looking visages have turned back the clock for many who have lined up to be Botoxed, lipo'd, lasered or otherwise sculpted to recapture a youthful ideal. And while practice seems to be delivering more natural results over time, it doesn't fool anyone when your face looks 30 but your hands look 20 years older.
Most of us don't spend nearly as much time thinking about our hands as much as our faces or hair when grooming, so it might come as a surprise when manicurist Deborah Lippmann says most people are self-conscious about their hands, whether they realize it or not.
The founder of Lippmann Collection Nail, a line of nail treatments, implements and lacquers, was at Neiman Marcus last week to share tips on the perfect manicure, skin care for hands and fall color trends for nails.
"Any manicurist will tell you that when people find out what we do, they do this," she said, hiding her hands behind her back. "They say, 'Oh, don't look at my hands.' They feel ashamed, embarrassed. The hands are so used, yet they're the things we let go."
Lippmann's been there, having grown up as a nail biter until her 20s.
"That was a good thing because I understand why it's such a prevalent habit. As soon as it gets uneven, we just want to fix it," she said.
Her other career, as a jazz singer, led her to a manager who insisted she cover her unsightly nubby nails, visible when she gripped a microphone, with acrylic ones that she couldn't bite into.
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In addition to curing her of her bad habit, application of the nails led to frequent appointments with a manicurist, "and that is a very intimate thing," she said, reaching for my hand and holding it across the table, "because you're sitting across this person the whole time, holding hands like this. I don't even sit like this with my husband. So we became very close."
When Lippmann talked about her financial worries, her manicurist suggested she become a manicurist because having a portable skill would enable her to find day work wherever she performed.
Lippmann's mother was against the idea, so Lippmann tried restaurant work. "My first day, I dropped a plate of pasta on someone's head. My mom and I can laugh about it now. You just never know where life will take you."
TODAY, LIPPMANN is a manicurist in demand in New York. Her work on celebrities like Renée Zellweger, Mary J. Blige, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mariah Carey and Scarlett Johansson has appeared on the covers of magazines from Allure to InStyle.
Her first stint as a manicurist was in Frederic Fekkai's salon. Among her clients were Martha Stewart and makeup artist Bobbi Brown, who started referring magazine editors to her for pictorial and cover work. After Allure magazine named her the best manicurist in the city, the celebs started calling.
Even then, she thought of herself primarily as a singer, so when an agent called and asked to represent her, she asked "Where did you hear me sing?"
"He was confused and asked, 'Aren't you Deborah Lippmann, the manicurist?' Here I thought I was getting my big break as a singer, and he wanted to represent me as a manicurist."
The music connection is reflected in her day job in the names of her nail lacquers, often named after her clients. "Just Walk Away Renée," named after Zellweger, is a dark black-cherry red that the star had searched for but could never find. "Believe" is named for Cher, and the pearly peach "Sarah Smile" for Parker.
Other color names are more evocative, such as "Makin' Whoopee" and "Lady Is a Tramp," a sexy red.
"Nails should be fun, and polish should be thought of as an accessory," she said. To go with the rich burgundies, deep chocolate, jewel tones and textured fabrics of fall, nail colors are also vibrant and textured with fine iridescent shimmers that seem to shift colors and move.
She advises, "Don't try to match what you're wearing, but try something several shades darker. If dark colors scare you, try it on your toes first."
Nails are also shorter than they were last fall, and rounded instead of squared.
To protect hands from elements, she just introduced "Rich Girl" SPF25 sun-protecting cream, and in spring will be launching more products designed to cleanse, exfoliate and moisturize the hands.
"It's going to be easy to do because I am my customer. If a product is too difficult to use, I'm not going to use it."
One product that elicited oohs and aahs from last Friday's workshop crowd was her plush spa slipper with loofah surface for gentle exfoliation while padding around the home for those intent on multitasking.
Not bad for a moonlighter. And it's through her success as a manicurist that Lippmann's music dreams are coming true, She recently released a CD of jazz standards, entitled "Nightingale."
Originally from Scottsdale, Ariz., Lippmann said that when she moved to New York, she wasn't going to tell anyone about her music dreams, "but they're too smart for that.
"They'd ask where I was from, and they'd say people from New York move to Scottsdale but people don't move from Scottsdale to New York without a reason, so they'd hound me until I had to admit, 'OK, I'm a singer.'"
Cher advised her to stop giving manicures and focus on her music. "Mariah, Renee, they really supported me. I think it's because they know how difficult it is to work in the arts, and it's so easy to veer from that path. Life is short, and it's important that we support each other."
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