And the best? The French, says Bastien Gonzalez who promises a pedicure that will leave you staring at your feet for six whole weeks.
Podiatrist Bastien Gonzalez claims that when he’s done with your feet, you won’t stop staring at them - for six weeks.
Dressed in white, his squeaky clean demeanour is befitting a man who has been described in a press release as a foot virtuoso, who combines the three principles of care, beauty of the nails and well-being of the feet.
“The feet are always neglected and an afterthought when it comes to well-being, but they contain the key to good health and well-being,” Gonzalez says in a clear and pronounced French accent.
With an international staff of just five employees - or ambassadors as Gonazalez prefers to call them — he admits to a borderline mania when it comes to selecting the hands that work on others’ feet.
“They are all trained, non, they have studied feet, for four years,” he says. Licensed chiropractors are the starting pool from which he narrows his final selection down to those individuals that “understand feet”.
It’s not entirely impossible to visualise Gonzalez or his staff picking up a conversation with your feet, completely oblivious or disinterested in what lies above.
“Feet say a lot,” he says, “I can look at a woman’s feet and tell you her lifestyle.” The temptation of Manolo Blahniks and Jimmy Choos with the need to be seen, he says, takes its final toll on the feet.
“The pointed shoes and pointed heels, they cause calluses and corns on the soles, so La Pedicure de Bastien [it is named after Gonzalez] works on removing them instead of just scratching them off, which is what a normal pedicurist would do,” he says.
His 60-minute treatment starts off with a medical pedicure, which takes care of the epidermis and nails by removing the corn callus and other thickenings of the skin. A drill-like tool is used to achieve this and the entire exercise — chair included — resembles a day at the dentist’s.
“Yes, I’ve been told that, but it’s less painful, oui?” he asks. Definitely less painful, though he does clarify that it depends on the state of the person’s feet.
Gonzalez is unsurprisingly diplomatic about the effect of nail enamel on nails. “I don’t want Revlon to sue me,” he says with a smile.
“Nail enamel becomes a problem if it is not removed soon. There is nothing wrong in wearing it for a social engagement and then being prompt in removing it the next morning, but if it’s not removed and left to stay then it leads to the yellow colouring of the nail, which then women have to cover up with more enamel,” he says circling his index finger in mid-air, indicating the “vicious cycle of enamel”.
But, there is hope, as Gonzalez has devised what he says is the real secret of his pedicure. “It is a buffing paste and is spread on the top of the nail with a chamois leather, making the grain so smooth that the nail shines as it would with clear nail polish,” he says, adding that the effect lasts for six weeks.
“Oui, six weeks. I don’t want to say you have to get a pedicure de Bastien every six weeks. It would be as if I’m self-promoting, but after six weeks the shine will slowly go off,” he says leaving it fairly open to interpretation.
The last stage of the specialised pedicure is the final foot massage that Gonzalez says is a result of two years collaboration with an osteopath. “This massage tackles four essential aspects of the foot: muscular flexibility, articular mobility, blood circulation and skin elasticity.”
The effect, he says, is immediate. “The foot feels lighter, the whole body seems to be floating.”
Gonzalez admits he has worked on the feet of many a celebrity. “They need it the most, with all those social engagements,” he says, but will not even let slip a single name. “They are all over the world. New York, London, France, so many,” he says.
With La Pedicure de Bastien being sampled across the world, it had to be asked, who has the worst feet.
“English women,” he says. And, he clarifies, it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s French. “But they are very cute about getting the pedicure as it’s something very new to them.”
And the best? “The French. But, only because they are always doing a little something to take care.”
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