- 13 May 2025
- Events & Apprentices & Careers &
AS THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL KICKS OFF WE THOUGHT WE’D REVISIT ONE OF OUR SALONS WHO ATTENDED LAST YEAR.
In 2024 one of our lovely salon owners, Julie Lee of The Nail and Beauty Lounge in Poulton-le-Fylde, was invited to attend the Cannes Film Festival with a team of nail technicians.
In addition to running her own salon, Julie has had another career for over seven years as a session manicurist. As a result, she has attended a variety of high-profile events including New York Fashion Week, London Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week and Haute Couture shows.
Her agent invited Julie to lead a team of session manicurists at one of the Festival’s biggest shows. Julie was asked to handpick a team of talented manicurists to join her at a superstar-studded, celebrity-packed fashion show for one of the world’s most luxurious diamond jewellers, and official festival partner, Chopard.
Often Julie reaches out to her manicurist friends from around the world to pull a top-class team together. But this time, she decided to take her own team of specialists from The Nail & Beauty Lounge. They are a talented, hard-working group that she knew would step up to deliver creative ideas and the highest quality work for some of the world’s best models.
Julie’s team was part of the Neville Hair and Beauty (Belgravia) event team and was based at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. They provided manicures and pedicures for all the models. The work is very different to a salon, as you must work at speed, use classic techniques and follow strict protocols too.
FROM APPRENTICE TO A-LIST
One member of Julie’s incredible team was her apprentice, Ruby Brawn. Ruby was working in the salon towards her Level 2 Beauty Therapy apprenticeship.
Ruby had always loved painting nails when she was little, so a beauty therapy apprenticeship was a great fit for her. It came highly recommended by Julie, as did Kleek Apprenticeships.
She commented, “I was so grateful to be given the opportunity to work at this year's Cannes Film Festival. It was amazing – working with new people and working under pressure in such a different environment. I would love to be able to work on other shows and fashion weeks in the future.”
Ruby loves going to work as she’s doing what she loves and working with a really supportive team. She qualified in the summer and is now working towards her Level 3 qualification. In five years, she hopes to have completed all her training and to open her own salon. But in the meantime, she’s loving her work alongside everyone at The Nail and Beauty Lounge.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR JULIE AND HER TEAM?
Julie told us, "Ruby worked incredibly hard, and I wouldn't hesitate to bring her to another event if the opportunity arises. She did a great job and really went above and beyond to deliver high-quality work in the pressured show environment. I would definitely consider taking apprentices with me again, as they can learn so much, and it really shows that there are plenty of opportunities beyond the salon too!”
We can’t wait to hear where you’re headed to next Julie… New York Fashion Week maybe?
