What Marian Is Wearing on Her Nails Right Now

"Oh, I'm wearing Shellac Negligee. I'm very boring with my nails, actually. I either wear a very, very dark red, a black, or a dark purple. Or, basically, nothing. Unless I really need to go to a very special event, then I make my own press-on nails, then literally just wear them to the event and tear them straight off. Yeah, that's all I wear."

Marian's Personal Nailcare Routine

"Because I'm postmenopausal, my nails have been affected, like so many people's are at various stages in their lives. Hormones play a part in the condition of your nails. My nails are still strong, but they're quite rigid now, and if they get too dry, they split along the ridges. So I try and keep them covered with a gel polish or shellac. I mostly use shellac because it's a little bit gentler, I find.

I'm also pretty good at using a nail oil. I think an oil is a nonnegotiable product that you should use on your nails daily. So I love IBX [2] (£8), and I also love the CND Rescue RXx [3] (£11), because that's actually got keratin in it. The keratin helps to strengthen the poor parts of my nails. But I think a good nail oil is the most important thing. If you do nothing else, then that's the most important. And I do. I'm quite good with it, actually. It's on my desk all the time."

Marian's Thoughts on Dip Power Nails vs. Shellac

"I'm not keen on the dip nails for several reasons. First of all, hygienically. Some nail techs let people dip their whole nails into a pot of powder. And I just think there's something wrong about that, because hygiene issues should be number one. It's absolutely fine to sprinkle it on or have one of those little troughs, then you throw away the excess. But I know a lot of people don't do that, so I don't like it for that reason. Also, it takes a lot of removal, so that means a lot of acetone, which is drying. There's nothing wrong with acetone, but it is drying, and the nail seems to get too brittle."

Marian's Most Challenging Creation

"Well, there have been lots. But I think one that actually stands out in my mind, which is in the book, is the very first fashion show I ever did, which was back in '97 — Alexander McQueen, when he was at Givenchy. And the extreme nails didn't exist then. So I'd have to sort of work out how to do it, because he wanted very long, spiral nails. I mean if you'd have stretched them out, they're probably about 12 inches long and spiralled. And extreme nails didn't exist. Nobody did them. I never assisted anybody, so I sort of had to work out myself. And there was no Google. There was no Instagram. So yeah, that was for me the hardest.

I did have to spend quite a few days at home working out how to actually make these nails, and it was tricky. I ended up using a Chinese takeaway foil tray as a sort of a basis. Because tinfoil was too thin, and I needed to find something that was suitable to use as a form that would stand up to the weight of the acrylic they put on top. That took a lot of days actually, on and off for the best part of a week."

Marian's Favourite Celebrity to Work With

"One of my favourites has to be Lady Gaga [4]. She gave me so many challenges, it was unreal. There are lots of people that are lovely. I quite like working with Brad Pitt [5], I have to say. That was a great day in the office, really, giving him a hand massage."

Marian's new book Nailed it: Nails, Fashion, Technique [6] (£20) is available now.