Tom Bachik with the legendary Coco Chanel
For a manicurist, Tom Bachik is something of an anomaly. The California native is every bit your type-A competitive dude: “Skateboard, snowboard—I pretend I surf, but it’s more like floundering on a board,” he says. “That kind of extreme Southern California lifestyle.” It’s not the typical CV of someone in the beauty business.
But he always had an artistic side, and his interest in graphic design and airbrushing got him off the surfboard and into nail school. After making a name for himself winning nail art competitions, Bachik, a married father of three, hooked up with an agency and started doing editorial work at a string of top national magazines.
