According to various holistic approaches, the feet are the ‘engines’ of our bodies: by applying pressure on certain zones or reflex points, energy balance can be achieved on the physical and emotional level. This means that a foot massage has a powerful effect – both on health and on beauty. Bastien Gonzalez, a Parisian podiatrist and medical pedicure expert, believes that our feet require much more than the casual care we normally give them. And they require it not only dur-ing summer when they are exposed, but continuously. The Foot Virtuoso, as he is known all over the world, says that an average person walks 8,000 steps a day, and 40,000 kilometres in his or her lifetime. This means that feet bear an incredible amount of weight – so we should honour them by indulging in a pedi-cure and foot care products that he developed. Bastien Gonzalez used to be a skier, but his career ended when he was seriously injured at a competition.
‘During my six-month physiotherapy, I realized what I wanted to do with my life. When I told my parents that I would open a medical pedicure clinic in Paris, my mom asked, in shock – you plan to make a living by re-moving calluses from old ladies’ feet? However, podia-try is a much more complex skill than that and, having done this for almost 30 years, I can say that I made the right choice’, says the dynamic, handsome man whose exclusive salons can be found in prestigious hotels in the most beautiful locations around the world.
BG Pedicure is loved by athletes, royal families and celebrities, such as actresses Cate Blanchett and Gwyneth Paltrow, who do not hesitate a second to fly Gonzalez over so that he could ‘solve their problem’. He tells me that his team performs about 25,000 treat-ments every year. One of these exclusive locations is the Lošinj Bellevue Hotel Spa Clinic, where his meth-od is described as a ‘glamorous combination of mas-sage, extra moisturizing creams and nail buffing’ us-ing herbal extracts, essential oils and natural peelings based on volcanic sand and diamond powder. He has his grandma to thank for some of these unique recipes, because her nails were beautifully pink and shiny even late in life. ‘All of her life, she used chamois leather to buff her nails, and thanks to her advice, I have created a special buffer made using chamois leather and horn’, reveals Gonzalez, adding that pedicure does not neces-sarily end with nail polish because the surface of the nail can be buffed to perfection. And this is when it is the prettiest – when it’s natural.

Prema raznim holističkim učenjima, stopala su ‘motor’ organizma: pri-tiskom na određene zone, odnosno refleksne točke, može se uspostaviti energetski sklad na tjelesnoj i emocionalnoj razini. Masaža stopala tako ima moćan učinak – i na zdrav-lje, i na ljepotu. Bastien Gonzalez, pariški podijatar, odnosno stručnjak za medicinsku pedikuru, smatra da stopalima treba mnogo više od usputne njege. I to ne samo u vrijeme kad su izložena pogledima, nego kontinuirano. Foot Virtuoso, kako ga zovu diljem svijeta, kaže da prosječan čovjek dnevno na-pravi 8000 koraka, a tijekom života prijeđe 40.000 kilometara. Stopala su stoga među najopterećenijim dijelovima tijela – pa kako im onda ne odati počast pedikurom i linijom preparata za njegu koje je on osmislio? Svojevremeno profesionalni skijaš, karije-ru je prekinuo kad  se teško ozlijedio na natjecanju. ‘Na šest mjeseci dugoj rehabilitaciji shvatio sam što ću u budućnosti raditi. Kada sam roditeljima rekao da u Parizu otvaram ordinaciju za medicinsku pe-dikuru, mama me zgroženo pitala: Zar ćeš za život zarađivati uklanjajući babama kurje oči? No, vještina podijatra puno je kompleksnija i nakon gotovo 30 go-dina iskustva mogu reći da nisam pogriješio’, kazuje mi taj dinamični, markantni čovjek čiji su ekskluziv-ni saloni otvoreni u najprestižnijim hotelima na naj-ljepšim lokacijama svijeta.
Pedikura BG ima poklonike među brojnim sportaši-ma, kraljevskim obiteljima i slavnim osobama, kao što su glumice Cate Blanchett i Gwyneth Paltrow, klijenti kojima nije problem po Gonzaleza poslati privatni avion da ‘riješi problem’. Kaže mi da go-dišnje diljem svijeta njegov tim obavi oko 25.000 tretmana. Jedno od tih ekskluzivnih  mjesta je i Spa Clinic lošinjskog hotela Bellevue, gdje njegovu meto-du opisuju kao ‘glamurozan spoj masaže, superhra-njivih krema i poliranja noktiju’, koristeći ekstrakte ljekovitog bilja, esencijalna ulja i prirodne pilinge na bazi vulkanskog pijeska i dijamantnog praha. Dio  te jedinstvene recepture preuzeo je od bake, čiji su nokti i u poznoj dobi imali lijepu ružičastu boju i sjaj. ‘Ci-jeli ih je život polirala kožom divokoze, a zahvalju-jući njezinu savjetu osmislio sam posebnu rašpicu od roga i kože divokoze’, otkriva Gonzalez, dodajući da pedikuru ne završava lakiranjem nokta jer njego-va se ploča može ispolirati do savršenstva. I tada je najljepša, prirodna.– 

Bastien’s Advice

• Love your feet: massage them for 30 seconds every night using a moisturizing cream. The skin on your feet is seven times thinner than the skin on your face, so it should be nourished to remain elastic.
• Twice a week after showering take a soft toothbrush and rub the skin around the nail.
• Pedicure is a foot treatment, it’s not about applying nail polish.
• Rub some oil into the skin around your nails every day: if you do not have the Reverence de Bastien cream, olive oil will do.
• If you like nail polish, have a 24-hour break every three days, so that your nail doesn’t stain due to chemicals in the nail polish.
• When you take off your heels, stretch your feet, move your toes up and down, left and right, in order to relieve pressure and increase your blood flow.

Bastienovi savjeti

• Volite svoja stopala: svake 
večeri masirajte ih 30 sekundi hidratantnom kremom. Koža stopala sedam je puta tanja od kože lica pa je treba nahraniti da ostane elastična.
• Dva puta tjedno nakon tuširanja mekanom četkicom za zube iščetkajte kožicu oko noktiju.
• Bit pedikure je liječenje stopala, a ne bojenje noktiju.
• Svaki dan u kožicu utrljajte ulje: ako nemate Reverence de Bastien preparat, dobro će poslužiti i maslinovo ulje. 
• Ako baš volite lak na noktima, svaka tri dana napravite pauzu od 24 sata, da vam nokti pod utjecajem kemikalija ne požute.
• Kad skinete cipele visokih potpetica, istegnite stopala, mičite prstima gore, dolje, lijevo i desno, da se oslobodite pritiska i potaknete cirkulaciju.

To book your treatment click here