We flew to Ibiza to meet Rita Ora's manicurist – here's everything we learned about nail art
Nevertheless, last month, I packed my bag and flew to Ibiza for that very reason.
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But this wasn't for just any nail appointment, as I was meeting Keely Cooper - AKA nail tech to Rita Ora, Charlotte Tilbury and Peggy Gou.
Having started her career at a nail salon in Aberdeen, she is now a nail artist working in hidden villas, on yachts, and on photo shoots in Ibiza - and she has built up a star-studded client list of some of the world's most fashionable women.
In typical Keely fashion, we met in Ocean Drive Talamanca, a stylish pad on the south-east of the island, where she arrived carrying more nail polish shades than you'll find in most salons - 'I've got more,' she told me.
After trimming, buffing and cutting my nails, she curated a colour palette tailored to me, including lavender purple, mint green, and sunshine yellow, as well as the perfect base shade to flatter my skin tone.
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After chatting through some of my ideas, and drawing inspiration from a previous design, she dotted, swirled, and painted pastel-coloured motifs on to my nails, including rainbows, evil eyes, and flowers.
As she painted, she told me about her career journey, her coolest appointments, and predictions for the future - here's everything I learned.
How did you become a nail artist, and what led you to Ibiza?
It all started after I left school, and went to art college in Aberdeen.
Despite wanting to be an artist my whole life, I realised that I needed to make money - at this stage, nail art was becoming cool, so I decided to sign up for some beauty courses, then my husband and I opened a nail bar beauty salon.
We had a few girls who worked for us who were ex-art school students, so we had quite an arty vibe going on.
I loved the salon, but I wasn't feeling fulfilled - I was working all the time to come out to Ibiza three or four times a year.
Then, when Covid happened and we had to shut the salon, I did some soul-searching and decided to make the move to Ibiza - I already knew people here, so it was a good way to make new contacts and I started to build up a list of clients.
When I first moved to Ibiza, a lot of my clients weren't asking for nail art - instead, they wanted plain "clean-girl" nails, or just plain red.
I've always been into nail art, so I did wonder if I'd made the right decision to move here - I wondered if it was the wrong thing for me, artistically.
But as word got out about what I could offer, people started to experiment more and now, most of my clients ask for some form of nail art.
I did a girl's nails for her birthday a few weeks ago, and at that party, people saw her nails, which has led to me getting five new clients.
I always say you're only as good as your last set of nails, and every client is important - it doesn't matter who they are or what their status is - you should be doing your best work for everybody.
Where are some of the coolest places your job has led you?
I often work from my studio in Santa Gertrudis, as well as on yachts, boats, and in villas all over the island.
I definitely see a lot of amazing houses, boats, and hidden villas on mountain country roads that I would never normally see day-to-day.
Every time I go to an amazing villa, I can't imagine I'll ever top it, but then I go to another one that I didn't even know existed! It's a great way to see the island.
What's the secret to your creative process, from the idea to the finished look?
When it's for someone I've never worked with before, I have to gauge how much nail art they want and what they're going to be comfortable with.
Chatting with the client and finding out about them while I'm prepping the nails is an important part of the process, where I learn about what ideas they have, what they're going to be wearing, where they're travelling to next, and what interests them creatively.
After all, they are the person who will wear the nails for the next three to four weeks, so it has to be a joint effort.
Then, it's a mixture of looking at pictures from my own Instagram, as well as any other photos they've saved, and looking at colours that suit their skin tone, work with what they'll be wearing, and the climate they're going to be in.
Usually, I decide that a certain colour will work, and start off with a couple of nails, then decide what other colours will match.
If I do something on one nail and a client says: "Wow, I love that," then I'll explore how we can enhance it and take it on to another nail. It's all about keeping it balanced - sometimes a design won't be quite right, but then adding a tiny speck of gold lifts it and looks amazing.
What is the most complex or favourite set of nails you've ever done?
The longest I've spent on a set of nails was four hours - I love the mix and match trend, where there are clashing colours and all the nails are different.
I'm a fan of nail jewellery, too, where I make nails look like they're wearing jewels by creating little charms out of gel and chrome, and mixing them together to look like pieces of gold - it's a lovely way to get into nail art, as it's not too colourful and can even be done on a plain soap nail background.
What is it like seeing your designs come to life on a photo shoot or the red carpet?
I follow the same process as usual, but sometimes it can be more restricted with fashion photo shoots - especially if it is for a very big campaign, as they'll usually want something quite plain, to avoid drawing attention away from the clothes.
If it's a red carpet event, you have to take into consideration what people will be wearing and how far they want to go with their nail designs.
When I do eventually see the photos from a shoot or event, I think: "That's my little piece that everyone can see," which makes me feel proud and happy that I got it right.
Being on a shoot can be nerve-wracking because there's so much pressure to make sure everyone likes what you've done - I do still get a little nervous, but I think it's good to feel that way as it drives you to do your best work.
What nail trends are huge right now?
Nail art is a great way to express your fashion, tastes, creativity and the things you like - people sometimes even put political views on their nails or trending topics, as it's an easy and impermanent way to show your creative side.
However, there is still a big call for classic, clean "soap nails" as they're fresh and match with everything. People who do a lot of Instagram posting like to keep their nails plain - if they're posting a lot of reels or photos, always keeping their nails plain stops people working out when the content was taken.
What nail products do you love?
I love The Gelbottle Inc, especially the BIAB formula, as well as the new allergy-focused HEMA-free version and the range of colours is great, and so highly pigmented.
I try to go for non-toxic brands, and love a few of the South Korean formulas, including Ice Gel, which has an incredible cat eye gel formula with a great finish.
Cuticle Nippers, £58.
For moisturisers, exfoliators and cuticle oils I mix it up a bit, but I'm currently using Nuxe, including Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse, £22.
Saent Face Oil, £75
I've also been using Saent, a rich, gorgeous face oil that's also lovely for the hands - I like to use products that are as clean and organic as possible because when you're living on an island and going into the sea, you don't want to use anything that's going to harm the environment.
Here are some of the highlights you'll find in the area...
Book in with one of the island's most in-demand nail techs
Meet Keely Cooper for a mani, nail tech to Rita Ora, Peggy Gou and Charlotte Tilbury.
Stock up on swimwear at BLondon Boutique
You'll find flattering swimwear, coverups, and boat-proof accessories in this local gem. Expect curated swimwear, expert help, and a chilled atmosphere.
Chase the sunset at Ocean Drive Talamanca
Head up to the Up & Down restaurant and sip on Rosé Sangria, £6, as the sun sets.
Walk the boardwalk
Wander along Carrer Platja Talamanca, for unrivalled ocean views, a sandy beach, and yacht ogling.
Visit Ibiza Old Town
Indulge in Cameroonian banana ice cream at Barocco Ibiza, £4.25 a scoop, coconut milkshakes with a view at Ca'n Raio, £7.32, and shop for trinkets in whimsical Reserva Natural.
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ALLEGED 'PREGNANCY PLOT' Mr Daw highlighted a message she sent a friend in October 2020 – just weeks before the alleged headbutt – that she was 'not walking away with nothing'. It came after she told friends she was 'planning my attack' after learning Giggs had been cheating on her with eight other women. 'Your plan was to get pregnant by Mr Giggs,' he asked her. Miss Greville replied 'absolutely not', saying she had meant she didn't want to walk away without their golden retriever puppy, Mac. Mr Daw read out a message in which she asked Giggs about buying a £1,000 pair of Prada boots from Harrods. He asked whether she had 'got very used to the lifestyle you enjoyed with Mr Giggs'. But Miss Greville responded that she could 'still provide for myself' as a single woman even though she would not be entitled to any financial support as they weren't married. She was then asked about a message she sent Giggs that month telling him she had had a smear test and 'I had cancerous cells'. Giggs responded: 'Oh my God. How did you not tell me?' The court heard Miss Greville told him it was 'something I want to deal with on my own'. Mr Daw suggested: 'The truth is you were going to have your contraceptive out.' 'I was getting my coil out and I also wanted a STD test,' Miss Greville replied. She said she 'completely' regretted making up the cancer scare 'lie', but insisted 'I needed to say something to get him off my back and for him to leave me alone.' Under questioning, she admitted there had been 'no medical emergency' which necessitated the removal of the coil, but said it 'was coming to an end and it needed taking out'. 'If I was saying I had cancerous cells then I would not have to have sex with him,' she added Mr Daw said: 'I am going to suggest you were having active, regular and very enthusiastic sex with Mr Giggs at this time, including when you had this coil removed.' Miss Greville said: 'I disagree.' He read out a text exchange in which Miss Greville asked Giggs if an eight-mile jog he was planning was to 'burn off that cheesecake'. Giggs replied that he had done two work-outs, one at 8am that day and one the night before. Mr Daw suggested this was a reference to their having had sex 'twice in 24 hours'. But she retorted that it 'absolutely wasn't'. Mr Daw asked her: 'If you had got pregnant with Mr Giggs, you would have anticipated a significant amount of support for a long period of time? 'You would have been tied together pretty much forever.' But she replied: 'I know, and I would never have done that because that's not what I wanted.' During her cross-examination, Miss Greville revealed she'd had a baby with her unnamed new partner 12 weeks earlier. STAGED PHOTO Miss Greville admitted speaking to a friend about being paid £5,000 for allowing a photographer for to take pictures of her injured lip days after allegedly being headbutted by Giggs. But she said she never received any cash for the resulting article – and denied using make-up to 'enhance' the wound. The photograph of her walking their dog Mac appeared in The Sun on November 16, 2020 – four days before she was interviewed by police about her allegations. It was headlined: 'Living hell. Ryan Giggs's ex spotted with a bruised lip in first outing since Wales manager's assault arrest'. Mr Daw highlighted a message exchange with her flatmate, Courtney, on November 10. Miss Greville wrote: 'We can set up a pic and get money for both of us. What do you think?' Courtney replied: 'I think yes.' Miss Greville wrote back: 'We could get 5K.' The friend replied: 'And kit our new apartment out.' Miss Greville replied that she was thinking 'more to cover my legal costs' followed by a laughing emoji. Courtney messaged to say 'Let's f****** do it', adding: 'A sofa like Molly-Mae's would be like 10K.' 'Need to sell some more stories,' Miss Greville responded. Mr Daw asked if she was 'joking about making money in selling stories to newspapers'. Questioned on whether she agreed 'this is you setting up a newspaper article for money about this case', Miss Greville replied: 'It was a picture.' The court heard she later sent a link of the article to Courtney, adding it made her look 'awful but me looking rough makes it look less staged'. 'But it was staged, wasn't it?' Mr Daw asked. 'Yes, I did set it up,' she replied. He put it to her that she was 'trying to get the public to turn on Mr Giggs'. However Miss Greville said her intention had been to gain 'control of that first photograph' so that paparazzi would stop 'harassing me'. Asked by Mr Daw if she 'enhanced' the lip injury with make-up 'to make it much worse than it was', she replied: 'No.' But she admitted having filler in her lips shortly before the alleged attack, saying it made them more 'tender'. Later under re-examination by prosecutor Peter Wright QC, Miss Greville said she was not paid for the image in the end, and never asked for any payment. SEX BRUISES Asked about a bust-up in a Dubai hotel room while they were on holiday in September 2017, Miss Greville agreed she told a colleague the following day that a bruise on her wrist had been caused by 'rough sex'. But she insisted that had been a false cover story, telling jurors she had been 'embarrassed' and 'didn't want to admit' that it had been sustained in an assault by Giggs. Under cross-examination, she admitted sending him a message from the beach days later showing off her tan after he flew home – and adding: 'My sex bruise is coming out nicely too!!' But she insisted the comment was her way of 'making light' of the fact he had attacked her. Mr Daw suggested to her that 'you did from time to time get bruises from sex.' 'Not that I recall,' she answered. Mr Daw then read out an exchange of messages from them a few weeks later in which she wrote: 'I want you so badly rough.' Giggs replied that 'I'm scared of hurting you', to which Miss Greville responded: 'I want it to hurt a little.' When the former Wales manager replied that it was 'a fine line,' Miss Greville wrote: 'We will just have to have fun finding that line then.' Giggs sent a photograph of a sex toy - a paddle - in an Agent Provocateur box, to which she asked: 'What's that?' When he replied that she had 'asked me to be a bit more assertive, she messaged back: 'I'm intrigued. 'When are you using this?' Miss Greville agreed there were 'dozens' of 'incredibly affectionate' messages between the pair during a five-day period after the alleged Dubai incident. In one she referred to him as 'my gorgeous man' and said she'd 'had the best time as always'. Miss Greville claimed this was her way of 'overcompensating' after Giggs made her feel his outbursts were 'my fault'. Mr Daw said it was his client's case that all he had done was take her hand off his when he was putting her suitcase into the corridor following the row. ALLEGED MANIPULATION Asking whether it was her case that Giggs had been 'manipulating' her into a relationship, Mr Daw highlighted a 'provocative' photograph of herself in her gym gear which she had sent him shortly after they first met. In a message referencing the photo years later, jurors were told Miss Greville wrote: 'I knew exactly what I was doing.' In response, she told jurors she meant she knew he was 'interested' in her. LOST PHONE Jurors were told that police had wanted Miss Greville to hand over her phone as part of their investigations so her messages could be examined, only for her to say she had dropped it in a river. 'I tried to rescue my dog from the water and it had slipped out of my pocket and into the river,' she told the court. Later another phone went missing when she was mugged in Manchester, she added. Officers told her the data could be retrieved from iCloud, but she refused to let them, saying she didn't trust police at the time as she thought they were 'selling stories' about her. In addition, she did not want details of her company revealed and potentially passed to Giggs, she added, saying she didn't want him to 'damage my career'. Jurors were told that ultimately Miss Greville provided the material which the defence had requested. Mr Daw suggested she 'deliberately withheld information that would undermine the case against Mr Giggs'. But she responded: 'I didn't.' BLACKMAIL Miss Greville said Giggs had threatened to circulate an attached video to her work colleagues at GG Hospitality if she didn't unblock him following one of their many rows. She told police 'it could have been a sexual video' as he had 'randomly' sent her a naked picture of himself moments earlier. But she insisted she had deleted the email without viewing it. With a flourish, during his cross-examination Mr Daw played jurors what he said was the clip in question – having first reassuring Miss Greville it contained nothing intimate. In one of the trial's few moments of levity, the clip in fact showed Miss Greville and female friends wearing in Santa hats dancing to a Christmas song at a party. But Miss Greville continued to maintain she hadn't previously known it was innocuous in nature, insisting she hadn't watched it at the time. The trial heard that following this break-up, Giggs deleted their sex videos. However once they got back together again weeks later, he asked her to send him copies – and she complied. Asked by Mr Daw why she agreed if she really believed he had been trying to blackmail her, Miss Greville replied she 'thought he had changed'. BAG THROWING Miss Greville claimed Giggs threw a bag at her head and then kicked her out of bed at London's Stafford Hotel on the evening of December 6 2019, before ejecting her from the room, naked. It followed a row over his 'manically' flirting with other women while ignoring her. The next morning, Miss Greville told the court she asked him: 'Did you throw a bag at me last night?' She said Giggs replied: 'Yes, but you wound me up that much you made me do it.' Mr Daw said: 'That's all just lies, isn't it?' Miss Greville replied: 'No, absolutely not.' He ran through a series of message exchanges between the couple later that day as she caught a train to a wedding in Shrewsbury while Giggs stayed in the capital to do television work. The pair messaged each other about how hungover they were, the court heard, and Giggs offered to pick her up from her hotel the following morning. Mr Daw said: 'He didn't have to personally come to collect you. He could have arranged a taxi for you.' Miss Greville said: 'He could have but he felt guilty for what he had done the night before.' Mr Daw said: 'Apart from the fact that you have a hangover, there is nothing else in these messages to suggest he has violently assaulted you the night before.' The witness replied: 'No, that's because he made me feel like it was my fault.' THE HEADBUTT As for the night he was accused of headbutting her, Mr Daw said it was Giggs' account that she had been trying to snatch her phone out of his pocket when their faces touched. 'It was two faces coming together in a very minor form of contact,' he put it to her. But she retorted that the claim was 'completely false'. Mr Daw also played CCTV footage from outside Giggs' house on the night of the alleged attack which he said showed the footballer calmly carrying her bags to the gate in the expectation she would leave in a taxi. He highlighted how the only item Giggs could be seen removing from the leased Mercedes was Mac's crate. It contrasted with her account given in court during her examination in chief when she referred to how Giggs had been 'unpacking everything from my car'. She also said he had been 'getting all my things and throwing them out all over the front door'. Told there was no CCTV showing this happen, Miss Greville answered that it happened 'in the garage'. Mr Daw suggested that all Giggs had been doing was 'carrying your bags down towards the gate on the basis he was expecting you to leave in an Uber'. 'If that's what he believes,' she replied. She continued to insist he had been trying to 'humiliate' her and that she had been the one begging him to let her leave and drive to her father's house along with Emma and the puppy, her 'surrogate baby'. LOCKDOWN FUN Miss Greville alleged that while spending the first lockdown at his mansion, Giggs made her feel like she was 'losing my mind'. Suggesting that in reality that 'much of the time' the couple were enjoying one another's company during lockdown, Mr Daw played the jury two videos they had filmed together. One showed them exercising together in the garden. In the other they were rapping along to hip hop artist 50 Cent's In Da Club, wearing dark glasses. Mr Daw listed other lockdown pastimes including online family quizzes, wine tasting on Zoom and had Michelin-starred chefs bring in food. In response, Miss Greville said it was 'not all fun'. 'It doesn't mean he was being nice to me all the time,' she added. Mr Daw asked whether the real reason she had agreed to spend lockdown with Giggs was that he had a 'big house and a huge garden' and it would have been 'less unpleasant than spending lockdown in a flat'. However Miss Greville pointed out that both her parents had 'large houses with big gardens so I could have gone there'. Mr Daw also played the jury a clip which Giggs had sent her of himself watching TV with Miss Greville's younger sister after she asked what he was up to. Pointing out that Emma was then just 24, he asked Kate Greville whether it was plausible that she would have allowed Giggs to be alone with her if he was as abusive as she portrayed. After a lengthy pause, Miss Greville responded that she would be 'guessing' if she answered why she had left Emma with Giggs that day. GIRLIE HOLIDAYS Challenging her claim that Giggs had been 'controlling', Mr Daw highlighted how in the months before their final break-up, Miss Greville had enjoyed three holidays. She had travelled to Ibiza, Portugal and Greece, he said – on the latter two occasions with female friends. He suggested it was a 'naked lie' that Giggs did anything to stop her seeing them. But she responded that his behaviour created 'really difficult relationships'. Showing jurors pictures of her enjoying the sunshine breaks with friends, Mr Daw asked: 'Was it difficult on the beach, in the lift?' But Miss Greville insisted it had just been 'a holiday and a long weekend'. BUSINESS PRIDE Mr Daw read out messages in which Mr Giggs told her how 'proud' he was when she set up her own PR business in 2020, saying he even introduced many clients to her. When she wanted to deliver champagne hampers to them to thank them for their business, it was Giggs who personally chauffeured her in his Range Rover. However Miss Greville replied that on many occasions 'his actions didn't match his words', saying he would 'pepper the niceness with horribleness'. Other messages when she was preparing to strike out alone in 2019 saw her ask for his 'advice and guidance' on business plans. Mr Daw suggested this was at odds with her picture of a 'cycle of abuse' – but Miss Greville retorted: 'We were in a relationship and that's what people in a relationship tend to do.' MESSAGE PRESSURE Miss Greville claims Giggs would sometimes become abusive and accuse her of cheating if she didn't reply to his messages immediately. Accusing her of doing the same thing, Mr Daw read out a text early one morning in January 2018 in which she complained that her 'own f****** boyfriend can't reply to a message'. The father-of-two replied: 'WTF I was sorting the kids out.' But Miss Greville said she had been 'conditioned' by Giggs to respond in that way, adding that it 'wasn't a natural reaction' for her. A key tactic from Mr Daw was to do nothing to belittle the extent of Giggs' unfaithfulness – instead arguing that it was this which most hurt Miss Greville, not any abusive behaviour. Indeed delivering an opening statement to the jury in last summer's trial, he told them they were not there to judge Giggs on 'the morals of infidelity', adding the hackneyed warning: 'Keep your eye on the ball.' Towards the end of his cross-examination, Mr Daw put it to Miss Greville that her decision to leave the former footballer for good was 'nothing to do with coercion, violence or anything like that - it was just to do with his cheating'. She replied that it was also about his 'coercion and control and manipulating'. Mr Daw accused Miss Greville of changing her accounts of what happened over time in order to paint Giggs in the worst light possible. He alleged that 'from start to finish' she had 'twisted the truth very carefully to try to implicate him in crimes he did not commit'. But sticking to her guns throughout, Miss Greville replied: 'I have told the truth.'
