Viet Voice

Max Truc Nguyen Competes in NAILS Next Top Nail Artist

by Kimberly Pham | October 9, 2013 | Bookmark +



Our sister publication, NAILS Magazine, is hosting an elimination-style online nail art competition and, with your online votes, you can help decide the fate of these nail artists and who will be crowned the "NAILS Next Top Nail Artist" winner.


We're so excited to see that one of the Top 10 competitors is a Vietnamese-American nail tech. Max Truc Nguyen is a nail tech at Bellagio Nails Salon in Lebanon, Tenn. He is no stranger to nail art competitions, winning VietSALON Magazine's Year of the Snake mural nail art competition. Nguyen’s specialty is in freehand work with a mixture of tattoo-style designs and hand-painted fine art.


Unfortunately, due to an insanely busy work schedule he had to drop out of the competition, but his amazing work beat out over 100 applicants for the competition and he certainly left an impression with the judges. Here are Nguyen’s entries for five weeks worth of challenges.



Pre-Challenge #1 was an '80s themed challenge, while Pre-Challenge #2 had contestants draw in black and white and create a YouTube video of the steps. Click here to see Max's video.


Challenge #1 sponsored by Dashing Diva had contestants design directly on a flat Dashing Diva nail applique template using a spring/summer theme.



Challenge #2 sponsored by Entity Beauty had contestants create the nails and hand position to go with Entity's upcoming "mysterious-themed" ad. Click here for Nguyen's step-by-step process uploaded to the nail lovers' social network, Nail Art Gallery.


Challenge #3 sponsored by Gel II had contestants create 10-tip nail art murals of their hometown. "Nashville is a lively and vibrant city filled with bright colors and a mixed culture. Nashville, my hometown, my pride, and my biggest inspiration for this week’s nail art challenge," Nguyen wrote.

There are nine weeks left of the competition and the Top 9 is a fierce breed of nail tech. Buddy Sims, Christian Mans, Jane Weiner, Julie Ventura, Lauren Wireman, Lexi Martone, Ryoko Garcia, Temeka Johnson, and Winnie Huang will continue in this comprehensive nail art competition that will test the competitors in all aspects of nail art in many mediums as well as in photographing step-by-step tutorials, shooting and uploading YouTube nail art videos, and sharing their work on all forms of social media.

Visit ntna.nailsmag.com to support and vote for all of your favorite artists! (You can vote for more than one person.) Every Friday one more contestant will be eliminated and a new challenge will be posted. The final two contestants will be flown to the International Salon & Spa Expo in Long Beach for a showdown to determine the winner.

Congratulations to Max for making it so far, and good luck to the rest of the contestants!


— Kim

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Originally posted on Viet Salon

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