Congratulations to Lavette Cephus for winning this week’s Pay It Foward challenge. We love how personal this challenge was for you and we applaud you for taking the steps to build a life for you and your daughter through the nail industry. We love the symbolism of the open door and a wide open road that is representative of your bright future. Looking at this nail, we knew exactly what it stood for. This is the perfect example of the road you can take to become NAILS Next Top Nail Artist. We also loved that you took us to Mom’s House and showed us how it directly impacted your own life. Your design was well-constructed with lovely detailing work. We like that you combined 3-D sculpting with handpainted details to create a crisp, clear message. We know this nail and your story will inspire others out there. Congratulations on pushing yourself and encouraging others to not give up. This is great work.
Challenge 8 sponsored by Gelish asked our Top 5 to give back by choosing a charity that is near and dear to their heart. Then we asked them to create a single fantasy nail art tip dedicated to that charity that will raise awareness for their cause. They were allowed to use acrylic, gel, gel-polish, polish, and acrylic paints, but NO other embellishments.
This week’s challenge is sponsored by Gelish. We asked our Top 5 to give back by choosing a charity that is near and dear to their heart. Then we asked them to create a single fantasy nail art tip dedicated to that charity that will raise awareness for their cause. They were allowed to use acrylic, gel, gel-polish, polish, and acrylic paints, but NO other embellishments. We’ve posted their entries on the Week 8 Challenge page.
Congratulations to Simone Gilbert for winning this week’s Steampunk’d challenge. We love that you won for a theme that you previously weren’t a fan of! These nails manage to depict the steampunk style with elegance. Your design had amazing balance of handpainted, sculpted, and embellished techniques. It was flawless and crisp and beautiful. The statement pieces (top hat and goggles and the corset) popped, but not too much to make it so this isn’t a wearable design. Watching you work is like watching someone create art. We love your aesthetic. And you are a very talented artist with lots of little tricks up your sleeve to create such cool designs. We think your talent is taking something far-fetched and abstract and making it wearable and refined.
This week’s challenge is sponsored by It’s So Easy. We asked our Top 6 to create a steampunk design on one hand (on a model) using any materials they’d like. They will receive bonus points for using out-of-the-box (non-nail) materials. We’ve posted their entries on the Week 7 Challenge page.
Congratulations to Lexi Martone for winning this week’s Bejeweled challenge. Lexi’s design was fashion-forward and gorgeous. Her color palette, in addition to her textured and dimensional design is practically perfect, and it really shows off her fashion background and design sensibility. Her attention to detail (from creating the snakeskin patterns to placing individual caviar beads), her varied yet cohesive set of nails, and her quality video tutorial all helped to cinch the win this week amidst tough competition. She shows impeccable technique and has a thoughtful approach to showing us how she creates her work. She knows how to work with gems and we would love to see these as appliqués. We will all line up for a set of our own!
This week’s challenge is sponsored by Dashing Diva. We asked our Top 7 to create a cohesive set of 10 jeweled appliques. They were given clear nail tips to use and were allowed to incorporate a design using any nail products as the base. Then, they were instructed to use only crystals, studs, and beads (NO CHARMS) to create a bejeweled set of nails. We’ve posted their entries on the Week 6 Challenge page.
Congratulations to Danielle Costantino for winning this week’s 10-year anniversary-themed challenge. Danielle put a lot of thought and research into her design this week. She wanted to make sure that she captured Entity’s spirit, as well as create a celebratory look. We like that she looked into the traditions of celebrating 10 years. Her color palette was light and elegant, much like the Entity ads themselves. She showed a good grasp of a variety of mediums and gave us a beautiful, well-executed design that is both a nod to Entity’s ad campaign of old as well as a modern take on the company’s look. She also offered us a demo with good photos and descriptions of how she created her look.
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