Cover Tech Contest 2015: The Masked Woman Wins

If you want to overdose on brilliant photos of nails, take a look at this selection of images submitted to our 2015 Cover Tech Contest. Winning cover tech Amanda Lenher took top honors with her knock-out comic book-inspired nails. Our heartiest congratulations go to Lenher and all the other finalists. And a giant thank you goes out to everyone who entered this year’s competition.

Click here to view previous Cover Tech Contest galleries.

Meet the Winner

“My inspiration for the photo was a set of comic book nails I had done a few months before. For the shoot I wanted to go more dramatic with the nails and the design — like a comic book, but also like graffiti,” says cover tech Amanda Lenher, who works at Lifespa at Lifetime Fitness in Las Vegas. “I wanted the hair and makeup to blend with the nails to tell a whole story.”

The nails were sculpted on Crystal Nails forms with Clear Builder Gel by Nubar. “I used an e-file to make cut-outs in the sides of the nails to give them more of a sharp, edgy look,” she says. “The base color was CND Shellac Cream Puff. The artwork was done with AnGel Artist Gel Pots and I used Crystal Nails’ Barbara Brush II for the detail work. I also used accents of red Swarovski crystals.” In all, it took nearly six hours to complete.

“I couldn’t have created this image without the help of some amazing people. They saw my vision and made it come to life,” she says. “My dear friend and model Chelsea Chandler organized the makeup artist, Kasey Acuff, and the photographer, John Childress. Ashley Monmaney and I worked at the Lifespa together. I brought her on to do hair so I could focus solely on the nails.”