Carmen Gonzalez Banda of Fajardo, Puerto Rico, has proven herself to be a masterful nail artist and one tough competitor. The winner of NAILS’ Nail Art Pentathon, Banda created five nails, each using a diff erent technique. Contest entrants were required to submit a set of nails, each one demonstrating one of the following mediums: 1) hand-painted; 2) colored gel; 3)colored acrylic; 4) 3-D colored acrylic or gel; and 5) artist’s choice — pick from multimedia, embellishments, encasing, or airbrushing.

The theme of this year’s competition was flowers, which you can see in glorious abundance on all the winning nails.

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