When Christine Turner won our AVAs Nail Tech of the Year and Salon of the Year (1-4 Techs) categories in the same year, she was beside herself with jubilation. She had a top-notch salon, a high-level nail school, and a new beauty supply store. And she couldn’t wait to come to California to do the cover as part of her prize package for winning nail tech of the year. So why did it take us almost two year to get her down here to shoot her cover? Well she’s been a bit busy—being a mom to nine-month old Jack and working on the next chapter of her career.

Shortly after she found out she was going to have a baby, she sold her salon and closed down her school to focus on family and has recently begun working as a mobile nail tech, educational speaker, and freelance educator. In addition to all these things, Christine also finds time to write articles for several international trade publications including NAILS. So it’s no wonder it took a little creative maneuvering to book time with her for the cover shoot. We coordinated the shoot to it would coincide with the ISSE Long Beach show so she could also enter a nail competition.

We asked the British Columbia-based tech to do a gel overlay on the toenails for the cover of our special Rejuvenation Issue. Asking ourselves, what is more rejuvenating than yoga, we decided to have a very natural focus for this month’s cover. Christine stepped up to the task and succeeded in creating a beautiful look with gel toenails and natural fingernails. She performed an exfoliating pedicure on our last minute model (can you believe the model who was supposed to show up at 9 a.m. for the shoot canceled at the last minute because she was sick?) who thankfully had great feet.

Christine, who has been doing nails for only seven years, began by applying a thin coat of EZ Flow Cover It! (an opaque pink) to the nail beds. She then used EZ Flow Edge It! (a soft ivory) to create the delicate, natural-looking smile line. Next she capped the entire design in Edge It! (a clear gel), filed and buffed the nails to refine them, and finished with a thin coat of Finish It! (a gel sealer) for shine. She also gave our model a rejuvenating manicure and buffed the nails to a high shine with a two-sided block. The look, as we are sure you’ll agree, is all-natural and all-rejuvenating.