Our May cover tech may live a continent away, but Ayumi Orimo, co-winner of NAILS 2006 Cover Tech Contest, is pretty much like the rest of us. She can’t get her child to sit still for the photographer either.

Like January cover tech and co-winner Yayoi Sato, Orimo is a nail tech at Tout Soleil in Tokyo. And like Sato, she used her own hand in the photo Appearing with her is her beautiful baby boy Kenta, who, despite his subdued appearance, was awake and active during the photo shoot. “I gave him candy and toys to get him to cooperate,” says Orimo. “The salon staff and the photographer helped out too.

A nail tech for five years, Orimo took her inspiration from her daily life as a mother - a theme we thought was particularly appropriate for this Mother’s Day month. It took Orimo two hours to prepare her nails for the camera using a gradation of airbrushed paint colors over colored gels.