Nail tech Kryssy Hawkins won the top spot this year with her edgy, colorful, DJ-inspired image. Stella Sampson’s delicate teatime design earned her the first-runner-up spot, while Ashton Harlan’s sharp chrome nails were the second-runner-up, and Eileen Fox’s Indian-flavored design was the third-runner-up. Congratulations to all the finalists, and huge thanks to everyone who entered this year’s competition.

Meet the Winner

Nail art is second nature to Kryssy Hawkins, who has been an artist since childhood. A nail tech since November 2011, Hawkins became an NSI educator in July 2017 and is based at Chameleon Salon in Clarksville, Tenn., where she specializes in nail art.
When she was deciding on her cover concept, “I wanted to choose something that represents both my style of art and is also edgy and eye-catching,” says Hawkins. That’s how she came up with the idea for a DJ-themed set featuring bold colors. “I love the contrast that you get from dark versus neon, so I chose to do this theme so it has a little bit of punk and a little bit of techno,” she says.

To create the nail design, Hawkins sculpted the nails using NSI acrylic and added neon-colored dots using gel. She created the design on the ring fingers using white NSI Design Gel and neon NSI gel-polish to give them a bright, rainbow look. When creating the image, Hawkins made sure the posing reflected the DJ theme. “My photographer and I wanted the picture to have that ‘in action’ feel, so we chose to have our model reach for the headphones,” she explains.

You can see more of Hawkins’ artwork on Instagram @krysnails.