Marija Sechovcova @nailsbymasha_is one of the finalists in the NAILS Next Top Nail Artist (NTNA) challenge.

As we go down to the wire with the competition, we wanted share her entry into the latest challenge, which had a Miami Swim Week Challenge, inspired by the nail created by the CND team for the The Blonds collection during the swimwear and loungewear celebration that is Miami Swim Week.

The design was inspired by American fashion designer Halston and his 1980s heyday.  The nail look needed to feature embellishments, long length and CND Shellac color, only.

Sechovcova, who says she loves, “everything about nails and nail art, especially realistic portraits, 3-D figures, and wild shapes” went all-in on the Halston assignment.

“For this challenge I decided to create an imitation of a Polaroid photo with Halston himself in memory of him, because in this challenge’s theme it is about him and his designs, but it is also about the year," Sechovcova explains. "We needed to create a nail art inspired by his collections from 80s and because of that the retro polaroid photo makes a match to the whole look.

“For my nail art I got my inspiration from some of his beautiful dresses from the 80s. Halston’s designs are made in a simple way but it’s still so beautiful and elegant and I wanted to behold his simplicity while I added some more things to the nails.

“I have chosen to add ruffles in 4 different colors (pink, violet, gold and black) which was also most used in Halston’s clothes, and it also reminds some of his ruffle dresses.

“I also mixed it with a polka dot and added a lot of sequins and crystals to make it look like a set for Miami.

“As we know, this challenge is called Miami Swim Week so I thought that it would be interesting to add those words on my nails which also reminds me of those neon signs on some buildings in Miami.”