Taking place during the Las Vegas Hair and Nail Conference from June 3-6, the sixth-annual Nailympics competition was truly an international affair this year, with strong representation from the United States, Japan, and Korea, to name just a few.More than 200 competitors took the floor to compete in the six different categories. Cash prizes and products were awarded in each category and all competitors received plaques for participation.

As in past years, the Nailympics divided competitors into three groups, but this year had a change in the Division III category. Division I Novice is for students or professional nail technicians who have never competed anywhere. Division II Apprentice is for students and nail technicians who have competed but do not yet meet the qualifications for Division III. And Division III is for professional nail technicians who fall into any one of the following categories:

• Have won a minimum of five competitions of any type in their career.

• Are ranked by any trade publication as a Top Competitor.

• Have won a world title.

• Owns, in whole or part, a manufacturing company or any company selling to the professional industry anywhere in the world.

• Is employed full-time by a manufacturing company.

• Is involved in creating nail styles for photo shoots for any manufacturer or in charge of product development. Congratulations to everyone who competed. Stay tuned to www.nailympics.com for information on future events.

1. More than 200 competitors came out to Las Vegas to compete in the sixth annual Nailympics.

 2. Sunghye Jin of Korea, won the Division III Fantasy category with this amazing piece of work. She sculpted every detail out of acrylic and airbrushed the details.

3. Models for the Fantasy  competition line up for judges to look them over. Fantasy nail art competitions allow nail techs to pre-assemble the nail embellishments prior to competition.

4. Odyssey Nail Systems’ Trang Nguyen was at the top of the NAILS Top 25 leader board going into the Nailympics. Turn to page 82 to see if he ended up in the top spot.

5. In the Division III Gel Tip Overlay category, Japan’s Fumino Kawamu took third (here with her model). Sweden’s Karin Strom took second. And the United States’ Amy Becker took first.

6. One of the top competitors every year for the last 12 years, Amy Becker never ceases to amaze. Here she poses with her Fantasy nail art model (she took second-place in Division III). She even sculpted all the embellishments for the dress out of acrylic.

7. A large crowd, consisting of many of the Japanese nail competitors and their models, waited anxiously for the Nailympics closing ceremony on the last day of the show.

8. The title Overall Grand Champion was given to the competitor in each division with the highest total points. From left, winners are Seo Sang Mi, Marina Diaz, and Miho Hokari.

9. Stu Ludlow, Tom Holcomb, Tom Bachik, Alisha Rimando, and Craig Fleming, were all on hand to support Entity’s TomCat team members, Shannon Marciano Christina Gonzalez, and Marina Diaz.

10. Competitors and educators for Odyssey Nail Systems crowd around top-ranked competitor Trang Nguyen in the Odyssey booth after the Nailympics awards ceremony. 1 1. Korea’s Seo Sang Mi won first place in three Division III categories, including one for these Mixed Media nails.