Now in its eight season, NAILS Magazine’s Next Top Nail Artist (NTNA) is the premiere competition within the professional nail industry. This year, NAILS is delighted to be partnering with CND to bring this challenge to life.

Contestants who enter NTNA undergo a rigorous screening process where every brush stroke is scrutinized. After carefully evaluating hundreds of intricate hand-painted looks, sculpted acrylics, brushed on gels, and an array of mixed-media. 

The finalists are competing against each other through a series of design challenges, and Challenge #4 is in and ready for viewing and voting!

Here is the challenge issued to the finalists for Week #4:

CND is an editorial-minded brand. Throughout the years they’ve created iconic nail art looks and photo shoots to go along with these nails (examples-New Wave; Wild Earth; Chic Shock, etc.). For this challenge, you’re tasked to create both a wearable nail art look and capture it as if it were going to be used as a CND-style ad. Choose one of CND’s past ad campaigns as a point of inspiration. Create a futuristic interpretation of that nail art on five nail tips. You then must shoot a final photo in a style inspired by that ad campaign. For this challenge, you will submit a photo of the nails on a model (or your own hands) against a white background as well as the editorial image. You must also let the judges know what image served as your inspiration by attaching a link or screenshot of it. Submit a 5-7 minute video diary via YouTube explaining why you chose the point of inspiration you did and giving us a glimpse into how you created your nail design. For this challenge, we also want to see behind the scenes content from your photo shoot. Include images in your final submission email or send a link to a separate YouTube video or IG story highlights where you have collected and shared this content.