The last competition in the Cup Championship series is coming up in Sacramento. And as always, I’ve started practicing again. There are three different comps: Salon Success, Sculptured Nails, and Flat Painted Nail Art (tattoo themed). So I broke out one of my “sculptured nail” practice models and got down to business. Ha! Let me just say here that my moons are not up to par. Not only are they not even and swirly but I can’t seem to not file through them. What the heck is that all about? I mean as the World Champion, I should have complete control over my files, right?

The rules are very clear in this area. The moons must be placed properly, enhance the nail, and must not have been filed off. This tells me is that it is a common problem to file off the moons.

Clearly.

Anyways, I have some tips for my readers about how to apply moons in a sculptured nail competition.

1. Warm up before the competition, not on the polished hand.

2. Only apply moons to the unpolished hand, unless the rules state otherwise.

3. Use a moon colored powder for your moons. If you aren’t able to purchase one, you can custom blend one from two parts pink powder and one part white powder. Never use straight white.

4. Apply the moons to all fingers before you apply the forms.

5. If your model naturally has moons, follow them. Trust me on this, it just looks better.

6. Apply the moons flush at the cuticle line with the moon thicker towards the nail plate.

7. Swipe the moon edge like you would your smile lines. The crisper, the better.

8. And last but not least, after all your hard work getting those moons on right, don’t file through them.

That’s good for five points.

— Lynn