It was like Veteran’s day in January. Tom Holcomb, Trang Nguyen, Virginia Arleo, and Elena Maltseva all claimed first place wins at the nail competitions at ISSE in Long Beach. (ISSE is the second of four SuperPoints events in NAILS’ Top 25 competition year.) You can read all the winners’ names below, and don’t forget to check the magazine for the latest list of Top 25 competitors.

NAILS’ 2007-2008 competition year began June 6, 2007 and ends June 30, 2008 at the Las Vegas Hair & Nail Conference. There are two SuperPoints competitions left: America’s Beauty Show, March 1-3, and the Las Vegas Hair & Nail Conference, June 28-30.

Here are the winners at Long Beach:

Hand Painted Nail Art —Novice

1st: Nana Kanomata    

2nd: Megumi Arai

3rd: Yasushi Arakawa

4th: Miyuki Suezawa    

Hand Painted Nail Art — Veteran

1st: Elena Maltseva

2nd: Mai Terajima

3rd:  Mai Terajima

4th:  Rachel Mouritsen 

Designed Sculptured Nail — Novice

1st: Sam Biddle

2nd: Kyoko Amemiya

3rd: Maiko Nakagawa

4th: Yuri Morigami

Designed Sculptured Nail — Veteran

1st: Virginia Arleo

2nd: Yuka Nishizawa

3rd: Kumiko Takasaka

4th: Elena Maltseva

Sculptured Nail — Novice

1st: Azumi Kanene

2nd: Mari Usuda

3rd: Anna Matsuda      

4th:  Aya Miyako

Sculptured Nail — Veteran

1st: Tom Holcomb

2nd: Mayumi Hase

3rd: Lynn Lammers

4th: Sachi Oishi  

Salon Success — Novice

1st: Megumi Sawase    

2nd: Anna Matsuda     

3rd: Azumi Kanene      

4th: Max Estrada         

Salon Success — Veteran

1st: Trang Nguyen

2nd: Lynn Lammers     

3rd: John Hauk

4th:  Mayumi Hase

Have you ever competed? Share your competition stories in the Feedback section below.

— Judy