NAILS Next Top Nail Artist celebrated its fifth season finale by moving the party to the biggest nail event of the year: Premiere Orlando. The competition moved back its start date, beginning in the fall of 2017 and extending to June 2, when the winner was announced live at the brand new NAILS NTNA Social.

After completing two pre-challenges sponsored by Swarovski in October, the Top 12 competed each week until there were only three left: Halley Fortenberry, Hemi Park, and Valerie Ducharme.

After completing a multi-part final challenge online, the popular vote was tallied along with the head judges’ scores, declaring Canada’s Valerie Ducharme the winner.

Ducharme edged out fellow competitors Halley Fortenberry and Hemi Park for the title. The announcement came at the Orange County Convention Center, where top sponsor CND threw a bash for the finale.

Last season’s winner, Tracey Lee, was on-hand to pass on the trophy. Fortenberry was named first runner-up and Park was named second runner-up.  

Ducharme wins the largest NTNA prize to date, including a gift basket from CND, $5,000 cash, the position as NAILS guest editor, the opportunity to judge next year’s competition, a trip to New York Fashion Week, a feature in Modern Salon Magazine, a trip to KUPA to film a guest segment, and a guest class with Wildflowers Nail Academy.

Join NAILS, CND, and our sponsors  Akzentz, Bio Seaweed Gel, EzFlow, Gel II, IBD, Kupa, LeChat, Orly, Swarovski, and Wildflowers, in congratulating Valerie!

Re-live the competition by clicking here

Apply for next year by clicking here.