After nine grueling weeks of competition, being eliminated, and battling her way back in CND‘s Last Chance Design Lab, Lavette Cephus has officially won NAILS Next Top Nail Artist 2015.

Ever wonder where our Next Top Nail Artists spend their days? We asked the Top 3 to share photos of their workspaces and we thought you’d want a sneak peek at where the magic happens.

We asked our Top 3 to give us their pitch as to WHY they should be named NAILS Next Top Nail Artist. Here’s what they said:

 

Throughout our 10-week competition, we saw so much creativity and skill. We were wowed and surprised week after week with the talent of these contestants. But sadly, someone had to be eliminated each week. We were left with two techs standing: Danielle Costantino and Lexi Martone. Click through to find out who will be joining them.

Congratulations to Lexi Martone for winning this week’s So Hot and So Cold challenge. This is a record fifth win for Lexi! We love Lexi’s overall clean, crisp nail art style. While we hoped for more original art for this challenge, Lexi’s interpretation of the Heat Miser and Snow Miser was a cute take on the hot vs. cold theme. Her metallic, ombre, and distressed backgrounds with a mix of matte paints were very on trend. Using tips here was a smart decision because her nail shapes were consistent and flattering, and the tip application was perfect. We also like that the contrast between the hot and cold hands was obvious and bold.

Challenge 10 sponsored by Gel II asked our Top 3 to take a cue from Gel II’s temperature-activated, color-changing Reaction line of gel-polish, and hand paint a tropical/hot inspired nail design on one hand and a cool/arctic design on the other using gel-polish, nail polish, and acrylic paints.

In honor of Gel II’s temperature-activated, color-changing Reaction line of gel-polish, we asked our Top 3 to create a handpainted tropical/hot inspired nail design on one hand and a cool/arctic design on the other using gel-polish, nail polish, and acrylic paints. We’ve posted their entries on the Week 10 Challenge page.

Congratulations to Lexi Martone for winning this week’s Super Heroes & Villains challenge. This is Lexi’s fourth win! We absolutely love the cute, quirky nail design. The Power Puff Girls, the mayor, and the villains are perfectly sculpted with an insane amount of detailing. Comic style illustration and 3-D sculpting on nails doesn’t get better than this. The black outlines give these nails their comic book feeling. Lexi instinctively knows how to create all the elements in the correct proportions to each other and the right color combinations. The result is that the eye can immediately take in all the separate details as a whole. Smart use of nail tip backgrounds to give the feeling of the characters being in different places. We love the little phone with his blinking red nose. Great job!

Challenge 9 sponsored by SuperNail asked our Top 4 to create 3-D sculptured comic strip nails depicting “Super Heroes & Villains” by utilizing all of the following materials: color acrylics, glitters, gel-polish, 1 unconventional tool to create the nail design (unconventional tools are defined as anything not nail-related, i.e. toothbrush, straw, masking tape, etc.). They were instructed to create their design across 10 nail tips lying side by side.

In honor of this week’s sponsor, SuperNail, we asked our Top 4 to create 3-D sculptured comic strip nails depicting “Super Heroes & Villains” by utilizing all of the following materials: color acrylics, glitters, gel-polish, and 1 unconventional tool to create the nail design (Unconventional tools are defined as anything not nail-related, i.e. toothbrush, straw, masking tape, etc.). We asked them to create the look on 10 nail tips (not on a model) conveying a storyline that would give the nails a comic strip feeling. We’ve posted their entries on the Week 9 Challenge page.