For Season 4’s first Last Chance Design Lab challenge sponsored by CND, Katey Laurenson and Lisa Bennett will battle it out one-on-one to see who has a chance of staying in the competition. CND’s Jan Arnold will select her favorite look Friday and you’ll find out who will remain for at least one more week.
All Last Chance challenges are done on a single nail tip. Contestants are also asked to describe their looks. There are no other elements to this battle.
Since Lisa packed her paintbrushes after the Sunset Strip challenge, this week’s Last Chance challenge is loosely related.
Stripped Down: We want to see materials intertwining on a nail to make a “stripped” effect. Only cured gel-polish and unconventional materials can be used to create the strips.
Here are the looks they created:
Katey Laurenson
For this piece, I used my love of fine lines and geometric shapes within this challenge to create a tip true to my style with a pop of bright color. I was really inspired by woven wall hangings and weave patterns, along with string art designs. To create this I cured gel-polish and cut my cured gel into strips, then weaved to create the blue “v” shape and applied it to the tip. I’ve then taken inspiration from string art to create my line detailing. I’ve intertwined black and gold embroidery thread throughout the design and also through the tip. I used a charm drill and wove the thread as opposed to gluing it or top coating it down.
Lisa Bennett
For the CND Last Chance Design Lab, my stripped design includes three unconventional items, two colors of gel-polish and a clear, no-cleanse gel top coat. I used a fall color palette with chocolate brown and tan gel-polish, blended to create an aged look and buffed to give it a matte surface. I used a nail piercer to put holes in the nail to anchor my red strips. The unconventional items I used are a nod to my Sunset Strip rock ‘n’ roll theme from my last NTNA set. I used metal mesh modeling material, a red rubber whip (I was gifted it, and it was never used!) and the tape ribbon from an old audio cassette. I shaped my mesh to swirl across the surface of my nail. I tied knots at the ends of the red rubber strips and pulled them through to anchor the mesh and I made a matching bow from the cassette ribbon. (Not as easy as it looks, by the way.)
Congratulations to Katey Laurenson for winning the first Last Chance Design Lab challenge! Katie went up against Lisa Bennett to create a textured nail look with strip-like effects. CND’s Jan Arnold chose the winner.
Jan said, “Katey’s design is vibrant and inventive and shows a great use of ‘strips’ for a cohesive geometric design that’s also totally wearable! I love how clean the colors are and how crisp the overall design feels. Nice job Katey!”
This means Katey will move on to compete against the next eliminated contestant. Find out Friday who that will be.