For Season 7’s eighth Last Chance Design Lab challenge sponsored by CND, Kelsey Waldo and Giselle Caballero will battle it out 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 Kelsey packed her paintbrushes after the KUPA Challenge, this week’s Last Chance is loosely related.
Carved Couture: Choose a look from the CND Nail Art Gallery and show us a carved interpretation on a single nail tip.
Here are the looks they created:
Kelsey
When I saw the CND nail design “Tortured Metal” I let my artistic mind go. I immediately saw the body of a woman looking up with a gold body and bronze wings, with the ground shattering around her. I started with painting the nail, built up a white block of acrylic, sketched out what I saw in my mind, and started carving out the details of the angel with various bits on slow, medium and fast speed depending on what I wanted to achieve. I first carved around the angel to remove the bulk and carved out the rocks, I worked down the nail, going back and refining until I was happy with it, making sure the details were all there. I then removed all the dust and carefully worked in sections to adhere the gold and copper leaf pieces, getting into all the grooves and carved details. The most important thing was for the gold and copper areas of the angel to match the “Tortured Metal” CND nail so that you could see what I initially saw, and hopefully you do.
Giselle
Browsing through the CND Nail Art Gallery I came across “Bespoke Bronze” a design that caught my eye right away for the unique shape but most of all for the feel of the look. The design calls for a carved filigree-like shape and that immediately reminded me of the intricate engravings and detail in vintage jewelry and decor, moreover it made me recall one of my favorite platonic loves, Dolce & Gabbana and more specifically, the Sacred Heart inspired collection. The elements in the collection evoke Catholic elements into fashion, and with reason, as traditionally catholic churches are greatly embellished and adorned. I’ve always been a fan of metal elements used in an ornamental way, I love how something so rough can be made into something so rich and luxurious and how two very opposite themes can meet and create new concepts to be in awe for, hence the metals and diamonds becoming beautiful accessories, and religion meeting fashion, so I knew that I wanted to do my interpretation of CND’s Bespoke Bronze design inspired by the richness and complexity of D&G “religious” fashion. To create your very own bronze sacred heart design, apply metallic acrylics onto a nail tip, then pre-draw the design and proceed to carve with your e-file, I used several bits to carve the filigree design and to achieve the right texture. A layer of chrome encapsulated with sheer red acrylic will create the illusion of a jewel but carving the facets is crucial for the full effect, this can be achieved using an e-file and a large cylinder smoothing bit, finish off with chrome and the result is a very rich and luxurious feel that definitely gives that “bronze sacred heart” vibe.
Congrats to Giselle for winning the eighth CND Last Chance challenge of the season! Giselle went up against Kelsey to carve her interpretation of a look from the CND Nail Art Gallery. CND’s Jan Arnold chose the winner.
Jan says, “Well you did it again! You wowed us with this clean, bright and precise sacred heart nail. The shine reflects the excellence of your sculpting, richness of detail, and elegance of design. It is truly like a piece of fine jewelry. I appreciate your commitment to the competition and your ability to continue to elevate as a professional and an artist! Congratulations on winning this week’s Last Chance Challenge!”
This means Giselle will move on to compete against the next eliminated contestant. Find out Friday who that will be.