In Partnership With

  • CND
Ashleigh

Profile

Full Name: Ashleigh Owens
Hometown: Denver, CO
Salon:  Nails With Ashleigh
Preferred Nail Art Medium:  Gel
Favorite Nail Trend:  Marble 

I’m from Denver, Colorado and I can’t wait to represent my city! What sets me apart is my ability to think outside the box and tie in seemingly unrelated aspects into my work. My personality will make people want to vote for me because I’m genuine, kind and relatable!

 

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Week #2

CND Couture

I have been so excited to show the world the nail art that I created for the CND Couture challenge! I chose an amazing piece by Jean Paul Gaultier. I gasped when I saw the skirt lined with embroidery hoops.  

Embroidery is a hobby of mine and it’s something that runs through my family. My grandma taught my mom how to sew, and my mom taught me how to embroider. If I never became a nail tech, I would probably have a job doing embroidery and artful stitching. So, I was very excited to create this design. It was even fun to think about how I was going to execute my plan. 

The look I chose is a design by Jean Paul Gaultier from the Spring 2020 collection that appeared at Paris Fashion Week last year. It features a crinoline, which is a stiff, dome-shaped petticoat that was used in the mid-19th century to hold the shape of a woman’s structured skirt. The crinoline in this design holds multiple embroidery hoops with floral patterns upon them.  

Along with the design, Gaultier himself is an inspiration. I wanted to create something like he would. His creations can be totally unconventional, and he is described as a revolutionary who “calls into question cliches, standards, codes and traditions and turns, shifts and flips them around.” This speaks to me because it’s the very thing I want to do with nail art.  

I hope that my design for this week’s challenge will inspire other nail artists to think outside the box and together, we can make nails a more accepted and admired form of art and expression. 

Click here to watch her video diary.


Week #1

A to Z CND

 When I first started to develop a love and passion for nail art, the first design I learned how to do is what is referred to as “galaxy nails.” It’s still my favorite design after all these years. I love to see how it comes together with each layer of color. Every tiny detail, such as a tiny dot of a star, gives this design more life. I chose to make the background of my mural an outer-space galaxy because it represents the moment I decided to make nails a big part of my life and my career. 

 The main part of my mural is a compass. It seemingly represents direction, but for my design, it’s quite the contrary. The fact that this compass is in space gives it the opposite meaning. In space and close to the Earth, a compass dial is drawn to the North Pole. The farther away from the Earth one travels, the compass dial starts to point to the magnetic field of the sun. Go even further, and the compass stops working entirely. 

 Throughout my life and career, I’ve had many plans and ideas that didn’t happen how I pictured them. Some of those ideas didn’t happen at all! Even still, my aspirations are coming to fruition. I have learned to trust myself because I am capable of realizing my dreams. One of my goals has been to become a NOTICED professional of my craft. I want people to recognize my work before they see my name. That’s why I’m so honored and happy to have been selected as a finalist in this competition.  So far, my accomplishments have made me even more determined because I know that by being myself and not being so rigid about how my life is supposed to go, everything will still work out.   

 My design represents my personal journey, as it is a picture of letting my life float and flow in beauty, and it represents letting things unfold in divine, natural space and time. 

 Click here to watch her video diary. 

 

 

 


In Partnership With

  • CND