Next Top Nail Shape: Who Won and Who’s Packing Up Their Brushes

HUGE CONGRATS to Nic for winning the final weekly challenge of Season 9! Her spot is guaranteed in the Top 3 finale and she will compete for the championship trophy LIVE at Premiere Orlando!

Here’s what the judges had to say about Nic’s design:

Guest Judge Giselle Caballero: I have to say your take on a “new shape” really took a new meaning because taking tree branches as inspiration was really unique. I am pleasantly surprised by the amount of detail you got on the smaller elements of your submission and really enjoyed watching you creating them and narrating the process. My wish would have been for you to take advantage of the beauty of the KUPA colours you had to work with because your submission seemed a bit dark and muddy and some of the details were lost. Also, creating an organic shape can somehow have great advantages as you don’t have to be as precise with proportions and structure so I think you could have pushed your abilities to creating something more innovative especially since you had submitted a different piece with tree branches before but your use of the E-file was my favourite and loved that you showcased lots of great ways to work with it, I definitely enjoyed all of your tips so great points on that!

Guest Judge Valerie Ducharme: It’s so impressive how realistic your wood is. You give some good tips. All your elements were amazing. I’m not sure about a new shape. For me it’s not really a futuristic shape.

Guest Judge Melisa Salazar: Nic, you are truly blessed to be surrounded by ancient woodlands wrapped around history and lore. Your incredible wood carvings using Kupa’s E-file is the star of the video. Each nail tip has a story waiting to be retold, and passed down from one generation to the next. I can watch you carve those branches all day. I can see your wisdom, knowledge and passion for nail art through your wood carvings in the oak tree!

Season 8 Champion Emily Nash: Every step of the way in this challenge I caught myself saying “oh wow, oh cool, no way that’s so cool, whoa look at that, so tinyyyy” and I couldn’t be more in love with this. The nail shape is crisp, AND you used your e-file to carve the nails out so meticulously to look like bark. Not only did you use you e-file, but you completely sculpted the nails out using nothing but the Kupa triptych powder. I applaud that. The detail in every little thing, I feel like I was finding a new element every minute. I do wish there was a bit more color in the nails. Seemed kind of dark. Still beautifully done. One of my other favorite parts was the nail shape laid next to each other made the shape of a tree. Those are the little added details I can appreciate so much. You really have showed you have earned this spot in the finale 3. So, congratulations!

Guest Judge Tracey Lee: Nicola, your intro and inspiration was the perfect setting to a fantastic video diary. I loved hearing your personality peep through during the video diary without distracting from your goal. You opened up your box of tricks and shared generously with your audience. So many teaching moments, so many ideas. Thanks for that. Great job for using your E-file to really bring out the detail in your design and show the versatility of E-filing. I understand the color scheme perfectly, however would have loved to have a couple of the colors really pop on the design. What an amazing entry Nic, congratulations.

Head Judge Jan Arnold: The story, the music, and the techniques are all so inspirational. The amount of precision in these nails is divine. They look like they stepped right out of the forest. All the delicate details and elements create another layer of depth and dimension. As for the shape, they look so sleek and pencil thin from above yet the sideview boasts of the intricate woven roots that look worn and aged. That said, it’s very reminiscent of shapes we see at Nailympia and not sure they are totally new …but the level of story telling detail is deepened over what I’ve seen before. Love the robin’s eggs and nest…delightful.  Last question…is your work overall has been very dark.  Maybe time to shake it up?

Guest Judge Ashton Harlan: It was a joy to watch your video and your use of the efile! Every element was created with such precision and thoughtfulness, and watching the nails turn into wood was magical! You created a true masterpiece!!

Game Master Winnie Huang: I think you utilized the efile the best this week! I would have been throroughly disappointed if you didn’t use it to carve out the marks on the branches, so BRAVO! Like I mentioned last week, I think you’re a master at recreating textures and this week you demonstrated that beautifully….almost TOO realistic (ha!) Upon first glance, this set looks muted and tipping on the edge of being too organic. The details you incorporated are great but remember when you add too many elements in the same colour, you risk the design looking overly convoluted. Now, if I removed the twigs and branches, leaving just the actual SHAPE of your set, it becomes extremely simple. But I will say that the base of your nails are so well executed, they’re thin and sleek! With your story in mind, I wished you would have chosen a more dynamic range of colours to bring the brightness up. Your video diary definitely have improved exponentially and it may have helped with your scores this because we aren’t able to really see what all the tiny details are otherwise.

Guest Judge Ryoko Garcia: You used the E-file very well with this challenge and the nails were slim and sharp. I understand you chose the wood theme but I was wishing you could use more colors to make a twist. That would capture the attention more.

Guest Judge Lavette Cephus: The final look of the design grabbed my attention the most. I like that the shape is slightly different from different angles. Although the shape was not carved with the E-file, I appreciated the detailing with the E-file. The use of KUPA’s Triptych throughout the entire design increased your points this week!

The nail artist who will be packing up their paintbrushes this week is Nancy.

Nancy, you’ve proved to be an excellent competitor and a fierce fighter. Get that armor ready, as you will be heading into the final Last Chance battle of the season!

Nancy will be going up against Amberley in CND’s Last Chance Design Lab where these two brilliant competitors will fight it out to see who will move on to the finale at Premiere Orlando!