For the eighth Last Chance Challenge of the season Amberley Robinson and Trina Wright are going head-to-head to see who will stay in the competition.

CND’s Jan Arnold will select her favorite look.

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.

CND Last Chance #8:  Care, Condition, & Coat 

In our last challenge, contestants drew inspiration from swimwear and sunny Miami. For this challenge, we ask our Last Chance challengers to take inspiration from outerwear. Select a designer coat, jacket, or whatever piece of outerwear you find the most interesting and create a hand painted nail design inspired by this cold weather look. Please include a picture of your inspiration along with your final photo so that we can see which designer look inspired you.

Since outerwear can include fabulous coats, CND’s emphasis on the 3 C’s of healthy nail care  (care, condition, and coat) come to mind. To drive the point home, we want to see this Last Chance challenge done on an ACTUAL NAIL (not a tip). Submit a photo of your healthy natural nail before it has been designed (a before look) along with the final artwork on the nail (after look). Both photos should be against a white background.

Here are their entries:

Amberley:

Inspiration

Before

After

Boy oh boy! I am so excited to move on to the next challenge! This one was a tad bit difficult, but it can’t be easy when it’s this far into the competition right? Having to illustrate a designer coat or outdoor wear only doing hand painted art and no 3D effects was tough to get my mind around at first.

I personally am not huge on fashion for myself. I’ve always been a simple kind of girl. I’m all about thrifting but when I do dress up I do love a good vintage aesthetic. For my designer outdoor wear inspo I did my research on the Saks Fifth Avenue website. After hours of research I found the one. This Dolce & Gabbana sequined Crop Jacket just drew me in the minute I saw it. The leopard print and floral combo gave me all the vintage vibes I love. I would totally wear the jacket myself.

When keeping a healthy natural nail it’s important to remember the 3 C’s Care, Condition and Coat. My routine when I’m not wearing enhancements is to use CNDs Cuticle Eraser, Rescue Rxx and solar oil. Which leaves my nails looking healthy and happy.

To create this art, polish 2 coats of CNDs Shellac polish in the color After Hours and cure. Top coat using no wipe Top coat and cure then apply Over The Top Effects powder in lightning bolt, top coat and cure. Using a liner brush paint leopard print using black pool. Mix After Hours and Gold Party (Over The Top Effects) and outline the leopard print design for a halo graphic effect. For the floral design use a dotting tool. Colors used were Hot Pop Pink, Mind Over Matcha. Mix for lighter shades of the colors using Cream Puff. Outline the flowers using black pool for a 3d sequenced look.

Trina:

Inspiration

Before

After

I have been using CND’s Cuticle Eraser and their Rescue RXx in between my sculpted sets throughout the NTNA competition and I can honestly say that I am greatly impressed with the results. In using the Cuticle Eraser to care and condition my nails I see what quick results it has given me with clean and fresh-looking cuticles. I love the duo however my favorite is the Rescue RXX; it is a daily keratin all-nail coating treatment that smells like cotton candy and is truly healing to my naturally dry skin. I’m excited to see the difference it has made over such a short amount of time.

The outerwear piece I chose to represent on my natural nails was an Edward Scissorhands puffer jacket by an Instagram designer I follow @DoneByDoug. I noticed that puffer jackets are in-style and I always need a different take on the new trends. The puffer is my style in that its colors are turquoise and black, its a deconstructed Edward Scissorhands and it’s artistic pointillism technique.

I chose to recreate my mani in the puffer’s colors and with the pointillism technique. Luckily CND’s Oceanside Shellac was a perfect fit for my turquoise design. I recreated the pointillism technique by using a fiber from a fiber optic wand and taping it on to an orange wood stick for perfect micro dots for my micro canvas.

Thank you CND for your innovating new and improved systems that promote healthy nails and for all that you do in our nail community. I am so proud to take part in such a legendary experience. It’s a once in a lifetime experience that I savor greatly. I hope to continue on in the competition and to show you that I am a great asset to our nail art community.

And the winner is…Amberley!

Here is what Jan Arnold had to say about Amberley’s nail:

“LOVE the Dolce & Gabbana sequined jacquard cropped jacket as inspiration!! A great idea and the perfect nail if ever there was the most iconic combo of color, embellishment and design.  Great choice and excellent interpretation & precision.  Whoo-hoo!  You win this week. Congratulations!”

Tune in Friday to see who Amberley will be going up against next in the last CND Last Chance Design Lab.