MEET THE WINNER: DOAN HOELSCHER of DoaNails, Fort Collins, CO.
Hoelscher submitted two images featuring her strawberry nails. Deciding which one belonged on the cover was no easy task.
1ST RUNNER UP:
Eriko Adachi, Tout Soleil, Tokyo, Japan
2ND RUNNER UP:
Azusa Hara, Creative Salon Ciel, Tokyo, Japan
3RD RUNNER UP:
Stephanie Brady, Oasis Day Spa and Salon, Morehead City, NC
4TH RUNNER UP:
Masaki Fukunage, Tout Soleil, Tokyo, Japan
NOTABLE NAILS:
Robin L. Clark-Chisholm, Seymour, MO
NOTABLE NAILS:
Ayumi Takio, Tokyo, Japan
NOTABLE NAILS:
Chelsa Swaser, Fargo, ND
NOTABLE NAILS:
Yuki Nakamura, Chiba, Japan
NOTABLE NAILS:
CoCo Hayano, Honolulu, HI
NOTABLE NAILS:
Erica Plyter, Fort Stewart, GA
NOTABLE NAILS:
Tomoko Sato, Chiba, Japan
NOTABLE NAILS:
Justine Dela Rosa, Eureka, CA
NOTABLE NAILS:
Kristen Miller, Washington, NJ
NOTABLE NAILS:
Miho Kurosawa, Tokyo, Japan
NOTABLE NAILS:
Katie Lansel, McCordsville, IN
NOTABLE NAILS:
Sara Bowen, Brantford, Ontario, Canada
NOTABLE NAILS:
Shizuka Harihara, Tokyo, Japan
NOTABLE NAILS:
Dawn Firestone, Franklin Park, NJ
NOTABLE NAILS:
Yuka Kiyono, Tokyo, Japan
NOTABLE NAILS:
Kaori Ioka, Chiba, Japan
NOTABLE NAILS:
Freeda Latham, Hillsville, VA
NOTABLE NAILS:
Yasuko Iwamoto, Tokyo, Japan
NOTABLE NAILS:
Rebecca Bence, Austin, TX
NOTABLE NAILS:
Mai Otani, Tokyo, Japan
Meet the winner, Doan Holscher!
Believing, we suppose, that you can’t improve upon nature, cover artist and salon owner Doan (rhymes with “Joan”) Hoelscher used real strawberry seeds to adorn the nails you see on our cover. “I froze the strawberries and picked the seeds off with a needle,” she says. Hoelscher had New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day in mind when she settled on her festive and elegant theme. “These days represent fresh starts, love, and sensuality,” she says. With a friend serving as her model, she applied tips with an acrylic overlay, then polished the nails with OPI’s I’m Not Really a Waitress. She applied the strawberry seeds while the polish was still wet, then applied top coat. It look Hoelscher, a tech for five years, only an hour and 15 minutes to complete the nails.
Browse through the gallery to see the winning cover and all of the runners-up!
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