Second place in 3D competition at IBS Las Vegas

I decided in May that I would like to enter the 3D nail art competition at the International Beauty Show in Las Vegas. This show was the weekend after the Premiere Beauty show in Orlando, so as we going to be in the US already it meant staying one extra week.

The competition theme was "Prehistoric Age", so I prepared tips that contained backgrounds of different layers that embedded hand painting and bas-relief acrylic designs, and onto these added some 3D acrylic figures of a dinosaur, parrot, neanderthal man/woman/child and a homo sapien man. The designs were based on the four main prehistoric ages and had to be less than 5cm high:
















This was the first time that I had entered a 3D nail art competition and it was a lot of work to make the nails! When it came time for the award ceremony, we were allowed to look at the work made by all the competitors. The standard was very high and I didn't think that I would be going home with a prize. When my name was called for the second place, it took some seconds for me to believe it! Bob gave me a nudge and I went to the stage to collect my trophy. It was a very funny experience as last time I was on a stage I was a judge and giving out the prizes ;-)



















I am very happy with my second place. Although I wanted to get some prize, I wasn't keen to win as that would put more pressure on me in future competitions. Entering competitions requires different skills to just making nail art and I have a lot to learn about the different competitions. So I want to take my time. For example the rules stated the tips had to be 5cm high or less, but I could see from the other work that it was OK for the acrylic design to be bigger than the tip. Every competition has some things that aren't totally clear until you enter, so next time I will know ;-)

Now I have the competition bug! After we arrived home from the USA, I immediately started work on my design for Nailympics London in September!

Nail art workshop in Orlando

The day after the beauty show ended, I held a nail art workshop in a conference room near our condo. This was arranged at the last minute after I'd received emails from some nail techs who asked if I could do this.

Eight people came to the class which ran from 9.30 in the morning until 7.30 at night! I showed them how to do make designs that they can sell to customers using hand painting, colored gels and 3d acrylic. It was a lot of fun and the girls made some very nice designs. As a surprise present we gave everyone a free copy of our magazine.

Here's a photo of the class:

Experiences at Premiere Beauty show in Orlando

This was the first time that we had visited a beauty show in the USA and it was also the first time we had been an exhibitor. It was a lot of work for Bob to organize the booth and make sure everything arrived from Sweden. He was quite nervous about it all, but everything went well and we didn't have any big problems.

We arrived on June 4th, two days before the show opened so that we had time to make any last minute arrangements. Like many other nail techs we rented a condo (apartment) in the Hilton Grand Vacations holiday village. The condo was very big with it's own small kitchen, two bathrooms (one with jacuzzi!) and overall it was very nice. There were restaurants in the village and a swimming pool.

On Saturday night (June 6) we went to a BBQ evening that was arranged by the Beauty Tech nail forum (www.beautytech.com). We had a lovely time meeting old friends and meeting nail techs from all over the US, and other countries. Here's some photo's from the evening:










Here are some photo's Bob took before the show opened. You can see our little booth and under the TV a picture frame that contains some of my nail designs. I like to use picture frames for these as it makes a good impression. The nail tips are mounted on a black velvet cloth. All of the visitors to our booth were interested to see these and get some ideas for their own nail art!










On Sunday and Monday I was an Educator at the show. Each presentation was 1 hour and I showed different nail art techniques. We were told to expect 10 to 15 people to each education, so we were very surprised and delighted that on the first day more than 50 people came! In total more than 90 people came to both classes and I met some wonderful people.










Thanks to everyone who met us at the BBQ evening, visited our booth and came to my classes! It was lovely to meet you all.

ImagiNAILtion nail art magazine launched at Premiere Orlando

Our new nail art and design magazine "ImagiNAILtion" was formally introduced at the Premiere Beauty show in Orlando (USA) on June 6. We rented a booth to promote the magazine and were lucky to have a very nice location.

We were very happy with the show and will be back next year. We sold quite a few magazines and received a lot of positive comments that Bob and I really appreciated.

Although this was the formal launch, we had already created a website and have received orders from many countries including the USA, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany and the UK. All of this without advertising! It is only the start, but we are very happy that people like the magazine and are interested enough in nail art to want to buy it.

Read more on the website: www.imaginailtion.com

Kauneus Beauty Fair Helsinki 13-15 November

We've just signed up to exhibit at the Kauneus Beauty Fair in Helsinki Finland which takes place on the 13-15 November. It's a big event with nail competitions together with fashion, health and wedding themes.

Helsinki is a lovely small city by the sea and it's easy to reach from Stockholm as low cost ferries run every day.

Iryna will be creating nail art on the stand so stop by and take a look! We'll also be showing the ImagiNAILtion magazine, Vicki Peters products and our own InspirationZ nail art products. You can find us near the entrance on stand 1e31.

If you are interested to know more about Helsinki, here's a link to their tourist website.