New Metallic Acrylic Colors

Coming soon! Iryna has created 2 new metallic color acrylic powder collections. The first collection is called InspirationZ Earth Metallics and the second is called the InspirationZ Vibrant Collection. There are 10 colors per collection, making a total of 20 new colors.

It's difficult to show the depth and brilliance of these colors on a computer screen. Or that they sparkle ;-) But even as a guy, I think these colors are fabulous!

The Metallics will be available at the end of August.

2010 ImagiNAILtion Cover Competiton winners

The winner of the 2010 ImagiNAILtion cover competition was Natalia Rusnak from Ukraine. She received a prize of $1000 and her photograph will feature on the cover of ImagiNAILtion in July.

Here's the names of all the winners:

1st prize: Natalia Rusnak, Ukraine
2nd prize: Natalia Penkova, Russia

3rd prize: Svetlana Murdrakova, Ukraine

In total we received 48 entries with many of a very high standard. The judging was totally independent and performed by the following experts:

• Alex Fox, Editor of Scratch nails magazine, UK
• Ella Sadovnikova, Editor of Hands & Nails magazine, Ukraine
• Lilia Birjuk, president of the Baltic Nails Association and international judge, Estonia
• Carla Collier, NailPro (IBS) competition head judge and educator, USA

We'd like to thank everyone who entered, with our special thanks to the judges who are exceptionally busy people but kindly gave their expert time.

All the entries and a selection of step-by-steps will be published in the ImagiNAILtion double issue 3&4 available in July.

Choosing the right brush for 3D acrylic sculpting

From my experience, the reason why so many nail techs find 3D acrylic sculpting so difficult is often they are using a brush that simply isn't good enough and doesn't provide sufficient material control. Paying a lot of money for a brush from a well known company does not necessarily mean it is good!

The correct brush size to use is a #4. A good brush should have only the best quality Kolinsky hair (there are many different qualities) and it must have both the right length and enough stiffness to allow you to sculpt the material in fine detail.

The #4 brush shown above is one of our most popular brushes. It was also one of the most difficult to develop, but the end result was worth it because experienced nail artists just love it!

So if you are learning how to do 3D sculpting and not getting the results you want, take a closer look at your brush. You can ask for recommendations from experienced nail artists on forums such as Beauty Tech or Nail Geek.

Instructors education in Estonia

Back row from left: Elena Säkki (Finland), Ulyana Naryshkina (Estonia), Viktoria Prihodko (Estonia), Laura Laine (Estonia), Natalija Harkova (Ireland), Natalia Piryaeva (Estonia).
Front row: Liliya Birjuk, Iryna Giblett. Not in photo: Merelin Markov (Estonia)

Our latest Instructors class was held in Tallinn from 28th June to July 2nd. Seven nail technicians from Estonia, Finland and Ireland attended, with all passing their final practical and written examinations to become Instructors for the Iryna Giblett Nail Academy.

Our thanks to Liliya Birjuk of Star Beauty (the Iryna Giblett distributor in Tallinn) for doing a wonderful job to organize the training and our big congratulations go to all the new Instructors!