3rd in Las Vegas

I am really happy to have managed 3rd place in the hand-painted nail art category at IBS Las Vegas! This was the first set of hand-painted nails that I've attempted, so I really didn't expect to be placed as I knew the competition from the Japanese and Korean nail artists would be very hard. Tonight Bob and I will celebrate with a glass of wine ;-)

Introducing - Oksana Kolishevskaya

This wonderful nail design was created by Oksana Kolishevskaya, an expert nail artist who owns three schools in Sumy, Krementscuk and Poltawa in Ukraine. Since February, Oksana and her colleagues are valued members of the Iryna Giblett Nail Academy and distribute our products through her schools.

Oksana's competition success includes:

• 1st prize Kiev Cup 2005
• 2nd prize Nail Design 2005
• 1st prize Elena Maltseva competition
• 1st prize 10 Championship 2006
• 2nd prize Nevskie Berega, Russia
• The Grand-Prix winner of Diamond Nails 2006
  

More of Oksana's work will feature in the next issue of ImagiNAILtion (www.imaginailtion.com)

New LED UV lamp is environmentally friendly

Available from May 1st, our new SAFELED lamp uses the latest technology electronic UV-A LED lights to deliver an environmentally friendly and cost-effective solution.

The lamp contains 12 UV-A LED lamps. Each lamp can be used for over 50,000 operating hours. This means if the lamp is used for 4 hours a day, the LED life is 12,500 days - so it's highly unlikely that you will ever need to replace the lights.

The SAFELED is not inexpensive at 495 Euro, but is cost-effective when you calculate the cost of a traditional UV lamp plus replacing the bulbs twice a year - and the effort to buy bulbs. Also, unlike traditional mercury based bulbs that damage the environment the LED lights are safe and don't reduce the UV-A output over time - which can result in under-cured gels.

Please note that the SAFELED is only compatible with our Gentle gels or other gels designed for LED lamps.

Gentle gels - kind to nails and the environment

The new Gentle Gels from Iryna Giblett have been developed to be kind to both customers and the environment. The gels can be easily soaked off in minutes without filing and cured using our new LED UV lamp that contains electronic lights instead of glass UV-A bulbs containing mercury. (If necessary, traditional UV lamps can also be used).

We offer both sculpting and color gels:

* Gentle sculpting gels: Arctic White, Pink and Clear
* Gentle gels : 10 colours used as a non-chip alternative to nail polish

The Gentle Gels will be available from May 1st.

Irina's acrylic nails with color drops

I just wanted to share this photograph with you. These were created by Irina Zamostinchuk who used the InspirationZ colored acrylics and Liquid Colors to create this stunning design. Irina is a Global Education for the Iryna Giblett Nail Academy and is our partner in Moldova.

Excitement in Düsseldorf

The 2010 World Nail Championships were held in Germany during March 27-28. The top national competitors from many countries competed in the gel and liquid & powder competitions in a challenge of the best of the best!

It was a privilege for me to be one of the six judges this year and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. It was also a pleasure to meet the other judges: Lynn Lammers, Peppyn Borrel, Gabriele Kainz, Michaela Cepcovejand fellow Ukrainian Victoria Meyler.

The photo on the right shows Ekaterina Raskutina who won the L&P competition.

During the competitions Bob was busy managing our booth. He reported a lot if interest in our products and free education concept. Several hundred people signed up for more information.

The other highlight of the show was that Maia Chemscaia from Moldova took 4th place. Last year Bob and I decided to sponsor the Moldovia national nail competitions so that they could send their gel and L&P winners to Düsseldorf for the first time. So being there to see Maia getting joint 4th was a real pleasure and we hope motivates more nail techs from Moldova to enter competitions!