Nail competitions, while nerve-wracking for many technicians, are among the best ways to improve your craft and push your skills to the next level. You have to find a quality model, thoroughly read and understand the rules of judging, work within specified constraints and deliver within a set timeline. Unfortunately, due to Covid, many in-person nail competitions were shelved over the past couple of years—but that opened the door for online competitions. While you lose some of the energy (and stress) that comes working through a live contest, being able to work from home at your own pace not only allows for greater creative opportunities, but it also takes some of the pressure off nail artists who are new to the competition scene.
Two years ago, the Mia Secret Global Nail Championship was first launched, an online competition open to licensed nail professionals as well as novice nail artists and enthusiasts. Entrants from around the world were tasked with creating beautiful works of art, from hand-painted designs to sculpted looks to intricate three-dimensional pieces of art. Winners received cash prizes as well as opportunities to have their work featured by Mia Secret itself: Some artists have their work displayed at the Mia Secret headquarters, while other submitted photographs that were turned into covers for product catalogues or featured in magazine advertisements.
This year marked the third annual Global Nail Championship, where nail artists could submit work in two categories, Salon Trends and Extreme Artistic Photo Poster. For the former, nails had to be shorter in length and the design focused primarily on salon-friendly, wearable nail art. Looks could be created with Gelux gel polish and gel paint, as well as gel effects products and could be topped with embellishments like Swarovski crystals, glitter, studs and metallic flakes. Acrylic systems are not permitted in the Salon Trends category. The final photo submissions were of the hands/nails only and were judged on skin cleanliness, graphic quality, originality, creativity, balance and overall design.
For the Extreme Artistic Photo Poster category, the nails had to be extreme in length (longer than 2.36 inches) and could be created using mixed media, including acrylic, hard gel and gel polish/lacquer. What’s more, the nail artist had to take the entire look into account, including the model’s hair, makeup and styling so that all elements, including the nails, worked together to support the theme. Entries were judged not only on the nail structure, design and ingenuity, but also on visual impact, including makeup and costume, as well as graphic quality and photo production.
For both categories, at least 50 percent of the products used in all entries had to be from Mia Secret.
Once all entries were submitted, photos were judged by Mia Secret president/CEO Roberto Mejia, Mia Secret vice president/CFO Lynda Sanchez, celebrity nail artist and veteran nail competitor Tom Bachik, and the Mia Secret marketing department. To announce the awards, Bachik and I hosted a prerecorded Facebook Live, which featured interviews with Mejia as well as Bachik, plus photos of the previous years’ winners and, of course, the 2022 winners in each category. Below, you’ll find the list of winners and their prizes:
Salon Trends - Beginner
1st Luisa Ramos, Costa Rica ($400)
2nd Karina Barzola, Peru ($300)
3rd Esther Gonzalez, Chile ($250)
Salon Trends - Advanced
1st Anielka Peralta, Costa Rica ($500)
2nd Angelica Briceño, Colombia ($400)
3rd Lourdes Pech Dzib, Mexico ($250)
Extreme Artistic Photo Poster - Beginner
1st Luisa Ramos, Costa Rica ($500)
2nd Daniela Salazar, Peru ($400)
3rd Katterine Breciane, Peru ($250)
Extreme Artistic Photo Poster - Advanced
1st Kathya Milla, Honduras ($1,000)
2nd Melisa Krigeris, Uruguay ($750)
3rd Beatriz Chan, Mexico ($500)
Follow Mia Secret on Instagram, Facebook and our blog for more information about the 2023 Global Nail Championship rules, categories and entry opportunities to be held next summer.