Meet The Judges
Meet – Catherine Wong- Singapore
Get to Know a Nailympia Expert in 25 Steps…
NAME: Catherine Wong
Business name: NailQueen
Location: Singapore
Nationality: Malaysian, living as a permanent resident in Singapore for the last 30 years
Who Trained You: When I first started using the acrylic system in the 90’s, I trained with EZFlow products, hence I had the opportunity to learn from Danny Haile, Alisha Rimando and Antony Buckley.
I then went on to train with Tom Holcomb and Tom Bachik specifically in French sculptured nails when they launched the Entity.
Enfu Oh, founder of NFU coloured acrylic systems was my educator when I fell in love with coloured powders and 3D nail art.
Trang Nguyen mentored me for competition, helped me understand the nail business and with building a great competition and education team in South East Asia.
Anna Lajourdie, who was training for Akzentz when I first started distributing at the time, was a huge inspiration to me in perfecting my salon style French gel application. In my journey as a nail professional, I’ve attended countless classes with various educators internationally. There weren’t any online classes back then and so I invested a lot in travel or to fly them out to me!
Years in Nails: 24 years (2021 inclusive, however I stopped nail as a full-time career in 2015)
Years Judging: 11 years
Nail Brand You Use: EzFlow, Entity, Akzentz, NfuOh, ONS, EMI
Role in Industry: Freelance educator now. I was previously a distributor up until 2015
Favourite Trade Exhibitions: Beauty World Japan, SINAIL Korea, CIBE Guangzhou, Beauty Dusseldorf , just to name a few
Favourite Nail Tool: Nail Art Brushes
Favourite Book: The Art of Living by Epictetus
Some of my favourite quotes from the book:
- ‘The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best’
- ‘First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do’
- ‘There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things, which are beyond the power or our will’
Favourite Movie: The Godfather
Favourite Food: Korean BBQ
Favourite Vacation Destination: Bali
Your Hobbies: Nail art, cake decorating, flower arrangement, fine dining, travelling
What Inspires Your Work: Art & fashion
Who You Admire In Industry: Alisha Rimando, Viv Simmonds, Gina Silvestro, Lilija
Michalikova, Marina Shyvtsova, David & Stephanie Fowler
Top Technique You’ve Mastered: Design sculptured nails, mixed media & fantasy, hand painted nail art
Advice to Competitors: Read and understand the rules. When practising, use the judging criteria as a checklist to go through your work and ask yourself how you would score your own work, so you know what to look out for when attempting to make improvements. If you’re competing for the first time, then you may want to find a mentor or attend a specific class where you can get the right guidance. Nothing valuable in this world is free of charge, so don’t expect good training to come free. Your career is an investment, so invest wisely. Research and find a suitable mentor for your specific needs.
Hot Tip or Trick for Competitors: Find a great hand model! Beautiful hands and nail beds are halfway to a set of winning nails. Make sure that your model understands what is required of her (discuss the do’s and don’ts), feed her well before the competition and keep her warm and comfortable so you can work peacefully.
Always bring a table lamp (if it’s not provided at the venue ) and check the voltage so you carry a converter suitable for the country you are competing in. (100-120V for USA, 220-240V for Europe and Asia)
Arrive at the venue early and choose a table that’s not directly where the wind is blowing, otherwise you will be in the receiving end of all the filing dust when everyone starts filing
What Lockdown Has Taught You: Be the change. Don’t wait for things to change, but change yourself to adapt so you don’t get left behind.
A Funny Day/Memory At The Nail Desk: Working on a fellow nail educator’s nails while they’re sleeping is a norm before a beauty or training event. I used to fly to the USA & Mexico for beauty shows and training events. A few of us from different countries would end up sharing an apartment. We would fix each other’s nails late into the night, so the one getting the nails done would always be sleeping to the point of snoring.
Another funny incident: It’s quite typical for nail artists to hold another nail artist’s hands to admire her latest nail designs. I remember picking up Gina Silvestro’s hands to do just that in a posh steak restaurant at the Treasure Island in Las Vegas and the waiter gave us both a dirty look!
An Affirmation You Love: Carpe Diem
Why Nailympia: Nailympia is a global competition that draws a lot of good quality competitors, which are not only highly skilled but also very driven to excel. The judging team of multi-talented and highly experienced judges makes judging such a breeze and fun to work with. Personally, whenever I’m judging at Nailympia London in particular, I learn a lot even as a judge and get inspired to pick up my nail brushes to play when I get home.
Instagram: @catherinewongnailqnailart
Facebook: Catherine Wong
Meet – Sue Marsh – UK
NAME: Sue Marsh
Business Name: Sue Marsh London
Location: London
Nationality: British
Who Trained you: Self-taught
Years in Nails: Since 1985… 84 maybe…who’s counting?
Years Judging: How long ago was 1999?
Nail Brand You Represent/Use: I don’t do nails anymore, but I do judge them.
Role in Industry: Someone who rocks up every year because Alex Fox still has my number.
Favourite Trade Exhibition: Olympia Beauty, UK
Favourite Nail Tool: My Creative Brain.
Favourite Book: Love Looks Not With The Eyes by Anne Deniau
Favourite Movie: There’s something about Mary
Favourite Food: Ice Cream
Favourite vacation Destination: Italy
Your Hobbies: Painting and sculpting.
Sue Marsh with Alice Harr Davis
What Inspires Your Work: Anything can inspire me because there’s creativity in everything.
Who do you Admire in the industry: There isn’t a particular person I admire. I admire anyone who has the guts to turn up and create something new and innovative.
Top Technique you’ve mastered: I mastered what was available at the time, but am most proud of everything I’ve created and watching it all evolve when I judge.
Advice to Competitors: Be yourself don’t worry about everyone else. Do what you feel you can to your best ability and as long you’re happy, the judges will see it.
Hot Tips or Tricks for Competitors: It’s not about fashion, it’s about mastering fusion.
What Lockdown has taught you: Be patient and be creative.
A Funny Day / Memory At the Nail Desk: When one of my clients once passed out and the person who owned the salon said ‘move that client over to that chair, this lady needs her nails fixed’.
An Affirmation You Love: Even if you’re small, think big.
Why Nailympia: This is where I get to meet some of the most incredible people and where the competition is the best. It’s the largest UK event with an even bigger prize…we all get to see each other. We accommodate some of the best competitors in the world.
Instagram: www.instagram.com/suemarshlondon
Meet – Antony Buckley – UK
NAME: Antony Buckley
Business name: Works as the Dean of education for Nail Alliance
Location: Manchester, UK
Nationality: English
Who Trained You: Tom Holcomb, Danny Haile & Najet Hamila Strand
Years in Nails: 28 years
Years Judging: 15 years
Nail Brand You Represent/Use: Gelish from Nail Harmony
Role in Industry: International educator
Favourite Trade Exhibition: Olympia Beauty, UK
Favourite Nail Tool: Harmony Pro 9 sculpting brush
Favourite Book: Too many to mention, I love reading
Favourite Movie: Trading Places, it’s a classic
Favourite Food: Italian
Favourite Vacation Destination: Home! I travel a lot with work, so it’s nice to spend some time not going anywhere
Your Hobbies: watching movies/TV shows, reading, computer games
What Inspires Your Work: Wanting to get better. I’m always looking for ways to improve what I do and learn new techniques.
Who You Admire In Industry: Danny Haile
Top Technique You’ve Mastered: Sculpted pink & white
Advice to Competitors: Practise, practise and more practise. And be ready for anything!
Hot Tip or Trick for Competitors: If it’s going wrong, take the nail off and start again! Don’t fight with the product to make it go right, you’ll never be happy with the finished nail and it will change the opinion of the rest of your work.
What Lockdown Has Taught You: How to properly relax!
A Funny Day/Memory At The Nail Desk: I can’t think of anything funny, but a memory that stays with me is meeting Alex Fox for the first time many years ago at a training with Tom Holcomb and starting an instant friendship.
An Affirmation You Love: I will not worry about things I cannot control!
Why Nailympia: It’s a fun, and big, competition with a consistently high standard of competitors. It’s also a comp that wants to push people to try new things with the new categories it introduces, so it’s always fun to see the results from that.
Instagram: antony_harmony
Facebook: antony buckley
Meet – Alisha Rimando – USA
NAME: Alisha Rimando
Business name: GlossaryLive.com
Location: Dallas, Texas, USA
Nationality: American
Who Trained You: Tom Holcomb & Danny Haile
Years in Nails: 27 years
Years Judging: 16 years
Nail Brand You Represent/Use: Any
Role in Industry: Mentor, author & entrepreneur
Favourite Trade Exhibition: Cosmoprof Bologna, Hong Kong & North America
Favourite Nail Tool: Kolinsky #10 oval brush
Favourite Book: Author: Anne Rice
Favourite Movie Genre: Movies based on real people or events.
Favourite Food: Savoury… seafood
Favourite Vacation Destination: Warm beaches
Your Hobbies: Cooking, painting, writing
What Inspires Your Work: Everything around me
Who You Admire In Industry: I will always admire Tom Holcomb and hold him to the highest esteem for the rest of my life. Today there are so many amazing artists that I look up to and are inspired by for different techniques and for their personality, passion and love of sharing.To name a few: Catherine Wong, Krasimira Krumuva, Frank Sharberle, Lisa Boone, Dafne Fernandez…
Top Technique You’ve Mastered: Pink & white L&P Sculpture, hand filing
Advice to Competitors: Practice and time yourself! Break up each section of your work and time yourself every time you perform it. LOG it and see if you are improving on time AND consistency.
Hot Tip or Trick for Competitors: Get a great model. Meditate on the finished look in your mind before you start. See it… then do it!
What Lockdown Has Taught You: Balance… Stop and take time when you need it. In order to be the BEST you can be, you need YOU time. You need time to rest, time to reflect, time to play, time to sleep, and time to get recharged… before you can head out and ‘give it all you have’ again!
A Funny Day/Memory At The Nail Desk: Oh goodness there are so many that make me laugh right off hand. ALL were working side by side with Tom Holcomb. ALL are probably inappropriate to write down. LOL
An Affirmation You Love: ‘Winning’ is not the result, it’s the action.
Why Nailympia: It’s fair. It’s fun. And it’s run by the legendary Alex Fox.
Instagram: @alisharimando @glossary_live
Facebook: Alisha Rimando
Facebook: GlossaryLive
Meet – Anneke van der Sar – The Netherlands
NAME: Anneke van der Sar
Business name: NailsCafe
Location: Eindhoven- the Netherlands
Nationality: Dutch
Who Trained You: Tom Holcomb – Danny Haile – Alisha Rimando
Years in Nails: From 1992 – so 29 years
Years Judging: Over 25 years
Nail Brand You Represent/Use: Artistic Nail Design
Role in Industry: I’m an educator, brand ambassador, product distributor & a salon owner
Favourite Trade Exhibition: BEAUTY World Dubai & Tokyo
Favourite Nail Tool: Artistic Mini Striper Brush
Favourite Book: Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo
Favourite Movie: The Godfather
Favourite Food: Indonesian (part of my roots)
Favourite Vacation Destination: Spain
Your Hobbies: Listening to music
What Inspires Your Work: People with passion
Who You Admire In Industry: The educators that trained me
Top Technique You’ve Mastered: All – with expertise in UV hard gel, Polygel, gel polish
Advice to Competitors: Please read the rules and with all the languages we have in Europe, make sure they are translated correctly.
Hot Tip or Trick for Competitors: Choose you model(s) wisely and do not be afraid to ask us judges or ‘old’ champs for advice.
What Lockdown Has Taught You: Use your ‘free’ time to do things you wanted to do for maybe a very long time. It could be reading that specific book, learning how to relax, talking to people you’ve not seen for a long time, try new recipes…
A Funny Day/Memory At The Nail Desk: Travelling through Europe with Tom Holcomb and his constant crazy jokes/anecdotes at the nail table (especially when we had no translator)
An Affirmation You Love: Treat others the way you want to be treated!
Why Nailympia: Fair – equal treatment for all – not product related – lovely people – FUN!
Instagram: artisticnaildesignnl
Twitter: @ArtisticNailNL
Facebook: Anneke van der Sar
http://www.artisticnaildesign.nl/index.php
