Nailympia & Premiere strengthen partnership for 2023 with 4 USA locations

 Nailympia Competitions, the globally renowned competition organisation for nail professionals, is expanding into three further locations for 2023, owing to a strengthened partnership with Informa Markets.

The success of the Nailympia Orlando 2019 and 2022 editions will see Nailympia Competitions at beauty exhibitions in the following locations, in line with the Premiere group’s growth across the USA:

Nailympia Anaheim 2-3 April

Nailympia Orlando 4-5 June

Nailympia San Antonio 1-2 October

Nailympia Columbus 8-9 October

 

This expansion comes at an exciting time, since Informa Markets announced earlier this year that it has partnered with the BolognaFiere Group and the Professional Beauty Association to deliver a landmark joint venture, promising an impressive series of beauty events in the US beauty market.

Nailympia Competitions will be hosted in seven locations for 2023; London, UK; Mexico City, Mexico; Düsseldorf, Germany, and Anaheim CA, Orlando FL, San Antonio TX and Columbus OH in the USA, in partnership with the world’s leading nail magazine, Scratch.

Each competition location will offer six live competitions on the show floor:

UV/LED Gel Tip & Overlay, L&P Acrylic Sculpture (with Perfect Match), The Joy of Nails, Stiletto Nails, Salon Nails & Reality Nails.

There will be four turn-in categories, comprising Flat Art, Runway Nails, Invent A Nail Shape and Extreme Nails Styling poster. All turn-in categories will have a theme that will be announced before each event and Reality Nails will be themed on the floor during the competition brief.

Click here for rules, regulations, address for postal entries, email for sending in jpeg for Extreme Poster Styling, deadlines & themes for Nailympia Anaheim. https://www.nailympia.com/anaheim/rules-regs/

Meet – Kirsty Meakin – UK

Get to know a Nailympia judge…

NAME: Kirsty Meakin

Business name: Kirsty Meakin

Location: Stoke on Trent, UK

Nationality: British

Who Trained You: Youth Training Scheme, Trang Nguyen & I’ve learnt a lot through my own mistakes.

Years in Nails: 20+ years; I’ve stopped counting, as it can make me feel way too old.

Years Judging: 7 years

Nail Brand You Represent/Use: Kirsty Meakin

Role in Industry: Brand owner, YouTuber, nail artist, international educator, nail influencer, international nail competition judge.

Favourite Trade Exhibition: Nailpro Vegas (it’s gone now)

Favourite Nail Tool: My Allycia acrylic brush

Favourite Book: Aint Nobody Got Time For That

Favourite Movie: Terminator & Silence Of The Lambs

Favourite Food: Mac & cheese

Favourite Vacation Destination: Los Angeles, USA

Your Hobbies: Roller blading

What Inspires Your Work: The world, fashion & people

Who You Admire In Industry: David Fowler (educator in Germany, www.signature-nail.de)

Top Technique You’ve Mastered: Realistic gel painting

Advice to Competitors: Read the rules

Hot Tip or Trick for Competitors: Read the rules – again! Sleep well the night before & get a model with kick-ass nail beds.

What Lockdown Has Taught You: I need to slow down to be a better creative

A Funny Memory From Your Nail Desk: That’s a secret!

Why Nailympia: Because I love it for its international presence & damn – the skill level is off the charts.

“I believe in dressing how you want, not how you think you should! Creative expression feels and looks so damn good!” Kirsty Meakin

Kirsty’s workshops & classes can be found here:https://www.kirstymeakinacademy.com

Kirsty’s KM clothing line launched in 2021 – https://kirstymeakin.bigcartel.com/

Instagram: Kirsty Meakin

Twitter: Kirsty Meakin

Facebook: Kirsty Meakin nail artist

TikTok: Kirsty Meakin

 

Kirsty Meakin KM clothing line …2021

Meet – Krasimira Petrova – Bulgaria/Austria

Get to Know a Nailympia Expert in 25 Steps…

NAME: Krasmira Petrova

Business name: Krasi Mira Enterprise

Location: Vienna, Austria

Nationality: Bulgarian

Who Trained You: Antony Buckley, Danny Haile, Tom Holcomb & Elena Maltseva

Years in Nails: 18 years

Years Judging: 12 years

Nail Brand You Represent: Gelish, Hand & Nail Harmony & Morgan Taylor

Role in Industry: Educator, distributor & salon owner

Favourite Trade Exhibition: Intercharm Moscow, Russia

Favourite Nail Tool: The Spoon Pusher & Go File by Gelish

Favourite Book: Seat of the Soul, Gary Zukov

Favourite Movie: No Reservations

Favourite Food: A mish mash

Favourite Vacation Destination: Santorini, Greece

Your Hobbies: Latin Dancing, cooking and art

What Inspires Your Work: Creative people and all the beauty around

Who You Admire In Industry: Danny Haile, David Daniel, Gari-Dawn Tingler, Antony Buckley, Elena Maltseva, Alisha Rimando, Georgie Smedley, Alex Fox, Tom Holcomb (even though he’s now passed away I will always admire him)

Top Technique You’ve Mastered: Pink & White and  nail art – any type

Advice to Competitors: Work on your emotional intelligence just as much as on your nail skills, because this is your #1 enemy!

Hot Tip or Trick for Competitors: Choose your model wisely!

 What Lockdown Has Taught You: A very close friend of mine told me during this difficult time, ‘Krasi, relax and Osim Chaim – check this on the internet’. After checking I found a story regarding the meaning of these words, which I found so incredible, that I’m sharing a small part with you.

‘’…Do not solve problems, not to make money, not looking for answers to questions, not to set goals and reach them without losing weight, after all, no! Just enjoy the life!’’ V. Hugo

My interpretation is drink your favourite coffee, eat your favourite food, dress well, do things that bring joy into your day, be good to yourself and others, laugh and enjoy life!

An Affirmation You Love: I can BE, I can DO and HAVE everything I wish anytime, anywhere

Why Nailympia: Simply because this is the most upright competition in the world. The judging process is like a symphony; smooth, fair, easy and thanks to the ingeniously structured judging system, we can really relax and enjoy the time without stress. Last, but not least, Alex Fox and team with their vibrant and contagious energy make everybody addicted to this special life event and memorable experience.

Krasimira Nail Academy
https://nailharmony.at/de/education.php

Instagram: krasimirap

Twitter: Krasimira Petrova

Facebook: Krasimira Petrova

 

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