The first competition of 2025: Nailympia Anaheim

Nailympia Anaheim will take place on 23-24 February 2025 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, USA.

The competition will feature the following categories:

  • Gel Polish
  • Salon Nails
  • Stiletto Nails
  • UV Gel P&W (Sculpt or Tip/Overlay)
  • Acrylic P&W (Sculpt or Tip/Overlay)
  • Perfect Match
  • Joy of Nails

Additionally, there will be four turn-in categories:

  1. Flat Art: Theme: Urban Graffiti – Create nail art with a powerful message.
  2. Runway: Design on 3 nail tips, inspired by the theme AI, with a mood board.
  3. Reality: Create 3 nail designs based on the themes:
    • Famous Pictures of the 12th Century, 16th Century and 20th Century.
  4. To Stiletto & Beyond: One extreme nail style with the theme Cosmic Butterflies.

Participants can also submit an Extreme Nail Styling Poster as a JPEG via email to the Nailympia team – there is  no theme for this poster.

Stay Tuned:
Information and registration for Nailympia Anaheim will open soon. Click here to register your interest and you’ll be the first to hear when registration opens! 

Nailympia China – now postponed until May 2025

The first Nailympia China nail competition is now set to take place 8-9-10 May 2025, hosted in Pudong, Shanghai, China. 

It presents 14 categories across three divisions, with cash prizes for the Winner Of Winners in Division 1, 2 and 3, and for the Individual Top Scorer.

Arena competitions:

  • Gel Polish Manicure
  • Salon Nails
  • UV Hard Gel Tip & Overlay
  • L&P Acrylic Sculpture
  • Perfect Match
  • The Joy Of Nails
  • Stiletto Nails
  • Reality Nails

Hand-in competitions:

  • Full Cover Creative *NEW Nailympia category
  • Mixed Media Boxed 3D ARt
  • Flat Art Boxed
  • To Stiletto & Beyond

Email poster competitions:

  • Manicure Poster
  • Pedicure Poster

26 judges from all over the world will be lending their expertise to the competition, including Elaine Watson (USA), Dafne Fernandez (Mexico), Eve Tran (Germany/Vietnam), Kirsty Meakin (UK), Stephy Pang (Malaysia) and Viv Clements-Simmonds (Australia).

The competition, in association with Scratch magazine, is directed by Alex Fox, who comments: “Nailympia continues to inspire, unite and elevate the global nail art community with each location adding its unique flair and perspective. From Sydney to Saskatoon and beyond, Nailympia leaves an indelible mark on the world of nail artistry.

“As we embark on this exciting new chapter in China, the community eagerly anticipates showcasing their skills and forging new connections. With Damon Ho (Nailympia Vietnam) and Kimi Chang (Nailympia China) at the helm of the Asia competitions, the future of nail artistry and the cross-fertilisation of ideas across East and West has never looked brighter.”

For more information and to register, click here.

Entry is NOW OPEN for Nailympia London 2024!

Join us for the world’s biggest nail competition, celebrating 20 years this year at ExCel London on 13-14 October!

This competition blends a mix of online and arena categories, making it available to EVERYONE!

We have 19 fantastic categories (9 arena and 10 online) and 3 divisions – click here to enter today! 

 

ARENA

Gel Polish

LED Hard Gel Tip & Overlay (traditional French)

L&P Acrylic Sculpture (traditional French)

Perfect Match

Joy of Nails

French Twist 3-Shape Challenge

Salon Nails

Stiletto Nails

Fantasy Complete Look

 

ONLINE

To Stiletto & Beyond

Extreme Nail Styling Poster

Mixed Media Boxed Art

Flat Art Boxed Art

Art on Nails

Design Nails for Album Cover

Poster Manicure

Poster Pedicure

Reality Nails

Runway Nails

You can see the themes for this years categories here.

 

Nail Art Themes for Nailympia London 2024 released!

Nailympia London 2024 celebrates our 20th year, and we have both ONLINE categories and LIVE ARENA categories taking place! <

Entry is set to open next month (watch this space) but we like to give you a bit of insight into the art themes for this year.

ONLINE entries are submitted as photographs, video and some with text and they will be open for submission from May 2024.
The submission window for ALL ONLINE categories will close mid-August.

So what are you waiting for – now that you have the themes you can get designing and crafting your competition nails…
We can’t wait to see what you’ve got this year!


THE THEMES FOR ART CATEGORIES AT NAILYMPIA LONDON 2024

To Stiletto & Beyond: Botanical Gardens
Runway Nails: Industrial Revolution
Reality Nails (3 nails – 3 themes): Geometric Chic / Vintage Vibes / Gothic Grandeur
Flat Art Boxed: Sacred Symbols
Design Nails for an Album Cover: Electro Pop
Art On Nails: International Sporting Events
Extreme Nail Styling Poster: Open Theme
Poster Pedicure: Open Theme
Poster Manicure: Open Theme
Mixed Media: Open Theme

Olena Oezman – 2022 & 2023 Global Cup winner

“I have met a lot of people on the competition floor, and each of us has different values on what drives us to take part in a competition for the first time and even more, to keep on competing. Let’s be honest, it’s not always easy and definitely not always joyful to be a competitor,” shares Olena Oezman. “Most people only see the ‘end result’ and the performance on the competition floor. There’s in fact, so much more behind it. One needs to integrate the training process into everyday life, take time for practice and invest in learning. Also, if you aim better results, you automatically face self-doubt, and it’s a huge personal growth journey. Behind this decision, everyone has their own ‘why’ that drives them.
“I came to the competition arena due to curiosity, without any expectations, but to have fun. The atmosphere was overwhelming and showed me a world of nails I’d never imagined. But the reason I stayed? I driven by excellence! There is no perfection! However, there is excellence, and I set myself a goal to reach it. 
“I want to motivate everyone to try competing and see how they feel, what it does for a person. And observe if there is any special ‘why’ for them behind it. One person’s ‘why’ will be very different to another’s and that’s great, as not everyone is destined to compete. It doesn’t make you a less valuable nail professional. However, competing can be so much fun. For me, I figured out that competing and the criteria helped me to do nails I’d never thought possible. Competing gave me self-doubt, but also self-belief. It made me weak but also very strong. It brought envy, but it also brought very deep friendship.
“Winning the Nailympia Global Cup the first time was very special for me, because I did it. But, due to covid, some competitors did not take part, and I had many points, so my win was relatively predictable. And, you know, the thing about excellence, is you achieve excellent results under pressure, in a challenge, unpredictable and not by coincidence!

“The second Nailympia Global Cup was for me! For my personal vision of my abilities and strength. This cup was hard. I did not not have the usual circumstances for practice, I had some health issues, and some new, huge and important projects. It was challenging and at the same time, a wonderful journey. The 2023 cup is definitely more meaningful to me, even though I enjoyed them both enormously.

“Also, winning the first Nailympia European Cup in 2022 was great, as it was the first one ever given, and I generally like the word ‘first. The best combination, winning it for the first time! It’s a great cup for European competitors to motivate them to travel between Germany and the UK to strive for this special trophy.”

 Olena Oezman has been an active competitor for about eight years. Starting in 2015 Oelna now hols the titles:
– German Champion 2x
– Grand Champion in Rome: The Nailympion (INJA)
– Grand Champion in Ukraine: The Nailympion (INJA)
– Grand Champion in Argentina (INJA)
– Champion of Russia (Nevakie Berega)
– Nail Technician of the Year (INES)
– Global French Champion INJA: x
– Global Champion Nailympia: 2x
– French Master in Nailsolympic Poland

Olena has over 100 ? 1st places, Winner of Winners and Highest Personal Scorer in different live competitions around the world.
Olena is a mentor and educator for competition-style nails through her academy https://nailacademy-online.com/en/

Nailympia London introduces new competition!

In a remarkable & unforeseen development, Nailympia London introduces a new competition to its online line-up six weeks after the event has taken place

In an unprecedented move, the team at Nailympia took a series of requests to appeal scores from the latest Nailympia London, to a whole new level.

“After noting that the Invent a Nail Shape competition was proving challenging for judges and creating confusion for competitors, it was necessary to relook at this competition and revitalise it,” reveals Alex Fox, global director of Nailympia Competitions. “It was clear that very few entries right across the globe have been actual shape and structure nail inventions since introducing this competition, however we have seen stunning nails crafted for this category, therefore it’s been hard to judge and has afforded concerns that if competitors were not fitting the brief, then should these entries be disqualified?

“I’m not one to disqualify unless it’s deemed absolutely necessary, therefore we needed to find a solution that works now and moving into the future.”

Opting for a solution-oriented approach, the team, inspired by head judge Marian Newman’s insight, decided to listen to industry feedback. Marian Newman observed that competitors were pushing for an industry shift, seeking a competition that allowed complete creative autonomy over shape and design after establishing the stiletto structure. The competitors wanted to create a stiletto nail and from there let their creative juices go wild and bring a new-fashioned nail to life.

From this premise it was decided to take all the entries that had been submitted, scored and awarded for Invent A Nail Shape, at Nailympia London 2023, and move them into a new competition. The criteria were reformed, the initial 4 judges from the original competition invited to re-score the entries and a fifth judge added, giving the competition 13 different criteria.

Now, six weeks after the event, Nailympia London 2023 presents To Stiletto & Beyond, which affords three winners across three divisions who will receive a certificate by email and their medal by post. Additionally, score sheets for this new category will be sent to all participants, providing a comprehensive and fair evaluation of their creative endeavours.

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

To Stiletto & Beyond

Division 1

1st – Nozi Brandel – Israel

2nd – Mei Kwan Leung – Australia

3rd – Tatiana Solovyeva – Russian Federation

Division 2

1st – Mariana Costirco – UK

2nd – Natalia Cibizova – Italy

3rd – Lyubov Tudakova – Russian Federation

Division 3

1st – Mino Vo – UK

2nd – Tatyana Texter – Germany

3rd – Charisse Cassie – UK

 

To stiletto and beyond replaces Invent a Nail Shape for Nailympia London.

BRAND NEW LOOK FOR 2024!

We’re very excited to launch our fantastic new branding for 2024, courtesy of two of our Nailympia London 2023 winners!

Èva Pásztornè Balog (@evaprofessionalnails)
2nd place Division 3 – Extreme Poster
Photo: Zsolt Kőszegi
Model: Kitty Kovács
MUA: Ivett Orosz​

Melinda Tamas (@tamasmela)
1st place Division 3 – Extreme Poster
Photo: Jozsef Balogh
Model: Agnes Koltai
MUA: Lívia Rideg
Retouch: Anna Petrova

The website has had an overhaul and you can now register your interest in competing in Nailympia 2024 competitions by clicking here.

Nailympia Germany, taking place on 22-24 March at Beauty Düsseldorf is also NOW OPEN for registrations!

We can’t wait to see what you’ll achieve in 2024!

Nailympia Columbus 2023: THE RESULTS

The results are in for Nailympia Columbus 2023

Premiere Columbus, Ohio, hosted the first edition of Nailympia Columbus, 8-9 October 2023. The nail competition welcomed techs from across the globe, who competed across 10 categories in three divisions.

Points from Nailympia San Antonio were added to those accrued from Nailympia Columbus to determine thee first winner of the Nailympia Premiere Cup.

The judging panel included John Hauk (USA), Emily Korikian (USA/Armenia), Holly Schippers (USA), Jaime Schrabeck (USA), Linda Gilbride (USA), MaeLing Parrish (USA), Serge Korchagin (USA) & Vitaly Solomonoff (USA).

THE NAILYMPIA PREMIERE CUP 2023
Katarzyna Kruszynska – Ireland – 777 points
Qualifying scores taken from San Antonio & Columbus competitions

OVERALL INDIVIDUAL TOP SCORER

Katarzyna Kruszynska – Ireland

743 points

 

FLAT ART

Division 1

  • 1st – Jay Arthur – USA

Division 3

  • 1st – Katarzyna Kruszynska – Ireland

 

RUNWAY NAILS

Division 1

  • 2nd – Kaidenn Heath – USA

Division 3

  • 2nd – Katarzyna Kruszynska – Ireland

 

REALITY NAILS

Division 3 

  • 1st – Katarzyna Kruszynska – Ireland
  • 2nd – Olena Oezman – Germany

 

THE JOY OF NAILS

Division 1

  • 2nd  – Jay Arthur – USA

Division 2

  • 1st – Anastasiia Rozdobukto – USA
  • 3rd – London Ward – USA

Division 3

  • 1st – Katarzyna Kruszynska – Ireland
  • 2nd- Olena Oezman – Germany

 

SALON NAILS

Division 2 

  • 3rd – Anastasiia Rozdobukto – USA

Division 3

  • 1st – Olena Oezman – Germany
  • 2nd – Katarzyna Kruszynska – Ireland

 

INVENT A NAIL SHAPE

Division 3

  • 2nd – Katarzyna Kruszynska – Ireland

 

L&P ACRYLIC SCULPTURE

Division 3

  • 1st – Olena Oezman – Germany 
  • 2nd – Katarzyna Kruszynska – Ireland

 

L&P ACRYLIC TIP & OVERLAY

Division 3

  • 1st – Olena Oezman – Germany
  • 2nd – Katarzyna Kruszynska – Ireland

 

L&P ACRYLIC PERFECT MATCH

Division 3
  • 1st – Olena Oezman – Germany
  • 2nd – Katarzyna Kruszynska – Ireland

 

STILETTO NAILS

Division 2

  • 2nd – Anastasiia Rozdobutko – USA
  • 3rd – Naquillah Foekler – USA

Division 3

  • 1st – Olena Oezman – Germany
  • 2nd – Katarzyna Kruszynska – Ireland

Are fashion nails your thing? Wizard of Oz is a dream theme!

Runway Nails is an online category at Nailympia London this year! It’s easy to enter from anywhere in the world and at just £39 per ONLINE category, it’s a fantastic opportunity to challenge yourself & show off your skills!

RUNWAY NAILS

For this category you’re tasked with creating 3 press-on full cover nail tips that will enhance, accessorise and interpret this fashion brief. The finished nail designs should include suitable shape and length for a catwalk show and you can use any suitable products (not necessarily just nail products).

To enter this category you’ll submit the following:

  • 1 photo of all 3 nails displayed side by side on a sheet of white paper
  • 3 separate close up photos of each individual nail on a sheet of white paper
  • 1 photo of a mood board that offers insight into the thoughts, ideas & journey behind the styles
  • 1 text document describing the 3 nail designs in no more than 100 words (in English)

Register for your place today – we can’t wait to see your creativity & skill shine through! 

CLICK HERE TO ENTER TODAY!

DON’T FORGET… If you enter a mix of 6 or more arena & online categories you’ll automatically receive 10% off your total entry fee 

Where will your creativity take you?

Art On Nails More Than 2 Inches Long is an online category at Nailympia London this year! It’s easy to enter from anywhere in the world and at just £39 per ONLINE category, it’s a fantastic opportunity to challenge yourself & show off your skills!

Art On Nails – More Than 2 Inches Long

For this category you’re tasked with creating 5 long nails on sculpted or long tips using L&P acrylic or UV gel systems. Any shape is welcome but the nail must be more than 2 inches in length from the cuticle. The more complex shaping the more points awarded! Where will the theme of Swan Lake take you? 

To enter this category you’ll submit the following:

  • 5 photos in total taken from 5 angles – hand from above, left side view, right side view, down barrel, c-curve of nails and underneath
  • 1 text document describing the techniques and theme in no more than 50 words (in English)

Register for your place today – we can’t wait to see your creativity & skill shine through! 

CLICK HERE TO ENTER TODAY

DON’T FORGET… If you enter a mix of 6 or more arena & online categories you’ll automatically receive 10% off your total entry fee