The third season of North America’s Star Nail Artist — NASNA — is underway in North America.
The professional competition brings together artistic nail design, technical skill and visual storytelling. According to Scratch, more than 17,000 nail professionals viewed the entry form for the 2026–2027 season. Following the selection process, the organisers announced a competition line-up of 25 artists.
NASNA was created by the team behind professional publication Scratch and Nailympia Competitions. Contestants develop work in response to themed briefs, document their creative process and present the results to an expert judging panel. The season includes six main challenges, additional tasks offering contestants a chance to remain in the competition, and a finale at Premiere Orlando in Florida.
The first season began in October 2024 with 40 shortlisted artists. Anastasia Totty won the title, Michelle Soto finished second and Jessica Vero placed third. For the second season, the organisers received hundreds of applications and selected a Top 25. Jessica Vero became the champion, with Michelle Soto and Yuliia Kovalchuk joining her in the final three.
The competition has attracted professionals whose work has gained recognition beyond NASNA. Season 2 contestant Yuliia Kovalchuk was interviewed by Marie Claire Ukraine about her competition experience and work in the fashion industry. Hirsch Hunty was named to Nailpro’s 30 Under 30 for 2023, created the nail design for Nailpro’s May/June 2024 cover and provided expert commentary for Allure. NAILS Magazine covered educator and Booksy ambassador Michelle Soto. Season 1 champion Anastasia Totty has also contributed professional manicure advice to Allure.
NASNA has received coverage beyond its organisers’ own platforms. On 13 October 2026, Spanish trade publication Noticias Belleza published a dedicated article about the third season, its schedule and opening creative challenge. In its interview with Yuliia Kovalchuk, Marie Claire Ukraine discussed her place in the Season 2 final three. In a September feature introducing its 2027 advisors, Beauty Launchpad highlighted Hirsch Hunty’s Top 10 NASNA finish as part of his professional biography.
Applications for the third season were open from 1 August to 6 September 2026. In September, the organisers announced the full Top 25: Abbie Nguyen, Ana Vega, Aura Aponte-Flores, Britt Higgins, Calvin Jones, Cynika Murphy, Halyna Kaliugina, Iryna Shemet, Iuliia Pashina, Katherine Pena, Kelsey Waldo, Klysta Pesina, Linh Duong, Liudmyla Keremet, Lucycela Munoz, Mariana Dolganova, Maryna Kozhevnikova, Melissa Whiffen, Natascha Laudenberger, Nethan Nguyen, Oksana Viriutina, Quincey Sosebee, Shayna Osazuwa, Tayna Ducharme and Zulema Naciff Hernandez.
Season 3 rules allow entry by adult nail professionals residing in the United States, Canada or Mexico who hold a recognised professional nail licence or qualification and have been practising for more than a year. Educators and brand ambassadors are also eligible. No purchase is necessary to enter or win, and spending money provides no advantage in determining competition placement. Each competition entry must be conceived and created independently by the contestant specifically for the relevant challenge. Reusing previously completed projects or collaborating with other artists or designers is prohibited unless the organisers expressly permit otherwise.
The rules prohibit artificial intelligence in competition submissions, including the creation or refinement of text and images. Written explanations and videos must be in English or accompanied by English subtitles. Submissions are sent to judges without names or social media details to preserve anonymity as far as possible.
The final score for a challenge is calculated as the average of the judges’ scores, with a maximum of 100 points. Each violation of a fundamental brief requirement carries a five-point deduction. Work may be published only after judging and approval from the organisers.
The main challenges take place in October and November 2026, followed by January through April 2027. Contestants have up to two weeks to complete each task. Creative briefs are presented by the season’s partners: Jan Arnold, LECHAT Nailcare Products, Glitterbels, The GelBottle Inc, MelodySusie and Gelish.
Contestants must repeatedly tackle different artistic tasks: interpret the theme, develop a composition, choose materials, produce the work and prepare its presentation within the deadline. A Top 3 is named after each main challenge. The five lowest-scoring contestants receive an additional Wild Card task, which determines who will remain in the competition.
The opening challenge of Season 3, launched on 1 October, was titled Anatomy of Imagination. It was presented by Jan Arnold with Neville Page, an Emmy Award-winning creature designer whose credits include Avatar, Star Trek and Prometheus.
Artists were asked to invent a new species, considering its anatomy, habitat, behaviour and evolutionary history. Their canvas comprised a hand, all five nails and the arm up to at least the elbow. The nails had to form part of a unified sculptural composition. At least half of the structure had to be made from nail enhancement and nail art products. Mixed media were permitted, but reproductions or adaptations of existing fictional creatures were excluded.
Contestants submitted up to 20 unretouched photographs on a white background, a vertical video of up to five minutes and a written explanation of the concept of up to 800 words. The submission deadline was 14 October.
In the opening challenge results published on 21 October, Iryna Shemet, Abbie Nguyen and Shayna Osazuwa formed the Top 3. A total of 19 contestants advanced directly to the second challenge, while five entered the Wild Card round.
NASNA assesses both artistic execution and presentation. The opening challenge’s scoresheet contains ten criteria, including initial visual impact, originality of concept, composition and balance, technical difficulty, product application and compliance with the brief. Separate criteria assess the explanation of the concept, clarity of the demonstrated process, professional quality of the photographs and video, and the artist’s ability to engage the viewer. Lighting, camera angles, editing, audio or captions, and clear demonstrations of techniques all matter. A competition submission must therefore communicate not only the finished result, but also the decisions that shaped it.
The Season 3 judging panel brings together professionals from different areas of the nail industry. They include Jan Arnold; Nailympia Competitions global director Alex Fox; Nail Alliance dean of education Vu Nguyen; Glitterbels co-founder Annabel Maginnis; GlossaryLive founder Alisha Rimando; and nail artist Kirsty Meakin. The champions of the first two seasons, Anastasia Totty and Jessica Vero, also join the judging panel. The panel combines experience in competition judging, education, product development and original nail artistry. Technical precision, artistic expression and professional presentation become interconnected elements of the result.
According to the published schedule, the Season 3 final three will be announced on 1 May 2027. The finalists will travel to Premiere Orlando for sponsor meetings, photo opportunities and a final task. The winner is scheduled to be announced on 6 June 2027. The announced cash prizes are $2,500 for first place, $1,250 for second and $750 for third. The winner will also receive a Scratch cover, a four-page interview, a 12-month column series and free entry to all categories at one of the Nailympia events listed by the organisers.
For contestants, NASNA offers an opportunity to create a series of original projects, receive expert feedback and present their skills to the professional community. For audiences, the competition reveals the process that usually remains behind a finished photograph: developing an idea, choosing materials, constructing a form and refining the details.
The 2026–2027 season continues to explore nail art at the intersection of miniature painting, sculpture and design. Its multi-stage format allows audiences to see how an individual artistic approach emerges across different briefs and develops throughout the competition.
