1. Competitions are open to students and Professional Nail Technicians only. Owners/Partners of companies/manufacturers selling to the industry may compete, see rule #16 below for clarification.
2. Nailympics reserves the right to refuse service to any competitor.
3. Competitors must be licensed if they reside in a state/country which requires a license to work as a nail technician
4. Competitors and models must be at least 18 years old and will be required to sign a release in order to compete
5. Competitors must use a live model and must arrange for their own model.  
6. Any division having only one entry in a category is not considered a competition and that entry will be put into whichever other division it's score will rank it higher in.
7. Each competition will have a briefing, scheduled 30 minutes prior to the start of the competition
8. Competitors and models must be present for the briefing
9. Once the briefing starts, the competitor may not touch the models nails until the competition begins, if any competitor touches their models nails once the briefing has started, they will have 5 points deducted from their final score.  
10. Competitors not understanding English fluently MUST supply their own translator. Translator must be present during the competition briefing and stay just outside the competition floor in a designated area during the competition in the event they are needed for communication with the competitor.
11. The Nailympics is not responsible for any competitor not adhering to or understanding the rules
12. A full set (2 hands) must be completed and all work must be completed in the time allotted for the competition unless otherwise stated in specific rules for individual competitions
13. Models nails will be checked during the briefing to be certain no work has been previously done
14. If it is decided by the judges or sages that prep work has been done on the model prior to the briefing, the competitor will receive a 5 point deduction off their final score.
15. Competitors will be allowed to set up their tools, products during their competition briefing
16. Competitor must specify competition division they are entering when the registration form is filled out. The divisions are as follows: Div. 1("Novice"): Students and Professional Nail technicians that have never competed in any type of nail competition.   Div. 2 ("Apprentice"): Students & Professional Nail Technicians that have competed, but do not yet meet the qualifications for Div 3.  Div. 3 ("Masters"): Professional Nail Technicians that fall into any one of the following: have won a minimum of 5 competitions of any type in their career; are ranked by any trade publication as a Top Competitor, have won a world title; owns, in whole or part, a manufacturing company or any company selling to the professional industry anywhere in the world; is employed full time by a manufacturing company; is involved in creating nail styles for photo shoots for any manufacturer or in charge of product development. If there is any question if you fall into this category, get clarification!
17. Once a competitor has registered in a division there is no changing divisions
18. Competitor must enter the highest division they qualify for. 
19. Due to the large attendance and international participation, the Nail Competition is not responsible for verifying that each competitor enters the correct division, this is done on the honor system. We will correct those we know to be incorrect, but cannot verify all.
20. If it is found the competitor has registered in the wrong division, they will receive a 10 point deduction in their final score for each competition registered for in the wrong division
21. Competitors must furnish all necessary supplies, lamps, extension cords/power strips, etc.
22. Each competitor will be provided one electrical outlet
23. Late arrivals may compete – No refunds of competition fees are given
24. No smoking or eating is allowed during the competition. Non-alcoholic drinks allowed, but not recommended.
25. Once the allotted time is up, competitors must immediately stop working & stand with their model
26. Any competitor found to still be working on their model after the close of the competition will be disqualified.
27. Incomplete nails will be judged with an automatic 10 point deduction off competitor’s final score
28. When instructed, competitors are responsible for getting their model to the judging area
29. Models must not leave the judging area until they have been judged.
30. Any model leaving the judging area prior to being judged will be disqualified.
31. All products must be clearly labeled, hand written labels are acceptable.
32. Each Division will have one Overall Division Best winner
33. For all Division, Any competitor entering 3 competitions or more will be eligible for the Overall Division Best. We will take the 3 highest scores from each competitor and add them, the highest score is the Overall Best for that division, which is an additional cash prize.
34. Product prizes are available only to those competitors that win or place & are present for the awards ceremony. Any product prizes not claimed by the close of the show will be forfeit. The Nail Competition will not hold or ship product prizes to competitors.
35. A 1-10 point judging system will be used; 1 being the lowest, 10 being flawless
36. Any competitor not abiding by these rules will take whatever point deduction is allowed in the rules. For those rules not specifying a point deduction, there will be one warning, after that there will be a 5 point deduction for the next warning, and DISQUALIFICATION for the third infraction!
37. Judges decisions are final. Score Sheets not picked up at the end of the competition will be sent by show management to attendees approximately 4-6 weeks after the show.
38. Any ties in scores are decided by the head judges' scores.
39. Final interpretation of these rules will be made by the Nail Competition staff and accepted by the competitor as final.
40. All photos/video taken by The Nail Competition personnel or contractors are the sole property of The Nail Competition, to be used in whatever fashion deemed appropriate by The Nail Competition without compensation to the competitors.

Acrylic Sculpture, Acrylic Tip Overlay, Wrap & Gel Competitions

1. Competitors must polish one hand of the model with a red cream polish only – no base coat, ridgefiller or topcoat may be used. The polish may be of the competitors’ choice & the only polish or lacquer allowed is the red polish to be used on one hand.
2. These are traditional competitions, with pink & white nails to be created. These are NOT "salon nail" competitions.
3. Oils, lanolin, creams, oils on buffers, lotions, polish dry products or chamois buffers may not be used
4. Water and non-lanolin based soap may be used in finishing.
5. NO WHITE TIPS ALLOWED IN ANY COMPETITION. Any white tips on the competition floor will be confiscated and the competitor will incur a 10 point deduction off their final score for that competition.
6. Competitors may not blend, shape or cut out tips prior to the start of the competition
7. Glue is allowed for tip application only, for acrylic tip overlay, gel & wrap competitions
8. NO Glue allowed in the acrylic sculpture competition
9. Drills are allowed, competitor must supply their own drill and have ample electrical cords with them.
10. Those gel competitors coming from outside North America may request a gel lamp be made available to them, only if noted on the Competition Registration in the appropriate area, and only if they are still available, as there are a limited number available and we cannot guarantee availability.

1. This is a "show & tell" competition. Nails are to be done on tips and placed in some type of covered display. Covered displays may be bought or made and must not be large than 10 inches in either direction or more than 4 inches high. Having a display any larger than that will result in the entry not being included in the competition.
2. Displays are NOT judged.
3. All entries are to be 100% finished when submitted at the competition.
4. A full set of 10 tips must be created  and reflect different sizes, as real nails do. Entries using all one size tip will have an automatic 10 point deduction to the final score.
5. The goal is to create a full set of 10 individual nails, creating one full set of nail art nails. Do not create something unrecognizable out of the tips, we must be able to see & recognize the 10 tips easily.
6. Only the artwork on the tips is artwork that will be judged, no other peripheral artwork is included in the judging.
7. NO mail in entries accepted.
8. Maximum of two entries per competitor, each entry will incur a registration fee.
9. No entries left after the close of the competition will be returned to the competitor.
10. Entries are not available to pick up until all have been judged by all three judges.
11. All entries must be submitted by the deadline in the competition schedule, no entries accepted after this time.
12. No entry will be accepted without a typed description of the work, including the types of nail art used.
13. Competitor must use a minimum of 3 of the following 5 nail art types: Airbrushing, embellishments (rhinestones, feathers, striping, shells, sequins etc.), acrylic product, gel product, hand painting. Failure to use three will result in a 10 point deduction for each media less than 3.
14. All three media must be used in an artistic way or they will not count towards the required 3 nail arts. It is the competitors responsibility to clarify any questions prior to the event and the judges decisions are accepted as final.
15. No decals allowed.
16. Nothing can extend further than 1/4" from the surface of the nail in any direction. If it does, there will be a 10 point deduction to the final score.
17. Any embellishment to the actual tips, whether attached to the tip or not attached to the tip, will count and must not extend further than 1/4" from the nail surface in any direction or the entry will be deducted 10 points from the final score.
18. No copyrighted designs allowed (ie, NFL, Disney, Warner Bros, celebrity likeness etc.) Any copyrighted designs produced will receive a 10 point deduction from the final score. This includes any logos or artwork reproduced unless you have proof of legal right to reproduce the artwork/logo.

1. No polish or base coats allowed on models' nails prior to the competition.
2. Only the model & competitor are allowed on the competition floor. The entire costuming & assembly must be completed by only the model & competitor, no additional people may help.
3. Models must be pre-manicured & ready for polish/paint application.
4. All pieces or embellishments that will go on the nails may be completely created prior to the competition.
5. Three dimensional, pre-cast embellishments, feathers, decals, gems, accessories, ornaments of any form of fantasy allowed, your imagination is the only limitation.
6. No pre-application allowed, all application of the design must be done during the hour provided - ONLY ONE HOUR
7. It is recommended that models have their costume on prior to the start of the competition, with just final touches that may need to be completed during the competition.
8. Keep in mind that the costume is a total of 10 points of the total 100 points available, it can make the difference between winning and 10th place!
9. No copyrighted designs allowed (ie, NFL, Disney, Warner Bros, celebrity likeness etc.) Any copyrighted designs produced will receive a 10 point deduction from the final score. This includes any logos or artwork reproduced unless you have proof of legal right to reproduce the artwork/logo.