Nail’d It Episode 4 Recap: “Divine Nails”

Nail'd It Episode 4 recap

Tonight on Nail’d It … it’s a boy! The first male contestant, the artists do “Church Nails” and they create Stiletto nails based on colorful high heels.

Lauren, age 32 from Cape Coral, FL.
Her specialty is detailed artwork.
“After I gave Jesus control of my life, he told me to work in a salon.”
Lauren’s double sided pin-up nails are the most amazing painting I’ve ever seen on nails. And, who ever though to paint on both sides of the nails!?!
Lauren credits prayer for helping her come to odds with drug addition, homelessness and bipolar disorder.

Robert, age 27 from Oceanside, CA
His Specialty is Technical artistry.
His mega-pointy dragon-inspired nails are fierce!!
“I’m opening up a salon in Beverly Hills…I am a master of technicality.”
I don’t foresee a lot of women in Beverly Hills looking for wild nails like his, but I’m sure this businessman knows his target customer.

Celeste, age 28 from Brandywine, Md.
Her specialty is originality, which doesn’t seem like a very original thing to specialize in.
“I know what I got…I got this.”
The her work looks pretty amazing though, every single finger in her showwork is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. If she isn’t afraid to be crazy, she can stand out.
Celeste fought a mystery illness that affected her mobility. For her, the hardest part of being sick was not being able to do nails.

With three extremely talented artists, this should be a fantastic showdown!!

Quick Dry Challenge
This week’s real clients are women heading to church. The contestants must use colors form a single color family based on the color of their client’s nails (white and black can be used as an accent). And they have only 60 minutes to create their divine masterpieces.

Tiny Robert is absolutely dwarfed by his Amazonian client! She put her elbow on his slim shoulder, like he was a bar top table. Awkward. Celeste’s client had her tiny dog Dolly with her and Celeste is allergic to dogs. How is her client going to dry her nails if she’s petting a poch? This may be a time to say, “I don’t want your dog to be around fumes…” to get the dog gone.

Lauren loves the limitations placed on her in this challenge, “I’m the McGuyver of Nails, ” and she’s putting her nail design in God’s hands.

Nail'd It Episode 4 Reap
I mean come on, the only one dressed normally here is Adrienne.

The outfits that the clients are wearing are ridiculous. I think that people only dress like this in movies, not in real life. At least no one that I’ve seen at churches I’ve attended.

Celeste is working in negative space, and the biggest negative in her space is her client’s dog who promptly pee-peed on the floor. Eew! Leave your pet at home, people.

This week’s judges are professional nail artist Terrance Terry and nail artist to the stars, Tom Bachik.

Nail'd It, Episode 4
Celeste’s Quick-Dry nails

Celeste is up first in presenting her design. Tom likes the use of negative space on both hands. But Terrance thinks the bare glitter that she used got everywhere and offers suggestions on how to present a tidier design. Her color palate felt all-over the place to me.  There are so many different shades of pink, and Celeste tried to use them all. Hot Pink, Baby Pink, purple-pinks.  Too many color tones feel clashy.

Nail'd It Episode 4 Recap
Robert’s Quick Dry Nails

I love that Robert rhinestoned the underside of his client’s nails because she claims that she loves to flip the bird. You know, just like Jesus, I’m sure. But his lack of time management left a few nails that weren’t 100% completed. But I like that he stayed with one purple family instead of branching out into lilacs.  Just because the show gives you a color, doesn’t mean you have to use it.

Lauren is the wife of a pastor so she knows what her congregation clients want. Lauren did some impressive techniques and the lace she hand painted is pretty awesome. Lauren is announced the winner and with her strong faith background, she is thrilled.

Elimination challenge
Nail'd It Epiode 4 RecapWhat girl doesn’t love a killer heel? This week’s elimination is to create 5 inch-long stiletto nails to create fantasy runway nails. They only have 5 hours to create their masterpieces. Lauren, as the winner of the challenge gets first pick of her inspiration. All three of the pairs of nails are crazy colorful (and crazy ugly) and nothing a normal woman would wear. The shoes that Robert got are terrible, he calls them “Olympic rings” which is a great description and will become the basis for his design. He will hand paint sports scenes in keeping with his sports-centric nails. Robert is a stiletto expert and his reputation has preceded him.

Nail'd It Episode 4Celeste has formed her nails to point down on an angle. She’s using the feathers on her heels to create brightly-hues peacock nails.

When Adrienne comes into stop the competition, has she suddenly lost her voice? Poor dear must be sick! No worries Boo, because you still look amazing!

Lauren’s inspiration is shoes themselves. Her nails are inspired by the different angles of the shoes. Her shows have distinct sides and she wants each nail to reflect the different views of the shoes.

During the break, Terrance Terry shows us how to paint a cheetah print nail.

Nail'd It, Epsiode 4
Lauren’s Elimination Challenge nails

At judging, Lauren’s nails look a little boring to me. They’re vibrant and pretty, but lack the “Wow” of the nails that got her into the competition. Because she ran out of time, she’s forgotten to put top coat on a nail, which she’s hoping the judges won’t notice, but of course they do. On a few of her nails, she painted the underside, which is a cute touch, but it feels strange that she didn’t extend that technique to all of the nails. Overall, the nails are pretty, but also safe.

Nail'd It, Episode 4
Robert’s athletic nails

Robert’s nails look like they’re straight from the Olympic games. Flo Jo would have loved them. Terrance likes the great hand painting, but thinks they’re a little masculine. I think they’re sporty, and athletes are strong. just because a color is bold doesn’t make it unfeminine. Think of some of the strong bodies of Olympic sprinters, those are the clients who would love this style.

Nail'd It Episode 4 Recap
Celeste’s Feathered Nails

Celeste’s peacock nails are really well painted, and she created a white 3D effect which is really interesting. Her nail forms are unique- instead of shaping the nails to come straight out from the nail beds, she has them slope down, which makes the nails look like dripping icicles. This was Celeste’s first time making her own nails, and she did a creative job. She also glittered the underside of some of the nails, a not to the sole of her inspiration nails and a re-do of her messy quick dry glitter application.

Celeste isn’t this week’s winner, but she is this week’s second place finisher and earns a chance to compete in a later week to try to win her way into the finals. Celeste vows to go home and practice.

Robert and Lauren are left. One is the winner, but one is going home empty-handed. Lauren is this week’s winner of $10,000 and is excited to be able to use her winnings to help others.

I’m disappointed that Robert didn’t move on in the competition. He is incredibly talented and he started out as a gracious loser, saying, “Getting to know the two girls was amazing, I’m sure they’re going to do really well in the competition.” But then he got dirty in his confessional. “It’s really difficult for me to get over the fact that there’s someone less talented than me, moving on.” Ouch! Snark much?

Next week, more nail fun.

images © Lindsey Byrnes/Oxygen

Nail’d It Episode 4 Recap: Divine Nails