Calling all nail artists! Your fiercest holiday nails can win you cool prizes and bragging rights in the annual American Salon competition, MISSUS CLAWS 2025: Nailing the Holidays.
Original designs submitted by licensed nail artists will be chosen to compete in four themed categories, with the winners determined by public vote.
Round 1 decides the winners of each category, while Round 2 puts those four finalists in a championship round to determine the grand prize winner.
Stay tuned on competition updates: Follow American Salon on Instagram, or sign up for the weekly American Salon newsletter.
How to Enter
1. Nail artists must tag posts of their original work on Instagram with both @american_salon AND #missusclaws2025 before Dec. 8, 2025. (If your work is selected for the competition, American Salon will notify you via a comment on your original post.) Yes, nail art can be from previous years.
2. Nail designs must fall under at least one of four themed categories:
1. HOLIDAY
Designs that reference a December holiday: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, New Year’s Eve.
2. WINTER
All things related to snow, ice, and cold.
3. FESTIVE
Seasonal colors, designs, and inspo such as candy canes, angels, gifts, lights, etc.
4. CHARACTERS
Favorite faces & personalities such as Santa, The Grinch, Frosty the Snowman, nutcrackers, elves, gingerbread men, etc.
The Prizes
The grand prize winner will receive:
- An American Salon feature article & social post;
- 2 tickets to the Be+Well Beauty and Wellness Show 2026 in NYC, Las Vegas, or Florida;
- An automatic slot in the One Epic Nail Competition live nail art contest at Be+Well New York;
- And other cool prizes TBA!
Shout out to sponsors: Global Talent Beauty Cup and Le Chat Nails!
Contest Rules
- Must be a licensed professional nail artist, 18+.
- Entries must be original nail art created by the contestant.
- To enter, contestants must tag a photo or video of their nail art on Instagram with both @american_salon and #missusclaws2025. If their work is selected, contestants will be notified via a comment by @american_salon on their original post.
- Round 1 of voting will take place Dec 10-16; Round 2 will take place Dec. 17-22, 2025.
- Votes can be cast for favorite holiday nail looks once per day, per device. *Any attempt to artificially inflate voting numbers will result in disqualification of the contestant.
- Winner will be announced Dec. 23, 2025
- Questions? Email eloh@questex.com.