New York Fashion Week opened on September 10 with Henry Zankov’s debut as artistic director of Diane von Furstenberg, first on a CFDA calendar of some 70 shows and presentations. That runway’s manicure made its own headlines. Miss Pop sent the models out in long almond nails washed in translucent champagne, bronze and soft green, sheer enough for the natural nail to show through, and NewBeauty named these “sunglass nails” the breakout nail trend of the week. Four days later, some of the best Emmys manicures in Los Angeles kept the same restraint, including Ciara Miller’s glossy French over a pale-pink base and Jessica Belkin’s sheer blush polish.
When color gets that thin, the work underneath becomes the look — and that is exactly where Los Angeles nail instructor Viktoriia Lebedinskaia, known professionally as Vikki Swan, has built her name. A multiple championship winner, she judges the Global Talent Beauty Cup and teaches technicians across the U.S. and beyond through her online academy, Nail Insider Club. We talked with Vikki about what a sheer manicure demands from a technician and how a competitor ended up scoring other artists’ work at an international championship.
Vikki, Miss Pop’s sunglass nails at DVF were practically see-through. From a professional point of view, why do sheer manicures require such precise preparation and structure?
Sheer manicures place greater focus on the condition of the natural nail, the quality of the preparation, and the overall structure. Their aesthetic is based on transparency, naturalness, and minimal visual masking, so every part of the foundation matters.
A natural nail should look healthy and well maintained, the cuticle area should be clean, the shape balanced, and the surface smooth. If the nail surface is uneven, a sheer finish can make those irregularities more noticeable. Depending on the client’s natural nails, this may require careful surface correction, strengthening, or structured hard-gel work before color is applied.
Teaching is where I focus on this the most. I train students to assess the natural nail first, its condition, symmetry, sidewalls, surface, and architecture, and only then choose the technique, material, and color. For me, the most important part is choosing the right technique for the individual nail rather than using the same system on every client. A sheer manicure may look very simple, but that simplicity depends on a technically clean foundation.
Emmys carpets kept the French going too, and your feed is full of them. What makes a French look expensive?
French is my favorite thing to do, so I’m super picky about it, and before I call a set finished, the smile line has to be identical on all ten nails. The shape has to be perfect before any white goes on, because a crooked square with a white tip shows you the mistake twice. On a sheer pink base it’s even harder, the edge of the white has nowhere to hide. Celebrity clients notice every little thing, so the base has to be flawless before we even talk design.
Before you judged championships, you won them. In spring 2025 alone you took 37 first places and two Grands Prix at competitions in Chicago, Dubai, Toronto and Hollywood. What did that season change for you?
That spring was crazy, because I was teaching and filming at the same time and preparing competition sets in between. The Global Talent Beauty Cup in Chicago was online, but I flew in for the awards ceremony, and when they called my name for first place three times in one evening — I still get goosebumps thinking about it.
At online championships the judges see only your photos, so every angle has to be spotless, especially the side view and the cuticle line, and after a few months of that you start looking at your own work with a judge’s eyes. At the Briliant Beauty World Cup in Dubai I competed in the Master Instructor category and took 12 first places and the Grand Prix. After that I moved up to Professional Instructor, and at its Hollywood edition it was 18 first places and another Grand Prix. That one meant the most to me, because the level was higher and I still took the top prize.
You joined two international associations in 2025, and as a member of the International Beauty Association of Trainers and Judges you’ve judged four Global Talent Beauty Cup stages, the latest being the Fort Lauderdale edition in August. What do you look at first?
I always start with shape and symmetry, so I check whether all ten nails match and whether the architecture is right from the side, and only then I move to the cuticle zone and the design, because a pretty design never saves a bad structure. For the association I also gave a master class on one of the competition categories, and I find it especially rewarding to help participants understand the judging criteria and identify ways to improve their work.
At the Cup’s New York edition in March, your own team of five took 13 prize places between them, and you received the Best Sculpture Team award for preparing them. How do you coach for a championship?
Like a sports coach! We practiced the same sets until nobody was nervous about the technique anymore. Three of those places were first places, and I was so proud of them.
How did your professional path in the nail industry begin, and how did it influence the way you teach today?
I became interested in the nail industry while I was at university and started developing my technical skills alongside my academic studies. Much of that early learning was self-taught, and what began as a strong personal interest gradually became a professional direction.
Time went into education, practice and improving my technique, and later I opened my own studio, where I began training other technicians as well.
My background in pedagogy had a major influence on the way I built my education system. I understood early on that strong technical skills are not enough to be a good educator, information also has to be structured, clear, and easy to apply in practice. That became the foundation of the way I teach today.
At the beginning of 2023 you moved to Los Angeles and started out in someone else’s studio. What was the hardest part of the move?
Language was the hardest part, for sure, even though I studied philology and English was one of my subjects, so I came here thinking I was ready. Then you sit with a client for a whole appointment, she tells you about her weekend and her kids, and you realize university English was only the start.
Back home my whole professional life was in Russian, so here I started new professional accounts on Instagram and TikTok from zero and began filming in English. Those early videos took me forever, I checked every single word before I posted anything, and I practiced my small talk on every client who sat down at my table, which, believe me, was quite an adventure for both of us.
It took time before all of that became natural, and later I opened my own studio here, so now I teach whole courses in English, which back then I couldn’t even imagine.
Your TikTok grew past 200,000 followers on its own, and more than 800 people have trained in your club. Why a subscription?
I wanted the door to be wide open, and a subscription keeps the entry price low, so a girl with a brand-new license and a salon owner abroad can both start. Most of my members are in the U.S., and everyone gets my manual on Russian manicure and hard gel, the same one I sell on Amazon and Etsy. Once my videos took off, I could teach far more people online than I’d ever fit in my chair, so education became the main thing.
Technicians fly in from other states for your two-day intensives in L.A., and some of your graduates teach students of their own. You also taught a workshop at America’s Beauty Show in Chicago at a New York online store’s invitation. What changes after a course with you?
Raised prices are the first thing my students tell me about, and some went further and became instructors, which for me is the best compliment there is.
Salons from other cities and states invite me to train their teams too, but I haven’t managed to go yet, because my brand and the platform take all my time and many students would rather fly to L.A. anyway.
Sheer nails are all over this season’s runways and carpets. What comes next?
Education is one of my main professional priorities now. Through Nail Insider Club, we’ve built a professional community where technicians can continue developing their skills, learn new techniques, and receive structured education beyond a single class. I want to keep expanding that community, creating stronger educational programs, and sharing the knowledge I’ve built through my own professional experience.
Trends come and go, but careful preparation and balanced structure matter in every manicure. That’s what I want my students to understand: why each step matters and how to choose the right technique for the nails in front of them.
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