Iryna discovered her passion for nails in 1996 while working as a scientist in a government health laboratory, when she and a friend visited a local artist who created Nail Art using nail polish. Six months later, Iryna had trained as one of Ukraine’s first Nail Masters and opened her own salon. 

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The following year, Iryna was recruited as an Educator for Christrio Inc, an early pioneer of gel nail products. This led to invitations to judge regional competitions. 

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In 2000, the first national nail competitions in Ukraine were organised. Iryna was one of four invited judges. She continued to judge at this competition for the following six years. 

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In 2006, Iryna married Bob Giblett and moved to Sweden. How they managed to meet remains a mystery to them both! An English guy visiting Kiev for the first time on business, met a Ukrainian girl in an Irish pub and they were married within 8 months on New Year Eve - Bob chose the date because it was easy to remember!

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Having been trained at the top Nail Schools in Russian and Ukraine, it was a natural progression for Iryna to bring this knowledge to Sweden. She created one of Europe’s first schools to teach Russian Nail Art. This lead to international recognition from magazine articles and an invitation to provide a Nail Art class in the USA by one of the World’s most famous manicurists and experts, Vicki Peters. Iryna became the first Ukrainian nail artist to provide education and then make an education tour the following year in the USA.

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Vicki became a close friend and mentor. It was Vicki’s suggestion that Iryna should create her own products to complement the education provided by the Iryna Giblett Nail Academy. 

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During 2009 and 2010, Iryna entered the IBS Las Vega competitions in the Mixed-Media and Fantasy categories, and became the first Ukrainian nail artist to win competition medals in the USA.  

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After several years of product development, Iryna Giblett AB was created in Stockholm, Sweden in 2010. The quality of the IKON.IQ NAILS products combined with World-class education was an immediate success. Today the company has a training centre and logistics centre near Aachen in Germany, a subsidiary in the UK and distributors across Europe. 

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In 2011, Iryna was invited to judge the World Championships in Dusseldorf, Germany; a competition where national champions from 27 different countries, including Russia and the USA, competed. 

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In 2012, Iryna and her competition team competed at Nailympics USA. Iryna won a Gold medal in the Fantasy competition and the team won six gold and two silver medals. 

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Today, Iryna continues to be responsible for product development and our education programmes, to ensure that our high standards are maintained at all of our schools. She remains passionate about developing safe products, educating students of every level and helping other Nail Technicians to find their own success. As an educator and competition judge, Iryna has been able to visit many countries in Europe and enjoys a wide network of international friends in the nail industry. 

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Iryna lives in Aachen, Germany, together with Bob and Max, their Yorkshire Terrier.

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