A Wanganui woman who found her passion in fingernail art has had the chance to commemorate Anzac soldiers with her craft.
Sonia White wanted to "show a story" in her nail art, and did "just heaps of research" to put together her entry for Beauty FX's Anzac-themed gel nail art competition.
Mrs White, who has been doing nail art for a year, was surprised - and delighted - to win first place in the competition's novice section.
The first nail, which shows a soldier and the New Zealand flag, illustrates men leaving for World War I, while the second nail shows them landing at Anzac Cove.
The third nail, of a tree, cross and poppies, represents burying the dead at Gallipoli while the fourth nail, with a picture of a suit and poppy, shows the annual remembrance of their feats.
The fifth nail, which has a picture of poppies and the year 2015, represents the 100thanniversary of the Gallipoli landings.
"I did just heaps of research on Gallipoli and pulled up different pictures and just picked different pieces out of different pictures," she said.
Mrs White had been "pretty shocked" to have won her section as the competition had been open to people from New Zealand and Australia.
The 46-year-old used to work in food distribution, but decided she needed a change in lifestyle, and left her job.
As she could not afford to have her nails professionally done any more, she bought a kit to start doing her own and, from there, went on to get her gel-nail technician qualifications.
Mrs White thought the Anzac competition was a "brilliant" way to "recognise the people who put their lives on the line for all of us.
"It was really fun to do because you felt it was a worthwhile thing to put all the effort into," she said.