Winnie the Pooh and Piglet Birthday Nails

Hello everyone!

First off, let me give you a short background of how I came up with this idea for my current nail art.

My boyfriend and I celebrate our birthdays around this time - final week of July till the first week of August, so I really wanted a birthday-themed nail art.  But rather than doing something generic like cupcakes, gifts, or just balloons, I wanted a design that was specific to the two of us.

I will not post a picture of my boyfriend here, but believe me when I say that he resembles Winnie the Pooh (in a good, endearing way).  It has actually been a running joke among friends for about half a decade now, to the point that it has become an accepted fact that he is "Pooh".  And I, on the other hand, end up being Piglet because I am the tiny little creature beside him who is often seen wearing pink. I am not complaining at all about this.  As I said, I find it endearing, and I embrace it as one of our quirks as a couple <3

So with these things in mind, I decided to do a Winnie the Pooh and Piglet nail art to celebrate both our birthdays, and our relationship as partners.  Here is what I came up with:

Isn't it so cute?? I feel like I have toys on my nails!

I am honestly very proud of this design because I nailed both Pooh and Piglet, if I may say so myself!  I actually have a personal rule on doing nail art that is inspired by characters (from movies, television, books, etc.): I only do it if I am confident that my execution looks exactly like the original characters.  In other words, if I feel or see that my attempt is not successful at capturing what the characters really look like, then I immediately erase my work. It's just my way of paying respect to the original artists who are my inspiration.

Now about doing this design.  Allow me to write about my nail art by parts.

The sky with balloons:

I used Forget-Me-Not from Dazzle Dry (of course!) for the sky background.  I think this particular shade of blue is perfect for what I was going for -- a shade that would depict a bright, sunny, breezy day.  Forget-Me-Not is an opaque color with medium consistency.  It wasn't thick, but wasn't thin either.  Just right!  Two coats were enough to arrive at an even, opaque coverage.  I then used Portia's Wit, also from Dazzle Dry (DD), to make the clouds.  The balloons were painted using acrylic paint.

Winnie the Pooh and Piglet:

I used Frozen Lemonade from DD.  I find this color tricky to use because of its thicker consistency.  I used 2 coats of this to create an even base for Pooh.  However, I do caution you, because this particular shade can get streaky if application is not flawless.  Nonetheless, I find it well worth the practice because is pale, lemony, creamy yellow is definitely in my top faves from DD!  Super fresh and flattering.

The base for Piglet, on the other hand, is three coats of Strawberry Macaron from DD.  I needed three coats because though Strawberry Macaron is opaque, it lends itself on the thin side of the consistency spectrum.  I don't find this a problem though, as I find thinner polishes easier to use.  Anyway, I love this shade of pink.  I call it "Princess Pink", actually, being the perfect shade of light pink.

Details for their faces were drawn using black acrylic paint and detailing brushes.  For Piglet I used a dotting tool and Cherry Parfait from DD to fill in the dark pink areas of the ears and nose.

So there it is, my joint birthday celebration nails for my boyfriend and I! Happy birthdays to us, and may we spend the rest of our birthdays together <3

Thanks for reading!

Feeling like a Million Bucks in Quarters

I have recently been feeling uninspired to do nail art, but instead I have been feeling the urge to explore color -- to use them plain on my nails to appreciate them more.  With this, I have a creeping feeling that I may be writing more color reviews, rather than purely nail art tutorials, starting today.  

The first color I decided to wear plain this year is French Quarters by Dazzle Dry.

The picture above shows three coats of French Quarters, and for accent I used Dazzle Dry's Tranquil Grey with glitter from The Face Shop.  

Dazzle Dry's French Quarters was easy to apply.  It goes on very sheer and has a very thin consistency, which required me to apply three coats in order to get an opacity I was happy with.  Wearing my nails plain with French Quarters was definitely worth it -- It made me feel like a million bucks with how sophisticated it turned out!  One phrase I would describe this look with is "understated elegance".  It was really simple -- I did not do anything special for it, and this would probably be one of the quickest manis I've ever done on myself.  But the color itself came out so beautifully that I was happy with its utter simplicity.  As my students said, "They're so beautiful! Your nails look like pearls." The only regret I have with wearing this color was adding purple glitter to it the following day that ruined the lovely pearl color.  

Here are some more shots of French Quarters:

Don't you agree that French Quarters looks so lady-like?  It does look better with an accent nail though, as wearing it alone may look too plain.  Then again, that may be just my style :)

On a reflective note, perhaps this sudden change in interest in how I wear my nails may be due to the realization that I will be turning 30 this year... Or it could be just a plain old mood swing.  Nonetheless, I am happy I tried this.  

Cheers to 2013, and to trying out new things (styles, in particular)!

Thanks for reading!!