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!

Kanga and Roo at Bedtime - Mother's Day Nail Art 2013

My mom is known among family and friends for her great, scrumptious dishes.  But since I was a very picky eater as a child, my fondest memories of my childhood with her are not of her dishes, but of how she used to read me stories at bedtime.  I would also often sneak up to their bed and ask if I could sleep with her whenever I'd wake up from a bad dream.

So as a tribute to Mommy, and the other great moms out there, I decided to paint pictures of Winnie the Pooh characters Kanga and Roo at bedtime.  

I patterned the pictures after a photo of Kanga tucking Roo in.  I can imagine her reading a bedtime story to him, or even singing or whispering comforting words to him to let him fall asleep -- Just the way my own mom used to do it when I was a little girl.  

To create this design, I used Dazzle Dry's Aegean Cruise on the blue nails, and White Lightning as a base for my nails with characters.  I then used acrylic paint to paint the characters, and stamped pale yellow stars (The Face Shop YL 01 and Mash-11 image plate) on all the other nails.  

Aegean Cruise is one of my  Dazzle Dry favorites.  It is a sheer light blue shimmer, although darker than Morning Sky. It has a thin consistency that makes application easy. I used three thick coats to achieve this pearlescent opaque finish.  It is amazing that my nails did not end up feeling bulky after applying as many coats as I did. 

White Lightning, on the other hand, is an opaque white.  It is the whitest and purest white that I have ever seen in polish.  Because it is opaque, all I needed was 2 medium coats.  The cleanliness of White Lightning made painting the characters easy because I did not need to worry about opacity.  This is definitely a keeper for nail art enthusiasts! 

Let us have one last look at the details of this nail art:

I would say I'm happy with how this nail art came out.  The nails came together to create a comforting look.  Looking at my nails reminds me of how much I enjoyed listening to her stories before, and how good I felt when I was with Mommy at bedtime.  I may now be all grown up, but I know I would always be her little girl, the same way that she will always be my Mommy.