Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Happy Penguin Day!



Happy Penguin Day everyone!



April 25th is the International Penguin Day. Every year on or around this day, penguins start their northward migration. Only the Emperor Penguin stays in the cold south of Antarctica. So to celebrate, I have made an antarctic manicure, with Emperors on the left hand, and Adelie Penguins on the right. It was fun to try to paint with nail polish. Here is the result:


Emperor Penguins









Adelie Penguins

















To make this design, I used:

- nail polish: white, black, grey, yellow, light blue, light blue holographic, white glitter, and aqua base under the holographic, and base- and top coat.
- one rhine stone for the eye (but it was too big)
- dotting tools
- a tiny paintbrush (just dip it in nail polish remover to clean it between colors)
- nail polish remover
- a small glass bowl (for nail polish remover. It can make a hole in your  plastic cup and ruin your table...)
- paper plate as palette

If you try this, be careful when you put the top coat on. I managed to damage the polish on my right hand even though it was completely dry :-(


I got ideas for the right hand from many tutorials, but I think the first time I saw penguin manicures was when Colette from My Simple Little Pleasures (= link to her blog)  put together a list of over 100 Christmas manicures. I think it was on her YouTube channel, but of course I can not find it now when I wanted to link to it... And for the left hand I just looked at photos of Emperor Penguins.

Edited August 2019:

"I found the YouTube playlist for the Let it Snow! 2011 Winter collaboration, and found out that Robin Moses (Robin Moses Nail Art on YouTube) and Beth (ProfessionalDQ on YouTube) came up with the idea for it. So I want to say "Thank you!!!" to Robin Moses and Beth for the inspiration! I also want to thank Collette (My Simple Little Pleasures  on YouTube) for spreading the paylist. (To go to the playlist or see their channels, please cick on the colored text).

I wish I had written down which photos I was looking at, and a painting that gave me inspiration for the left hand.

I wrote more about what inspired the Emperor Penguin hand when I participated in this nail art contest."


This is a nice day to learn more about penguins. I would recommend the movie "March of the Penguins", which is about the Emperor Penguins, and how the male and the female collaborate to look after the egg, and later, raise their chick.

Travelling to Antarctica is expensive, but if you love animals and have the opportunity to go and visit the penguins, you should. The Emperors are not afraid of people, and curious, so you can get close to them (or they to you...). A trip during the Antarctic summer must be a fantastic experience. For the rest of us, a web cam, or a trip to the Aquarium/ Zoo is a possibility. Here is the penguin cam from San Diego, USA. You can watch it until the end of April in honor of the "Frozen Planet" TV series, but there are many other web cams too.

I am sorry for posting this late. My plan was to make the mani the day before. I hope it is still Penguin Day where you are.


Lani


7 comments:

  1. How cute! The grey penguins are my favorite :)

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    1. Thank you! I tried to make those babies look as they do in real life.
      Lani

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  2. oooooh what a creative manicure, I hope it didn't take to long but way worth it if it did :) loved the holographic colour you used what was its name? and what was the blue it was layered over? it was a very striking colour :) loved everything about all the designs

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    1. The holographic is Siw from Make Up Store. I used it over their holo base coat called Aqua Fix. I didn't feel comfortable writing the name then because it was on the list of brands that are tested on animals, but Make Up Store is now on the cruelty- free list. :-)
      The blue on my pinkie is Viva la Diva #38.
      Thank you!

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