I've been looking forward to this theme because I had planned to make pet nails; horse-, dog-, cat-, or rabbit nails. These are all "domestic animals", which was the theme in the 52 week challenge before we made "wild animals". This turned out a little more childish than planned... so I made it even more girly... and added hearts... and glitter... and ended up with too much glitter...
The animals and hearts are all water decals that I've bought from Born Pretty Store. The green nail polish is H&M Amazon. You can see it swatched below, and how this manicure evolved:
H&M Amazon is a bright medium green. This is 2 easy coats.
Then I made a gradient with H&M Mint Madness, a pastel green, and applied top coat before using the water decals. I used different top coats to avoid problems.
I didn't like the gradient, so I covered it with Orly Sparkling Garbage. I made a test on the thumb, and found out that I shouldn't cover the water decals. I think I used H&M Pink bling bling over the entire nail.
So I used a dotting tool and Sparkling Garbage on the other fingers.
And then I covered everything with INMNorthern Lights instead of the bigger Orly glitter:
Ott- Lite
fluorescent light
LED lamp
When should I have stopped?
I didn't want to lie and say; "I'm 9!" or that "I work with animals/ children" or explain about the 52 Day Challenge..., in case someone saw it, so I didn't wear this for very long.
"Easter" is the nail art theme in some of the groups I'm in, and blue and yellow are two of the colors for Tripolish April. So this is also for the Tri Polish Challenge, and therefor you will find thumbnails at the end of this post.
This is my version of Cherry Blossom Nails. I started with white nails, and made a gradient. Then I stamped the branches with flowers, using the black and the white Konad stamping polish, and Konad m66. Then I added a parrot water decal, and stamped more flowers, and dotted pink flowers with white center. I'm not completely satisfied with this manicure, but it seems to have turned out ok.
Cherry Tree with Parrot nails, holding Konad m66
This is supposed to look like branches from the cherry tree in bloom, and a parrot sitting on one of them. The ground is pink because of all the flowers that has fallen to the ground. After I found out which world day it is today, the parrot also became a symbol for the wild, free, and hopefully happy animal. (More photos after the rabbit!)
Today is World Day for Animals in Laboratories, so let's take a moment to think about these animals. I try to avoid buying nail polish, toothpaste, cosmetics, and household products that are tested on animals, but when it comes to medicines it's not so easy to avoid. Also many countries allow toxicity testing on animals. I think it is unnecessary to test each batch of household products that we already know should not be eaten, like bleach.
Sorry about the dry cuticles on the photos taken outside.
The snow has just melted here, so therefor I had to use fake branches for these photos.
Used: OPI: My Boyfriend Scales Walls -white (I don't know what I'm going to do when the bottle is empty, now that I have seen that OPI is removed from many cruelty- free lists! I hope it will be like with Body Shop, so that OPI can stay cruelty- free, even though it's parent company do test on animals.) Gosh: #589 Bubble Gum -pink (I can't find this polish on Gosh's page) H&M: Bella's Choice -turquoise (also used here) (I can't find this polish on H&M's page) Sponge -to make gradient (A very good car sponge) Konad: Black -stamping polish Konad: White-stamping polish Konad: m66 -stamping plate/ also used as palette Dotting tool -to make pink flowers/ mixing tool for the gradient Parrot water decal (Tropical Birds water decals made by U-Neek Nail Art, from eBay)
Below you can check out the other participants nails for day 7 in the Tri- Polish Challenge. I feel the manicures are getting better and better, and it's interesting to see how different our nails look even though we are using the same colors.
Lani
When I had bought Easter water decals, I saw this Easter/ Spring nail art by Shannara (from Nails and Stuff). So although this looks very different from hers, I got the idea to make a gradient as a background for the water decals from her water decal nail art.
Edited (April 12th 2014): This is my entry for Nail Polish Canada's Easter Nail Art Challenge. You can see all the entries and vote for your favourite, and submit your entry here. (I think you have to sign up here before submitting your entry, before the deadline; April 16th. 2014) When I was invited to participate in this challenge, I got a funny email, and I love these words: "Why paint an egg when you can paint your nails?"
I made this nail art in the last minute. If I had started earlier, I might have taken everything off because the surface of my nails became very bumpy after making the gradient, and I also managed to get some tiny hairs on when I top coated. But miraculously the second coat of top coat helped.
I started with white nails, used a sponge to make the gradient, and applied two thick coats of top coat. Then I applied the water decals. I wish my nails were longer. I cut one of the water decals, because I wasn't sure there would be enough room on my index finger. I had decided to try fake nails, but wasn't sure how to do it. And now I let the nails dry while I'm writing, before I'll apply one more coat of top coat.
If you wonder how to use water decals, I've taken photos of how I did it in the panda nails post. But basically, you cut out the image, hold it with tweezers, and dip it in a glass of lukewarm water for about 15 seconds, wet the nail you want it on, and carefully slide it over to the nail (use a wet finger for that), dry it carefully with some tissue paper, let it dry, and add top coat.
As you see, I only used two of the Tri- Polish colors today: green and purple. Here is a list of what I used:
OPI: My Boyfriend Scales Walls- white
H&M: Mint Madness- green
Linda Johansen Nail Candy: Lilac Lilly- purple
sponge
base coat & a lot of top coat N.NAIL Easter Water Decals Nail Art- WDBLE402 (These were not a gift from KKCenterHk. I bought these myself. But I do have a coupon code that will give you 10% off. You can find it on the right side.)
I'm sorry for posting a little late. I hope it's OK that I'm using water decals. Now I'm very curious about what the others have made.
Giant panda eating bamboo water decals & Giant panda cub water decals
Bai Yun's sixth cub was born July 29, 2012, and is 5 months old this weekend. His name is Xiao Liwu, which means Little Gift. I have been following the development of Bai Yun's giant panda boy in San Diego Zoo online, and that's why I chose the Giant Panda and Giant Panda Cub water decals from KKCenterHk. The other reason was that I found it difficult to paint pandas on my tiny nails. And to my surprise pandas were popular in the Tokyo Nail Expo 2012 Nail Art Contest. Today I will show you the water decals, and some videos of "my" cute giant pandas. And you will find links to where you can buy the panda water decals, and my 10% coupon code. :-)
WATER DECALS: GIANT PANDA and GIANT PANDA CUB
Giant panda eating bamboo water decals
Giant panda cub water decals
Giant panda cub water decals (black and white)
Giant panda eating bamboo water decals (black and clear)
Me and my friend started to watch the cub grow on the PandaCam from San Diego Zoo. But soon we found summary- videos on YouTube. In the beginning he was a tiny little pink baby, but now he has got his typical panda colors, his eyes and ears are fully open, and he is getting quite big. Then he started crawling and managed to climb into the den after falling out. And now he has started climbing trees and tasting bamboo.
Giant panda cub water decals
Giant panda eating bamboo water decals
Giant panda cub water decals
Giant panda eating bamboo water decals, with bite marks
Giant panda cub water decals
Giant panda eating bamboo water decal
Giant panda cub water decals
Giant panda eating bamboo water decals
Here's the closest I could come to a panda:
Giant panda eating bamboo water decals
Giant panda eating bamboo water decals
Giant panda eating bamboo water decals
How I did this:
Black and white giant panda cub water decals
Black and clear giant panda eating bamboo water decals
Using water decals is easy, but as with everything else, the first time you have to know what to do. Emily (from Very Emily) has made a very good "How to" tutorial. Just click here.
I followed her tutorial, but found out that it was easier to use tweezers. If I just dropped the water decal in the warm water, the water decal separated from the paper, and I struggled to fish it up with my fingers and apply it the right way on the nail. I also found out that I had to work fast when moving the water decal around on the nail, to get it where I wanted it. The first time I managed to tear it, but I think that happened because I didn't put enough water on my nail before trying to apply the water decal.
Giant panda eating bamboo water decals & panda cub water decals
It is also important to find out which color your water decal has, so that you can choose a good background color. I found out the hard way that only the cub was in black and white, as you see on my thumb below. If you experience that your water decal doesn't go with the nail polish you have chosen, make sure that you keep it wet, and carefully slide it back to it's wet paper. If you look at the picture above, the water decals on the top row are black and clear, and the ones on the second row are white and black.
The images are in different sizes, and you can choose which direction you want them to face on your nails. So, if you want to, your hands can look like mirror image of each other.
Giant panda eating bamboo water decal
Giant panda cub water decals
Giant panda cub water decals
Giant panda cub water decals
I have small nails, but if you have bigger nails you will probably have room for some bamboo stamping or you can draw a nice background.
What I used:
Base- and top coat
Purple scattered holographic nail polish
White cream nail polish
Panda water decals
Scissors
Egg glass
Lukewarm water
Tweezers
Tissue paper
If you want to buy something from KKCenterHk, you will get 10% discount with my coupon code "Nailphotos by Lani" until January, 31st, 2014. I just got it renewed! :-)
Giant panda eating bamboo water decals & Giant panda cub water decals
PANDA VIDEOS
I have selected 7 videos for you: (Edit: I added one new video today, January, 11th, 2013)
Here is one video where you see small parts of his veterinary exams and you can see his development the first 100 days:
Here are two videos made by DoxieMom19:
In the first one you can see the cub after 2.37 minutes, and soon thereafter his mother comes into the den.
His 16th veterinary exam:
Panda playtime:
This is the most resent video of the cub. It was shared by San Diego Zoo on facebook today. Look how big he is now!
His walking isn't perfect yet, but he already tries to climb: (Long video! -made by DoxieMom19)
Other giant panda toddlers (This video is also made by DoxieMom19) :
Panda Cub ( Xiao Liwu) debuts on Exhibit January, 9th, 2013: (- video by SDZoo (San Diego Zoo))
What I like with water decals is that it's a quick way to get nail art on my nails, and it looks professional. For me who am struggling to get nice lines when painting, and in addition have small nails and therefor little room for nail art, water decals are great.
I have tried to make panda nails twice before. Below you can see what I made for Polish Days Sentimental, but didn't think was good enough to show you.
On the middle finger, I tried to copy the panda nail art by Thriszha on the top of this page.
Stamped and painted panda nail art
And here is a part of what I wrote for Polish Days Sentimental:
I chose to make panda nail art, because the giant panda birth this summer has made me sentimental on many levels. Every time I see the panda cub, it makes me happy and sentimental. And when I see how well his mother Bai Yun takes care of him. But also how the staff in San Diego Zoo has learned to handle the cub. Like when they found out that if they held a hand under his head, he would press his head down as if he liked to cuddle and feel the warmth from the hand, and this made the veterinary exams a much better experience for him. He seemed calm, and didn't vocalize. But also it makes me sentimental when countries cooperate and do positive things, instead of stupid conflicts and war, or not treat the animals or humans that live in the country with respect. In this case, the cub's birth is a result of China and the US working together. And although Bai Yun now has given birth to her sixth cub, it's actually very difficult to help pandas get pregnant, and to save the species. What's also nice is that San Diego Zoo is filming the den and showing it to us. The Panda Cam is live 24/7. It also makes me sentimental that animal lovers from all over the world are watching over him.
I wish you a positive and happy new year! And thank you KKCenterHk for giving me these cute panda water decals!
