A very sweet gal named Leesha had a Birthday this week. She has several dear pets, and some of them are rats. I'm told, and am now sold on, that rats are highly intelligent and make very good companions. Although the little ratty's on my nails are not as cute as the pictures I've seen of several nail ladies' rats - I hope she enjoys this tribute.
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| Happy Birthday, Dear Leesha...Happy Birthday to You! |
Before you decide if you want to read more - please know, in addition to more photos and details in this post, there is an absolutely adorable picture of a pet rat that might change your life if you see it. Really!
Diana organized this fun themed surprise party and put this collage together. I was honored to be invited with all these talented nail artists -- look at the fabulous collage!
In the top left square you can see Leesha with her African Grey parrot and one of her ratty's too. You can see the theme was centered around these two pets of hers. Aren't the designs fun!
In the same way that a party invitation can bring the opportunity to buy a new dress or shoes, so can a surprise birthday nail-art collaboration. Yes, it's a thing!
Even though I have a few stamping plates (OK, more than a few - but less than too many, LOL), I don't have either a rat or a grey parrot image in my collection. I do have some generic parrots - and that would have been my back-up and worked out fine. But, I was happy when I found these rat water decals on Amazon - they seemed more party themed to me.
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| "We're dancing!" bottle shown: Pink Sandals by Polish My Life |
Since this design was posted a couple days ago, I have received many compliments and it has helped to remind me that not every design needs to be intricate or time consuming. I tend to want to spend a lot of time designing multiple elements/techniques; but sometimes less is more - as they say. This was a fun design that spoke to the occasion without a lot of steps.
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| Pretty In Pink bottle shown: It's Not Me, It's You by Orly |
Design Details
I used a total of four polishes for these (not including base coat and top coat) and the water decals. On my index and pinky, there are four coats of Orly It's Not Me, It's You - a pretty medium pink crelly, but a very bad stainer. Then there are a couple dabbed on layers of Elevation Polish Plumeria - a really fun circle glitter topper with just a bit of turquoise micro glitters. (At the time of this post, this polish is on sale in the Last Call & Discontinued section - so grab it today!)
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| Confetti in a bottle! bottle shown: Plumeria by Elevation Polish |
For my thumb, middle and ring fingers I started with three thin coats of Pink Sandals by Polish My Life - a lovely pale pink with a terrific formula, especially since pastels can be tricky. Then to add a little interest, I applied one thin coat of Rainbow by China Glaze - a very sheer pearlescent white polish with a pretty lilac shimmer.
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| My workspace - everything is all laid out, ready to start... |
If you're a nail polish/art fan, you may already know Jema of +Nails By Jema (same name on Instagram and YouTube). She created these great templates for sketching out your nail art designs for downloading from her website (link here). I love using these! (see the corner of my clipboard on the left in the picture above)
After all the layers were dry, I applied the water decals to my middle and ring fingers. Unfortunately these were not the best quality - in fact, they were made with DIY transfer paper and an inkjet printer rather than "real" water decals commercially produced with much more flexible and nail-polish like materials. They were thick and inflexible, taking way more effort than I anticipated. So, I gave up after those two fingers and didn't put any on my thumb. I have a sneaky feeling that they were just too old, I imagine if I had just printed them fresh they may have been more pliable (and i have very curvy nails too - so that doesn't help).
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| The detail in of the decals was impressive - look at the fine whiskers and toes...awe...that made them worth the struggle to apply. |
So - I'd love to hear your comments on this Birthday nail party! After learning more about pet rats, I'm having a hard time resisting the urge to adopt one! But, alas, my allergies will keep me to having animals on my nails instead.
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Leesha's husband has recently transformed her backyard into a garden oasis complete with a trellis bench - really beautiful. So, I had to make sure I got pictures of her design with all the flowers blooming in my yard. Here's the collage:
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| All these blooms went so well with the nails!! Just like I planned it... (LOL) |
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And....I promised a life-changing picture of a pet rat. Did you think it possible?
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| Now - wouldn't you enjoy a snuggle from this little one?! (Source) |
C'mon - you at least got a warm fuzzy from that adorable little face - right!?! I don't know what is cuter - the ears or the nose....
Alrighty. It' time to move on...there's more nail art to create...so I'll leave you with one last look at these nails for today.
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| To Leesha, With Love pendant pictured: made by Lucky 13 Lacquer |
Hope you enjoyed your visit!
Till Next Time,
Kimett