Canada Day!

July 1st is Canada day, so in light of the occasion (albeit a few days early), I decided to come up with a Canadian design. I wouldn't have time on the 1st because we have a family tradition of going Hiking in the Rockies to celebrate. Last year, I came up with a red and white water marble design, but that didn't do down as smoothly because it turned into a pink candy-like swirl on my nail. I came up with several different designs for this year, and not all of them contained the traditional flag. Some of them had the leaf in it's natural autumn colours, while some designs didn't contain a maple leaf at all. Then there was a cute design of a beaver. I knew most people would paint a large flag over their entire nail, but I wanted to do something different, as usual. However, I decided on simplicity and to do the flag anyway, but not over my whole nail. Instead, I created the flag on just my tips.

I practiced drawing the leaf on paper many times before the final design, and I have to say, I can actually draw it better now I've finished this design. Oh well, they look close enough. Like the soccer ball design, I really suggest you practice drawing a maple leaf first before attempting to draw one on your nails. You could use a pre-made decal, but being a free-hand artist, I wasn't going to do that after my newspaper design. After applying a base coat, I painted my tips white using Sally Hansen's "Lavender Cloud" with a straight, square shape, the same as the "black with white stripes or white with black stripes" design. Once the white dried, I painted the edges red with MigiNailArt's "Fire Red". Finally, I took the red, and using the pen I created the maple leaf. Before putting a top coat on, make sure your design is completely dry first! Any smudging and it will not look nearly as good. You also can't skip the top coat, because it protects your art. Once dry, I applied my top coat heavily on the tip with dabbing motions, then once that was dry, I brushed on smooth strokes over my whole nail.

As a little extra something, I decided to take a picture of my MigiNailArt collection. I kinda missed fitting them all in the frame, but you get the idea. I have something like 26 (x2) doubles... so 52 colours. I don't know the names of them all... I wish I did. MigiNailArt pens aren't my favourite, but I do like using them. True, you can achieve a lot using a dotting tool and striper brush, but sometimes the pens are useful, and I collect them more for the colours, rather than the pens. They do cost quite a bit, but if you know where to do, there are discounts you can get.

Stay safe, and happy Canada day for July 1st!