Lucky Money Manicure

Happy Chinese New Year!

Frankly, I have to admit that I’m a little appalled by some of the “Chinese New Year” manicures that I’ve been seeing. Apparently some people think the prompt is simply “Asian,” which allows them to paint Japanese cherry blossom manicures or Kabuki masks. I mean, at least get the country right!

Any self respecting Chinese person will tell you that this holiday is all about the color red to scare off bad spirits and bring you good luck. Equally important is the color gold to welcome money and fortune into your life, which is why lucky money envelopes are usually red and gold.

This manicure is clearly inspired by these envelopes, so I started by painting my nails a nice bright red. I used 064 Pillar Box Red from Aimeili here, applying 2 coats and curing each one for one minute.

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Chinese New Year: Year of the Dog Nails

Gung Hay Fat Choy! It’s the Year of the Dog! I’m not very Chinese by Asian standards, having been born in America, but it gives me an excuse to paint my nails and wear red!

For this manicure, I used a red creme shade that had a pretty gold shimmer undertone to it.

Suzanne from Julep is a gorgeous color! I also happened to use this polish for the last Chinese New Year manicure that I did!

I gave my nails a lucky money envelope kind of look with some stamping using a plate from Bundle Monster and some gold stamping polish from Ya Qin An.

I used the design in the upper left hand corner of plate BM-S229 from Bundle Monster.

Because there are so many lines in this pattern, one has to use a gentle touch when picking up the polish from the plate and applying it to the nails with the stamper, particularly if the stamper is squishy. If the same amount of pressure is not applied during both of these steps, the lines will warp and the design will not be straight.

I tried to be as meticulous as possible with the stamping, but I still managed to slightly warp the design on my ring finger. Not to worry, though- I’m about to cover it up with a dog!

Because 2018 is the Year of the Dog according to the Chinese zodiac, I wanted to add a cute little friend to this manicure as an accent nail.

Year of the Rooster Chinese New Year Nails

Hi, everyone!  Chinese New Year is right around the corner as it falls on January 28 this year, so I made a red and gold manicure for the occasion.

I started by painting my nails a beautiful red color.  I chose Suzanne from Julep for its subtle gold shimmer.

Suzanne from Julep.

I wanted to have a lucky money type print in gold over the red, so I picked a pattern from plate BM-S228 from Bundle Monster to do some stamping.

Plate BM-S228 from Bundle Monster is all about celebrating Chinese New Year.

I used the image from the upper left hand corner all over my nails.

Gold coin madness using Born Pretty Store Stamping Nail Polish #1 (Gold).

2017 is the year of the rooster, so he had to represent.  I put him on my ring finger and used two different sized detail brushes and a mix of craft smart acrylic paints to make him come to life.

The colors used on my bird were mixes of brown, orange, bright red, bright yellow, and black. I was pretty pleased by the shading of the feathers.

After adding some glossy top coat over everything, the manicure is done!

Get ready to crow for the New Year!

Show me the lucky money!

Hope you have a prosperous lunar new year ahead of you!  Happy polishing!