The Lite Side of Life: Mani Monday: Pretty in Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness

Hallo you lovely people :)

Welcome to another instalment of the fabulous Mani Monday, this Monday I decided to pay homage to a cause close to my heart by decking my nails out in pink in support of breast cancer awareness month. I have lost an aunt to this disease and we can all do our little bit to raise awareness for breast cancer. Even if your bit is painting your nails so that it sparks a conversation with a stranger about breast cancer awareness or if one goes out and gets a mammogram or by supporting breast cancer awareness events and fundraisers, do your little bit…it all counts!

As you can see I have a bright pink base colour on my nails with an accent nail on the ring finger depicting the design of the breast cancer pink ribbon. I used mint daisies for a cute twist and french tip pink daisies on the rest of my nails. I used x1 coat of Sally Hansen Instant Strength as a base coat, x2 coats of Essence Ultimate Pink and for the daisy designs x1 coat Essence Stamp me! Silver, x1 coat Essence Nude Glam in Iced Strawberry Cream, x1 coat Colours Nail Enamel in Creammoss and finally x1 coat Essence Studio Nails Better than Gel Nails Top Sealer as a topcoat.

You will need:

Basecoat nail polish
Base colour nail polish (I used pink)
Three alternating colour nail polishes for the daisies (I chose silver, baby pink and mint)
Toothpick
Top coat nail polish

Method:

1) Paint base coat nail polish onto all nails, wait for it to dry completely

2) Apply base colour nail polish to all nails, wait for it to dry completely

3) Practice a few daisy designs on a piece of paper, pour a small pool of silver nail polish onto a scrap piece of paper, working quickly dip the toothpick into the silver nail polish and press the tip of the toothpick onto the piece of paper creating a small silver dot. Next pour a small pool of coloured nail polish (pink or mint) and dip the toothpick into the nail polish and place 4 small dots around the silver dot. You will now work quickly by taking the opposite sharp end of the toothpick and carefully but quickly dragging it through the 4 coloured dots of polish…so as to create the shape of a petal, this technique is also discussed here (point 8-9)

4) Now you are ready to start applying the daisy designs to your nails! For the accent nail on the ring finger, I made the daisy design mimic the pink ribbon design for breast cancer awareness. First I placed all the silver dots on my nails in the shape of the pink ribbon making sure to leave enough space between each silver dot to accommodate the petals of the daisies

5) Next for the ring finger details, I worked on each daisy one at a time, thus I placed the 4 mint dots of nail polish around each silver dot one by one and created the petal design first and completed each little daisy before moving onto the next one

6) For the french daisy tips, I placed the silver dots in a fairly straight line just above the tip of my nails, yet again leaving plenty of space for the petal design. I painted on all the silver dots onto my nails first and then applied the baby pink dots for the petals and yet again as in step 5 working on each daisy one by one by completing the petal design before moving onto the next one

7) Wait for all nail art to dry and then apply top coat

8) Be jazzed that you have done a little something to bring awareness to a much needed cause and now go out and get a mammogram while you are at it get your sisters, moms, grandmothers, aunts and girlfriends to get mammograms as well…there is no harm only the chance to save a life! The Radiological Society of SA (RSSA) is offering a 10% discount on Mammograms and Breast MRI’s during the month of October up to 16 November 2012. Go out and support some breast cancer awareness events and fundraisers! Go do your bit! :)