Nail Art: Chinese New Year 2012

On January 23, the Chinese will be celebrating its 4709th year. Here in the Philippines, the Chinese New Year is considered one of most important and most celebrated festival among the Filipino-Chinese community. My contribution to this occasion is a Chinese New Year nail art.

The Chinese New Year does not have a specified date. It varies every year, depending on the lunisolar Chinese calendar. This calendar is marked by 12 animals that comprises the Chinese Zodiac. 2012 is the year of the dragon.

I created this freehand nail design using the traditional red and gold colors of the Chinese, added a dragon and a Chinese girl as nail accents.


Chinese New Year 2012 Nail Art Design

Each year, Chinese communities all over the world celebrates the coming of a new year with hope of attracting prosperity, peace, and closer family ties. Here in our country, I have witnessed Chinese families preparing and displaying a variety of food for the festival. Dragon parades and dances are also practiced, particularly in China towns across the country.



Base color is 2 coats of A-England Perceval. A lovely metallic red. Application is smooth and easy. I polished Deborah Lippmann Believe on both accent nails.

I painted all designs using acrylic paints and a detailing nail art brush.

Here is a closer view of the 2 accent nails:



A week ago, my nail on my left ring finger broke. Normally, that would bring me down and I'd lose my motivation to do some nail art. Well, it still did ... a little. But I figured my readers are forgiving and they wouldn't mind if I post nail art photos with one of nails falling short in length. I'd like to wait for it to grow back instead of trimming my other nails. :)


Dragon head as accent nail on my left hand.

I wore 2 accent nails for this nail design. I painted a silhouette of a dragon on my left index finger to represent that 2012 is the year of the dragon. I wanted to paint at least half of the dragon's body but since I have relatively short nails, I decided to just paint the head. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.


A cute Chinese girl as accent nail on my right hand.

On my right hand, I decided to paint a Chinese girl. But instead of giving her the squinted eyes of most Chinese, I gave her big round eyes. I added a few eyelashes on the side of each eye and I think that made her look more Chinese, aside from her hairstyle. I love how she turned out too. She looks like a very sweet kid.



I didn't want to leave the other nails bare. I chose to paint swirls and dots since round objects were always considered lucky by the Chinese people and I want that to reflect on my Chinese New Year nail art design! I didn't have a gold acrylic paint so I thought of mixing a golden yellow shade.

This nail design is particularly dear to me as I was born on the year of the dragon and I'd like to believe that this would be an amazing year for me. I'll be keeping the faith that 2012 will turn my life around.

Will you be wearing a Chinese inspired nail art to celebrate the Chinese New Year? What are your ideas?




I hope you enjoyed this freehand nail art design. I'm inviting you to subscribe to this nail art blog to receive updates whenever a new design is uploaded.





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