Disney Princess Nails: Mulan

The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all…  These nails are inspired by the princess from the movie Mulan (1998).  Each month I will bring you a new set of nails based on a Disney princess, in the order of their release.

You’ll need:

Base coat

Top coat (I prefer Seche Vite)

Striper brush

Dotting tool

Neutral, dark/medium/light green, dark/medium/light blue, red, purple, pink, deep pink, gold, yellow, white, black, brown, light/medium nude, and golden brown nail polishes  (I used: Essie Nail Lacquer in limo-scene; Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Emerald City; Sally Girl Nail Color in Surfs Up; Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in 340 Mint Sorbet; Lancome Nail Color in 561; Pure Ice in Kissy Kiss; Sinful Colors in Cinderella; Victoria’s Secret Beauty Rush Nail Paint in a cherry red color; Sephora by OPI in Stop Stocking Me!; Covergirl Continuous Color Nail Polish in Parisian Pink; Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in 540 Bedrock; Love My Nails in Gold Dust; Pure Ice in Excuse Me; Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in 110 Hard to Get; Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in 880 Black Heart; OPI Nail Lacquer in You Don’t Know Jacques! Suede; OPI Nail Lacquer in My Vampire is Buff; Sephora by OPI in Nonfat Soy Half Caff; and Sally Hansen Satin Glam Nail Color in 01 Go Gold)

Start with a base coat.  Paint your pinky nail a neutral color (like a pearl shade), your ring finger dark green (keep it on the sheer side), your middle finger a medium blue, your index finger deep blue and your thumb red.

On your pinky nail, use your striper brush dipped in a light nude to create a small chin and neck shape in the center at the top.  Make a V shape around the neck in light blue, then around that in purple with a short line extending down from the middle.  Add a deep blue horizontal stripe under the extended purple line and at the base of your nail, a red stripe in between the two blue stripes, and a small red lip shape on the chin area.  Fill in the sides of Mulan’s dress with pink polish.

Use your striper brush dipped in light green to make quick, short vertical strokes on your ring finger, and use a clear coat to blur the lines a bit.  Use the striper brush dipped in gold or yellow (I did yellow on top of gold for a brighter shade) to make the curved shape of Mushu’s stomach.  Outline the left edge of the gold/yellow with red, create the shape of his head and ears, and add two small arms, hands on hips.  Then add details: scowling white eyes, a white sneering mouth, blue hair on his head, deep pinkish tufts on his back and as his nose, gold/yellow whiskers, and black tips on the blue hair and his ears.

On your middle nail, use your striper brush dipped in brown to make a bendy tree trunk toward the left side of your nail, with large branches going in different directions near the top.  Add a brown bench at the base of the tree.  Use the striper brush dipped in dark green to make grass, and then use the dotting tool to make small pink dots all along the branches, with a few deep pink dots added in for dimension.

Use your striper brush in medium green to write “Be a man” (or anything you like) on your index finger, then add fireworks around the writing in various colors such as pink and gold.

For your thumb, use the striper brush dipped in a medium nude shade to create the outline of Mulan’s head (and ear and neck) near the center of the nail.  Outline and fill in her shirt (with one arm extended to the left and the other bent inward from the right) with the lighter nude shade.  Use the golden brown color to make the first part of her legs (one extended out toward left, other bent inward from right), then the lighter nude color to finish off the leg shapes.

Use your striper brush in medium green to outline the neckline of her top, extending down toward the left and crossing horizontally as a belt.  Add green cuffs at both wrists.  Then use the medium nude shade to make her hands and use the golden brown for her staff.

Then add the details!  Fierce white eyes and mouth, scowling black eyebrows with black hair in a bun and a medium green hair tie, and black shoes.

Finish with a top coat and you’re done!

~Alyssa