Kanazawa Gold Leaf Nail Art
This is the second of my three-part “Inspired by Japan” nail art series. You can check out the first one, “Inspired by Tokyo’s Neon Nights,” here. This nail art series is inspired by my recent trip to Japan, which I am also concurrently writing about through a travel recap series of blog posts. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Tokyo. This week, it’s going to be all about Kanazawa and the surrounding prefectures.
The Design
Kanazawa is a city steeped in tradition and crafts. It is well known for being the center of the country’s gold leaf production and so many of the crafts and products produced in this region are embellished or infused with gold leaves. I’ve seen it used in bookmarks, cell phone cases, skincare, and even dessert! The ever so prominent, and elegant Kanazawa gold leaf is what inspired today’s nail art design.
I chose a soft white jelly base to complement the stamping colors I wanted to use and to evoke a sense of simple elegance. The gold stamping polish was chosen to represent the gold leaf crafts of Kanazawa. The bright pink and yellow to give it a pop of color, warmth, and fun. The particular icons were chosen to represent the crafts industry of the region. I really love the color palette of this design. I also really love the stamps used. My only qualm is whether I went too far with the number of stamps I used, making it too “busy.” What do you guys think? Should I have left a couple of nails blank? Do you like the one below more?
Materials Used
Polishes:
- MoYou stamping polish in Liquid Gold
- MoYou stamping polish in Pink!
- Modi Juicy Nails nail polish in White Jelly
- MoYou stamping polish in Sweet Custard
- Nails Inc. NailKale Superfood Base Coat
- OPI Original Start to Finish Base Coat, Top Coat & Strengthener
- Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
I just want to say that I love the color and finish of the Modi Juicy Nails in White Jelly polish. It is the perfect white nail polish in that it doesn’t look like white out when applied and gives a very soft “jelly” looking finish. However, the downside is that it takes many, many coats to achieve a solid finish and is difficult to apply without streaking.
Stamping Supplies:
- MoYou stamping plate – Tourist Collection #11
- MoYou stamping plate – Pro Collection #1
- Clear Jelly Stamper – The Big Bling XL Stamper
- MoYou Scrapers
I used the exact same plates as what I had used in my Tokyo Neon Nights design. I love how many different designs you can get out of just one or two plates!
I hope you guys like it. If you have any questions about how I did it or the materials I used, let me know in the comments below! Also feel free to let me know which design you liked more – the simpler one or the busier one.