The Disney Princess: How to Get A Disney Inspired Manicure

Disney merchandise is everywhere, so why not display a little Disney on your fingernails? Can you go to a salon and actually receive a ”Disney manicure?” Can you create Disney nails all by yourself? Is there “Disney” nail polish? The answers to all these finger fashion questions are… yes!

Have you ever stopped to wonder how long we’ve been painting our nails? By the turn of the 19th century, nails were tinted with scented red oils and polished or buffed with a chamois cloth. While traditional colors for nail polish were simple red, pink and brown, modern nail polish can now be found in almost any color imaginable. French manicures traditionally mimic the color of natural nails, using a clear, beige, or soft pink polish on most of the nail, with a white finish at the tips. Modern nail polish forms and techniques have evolved beyond just the painting of solid colors. It’s now a full-on fingernail fashion show.

We sent our Mouze Kateer Mike from My Dreams of Disney for a trip to the salon with his daughter Sophie. Like most 10-year-old girls, Sophie loves nail polish, and she also loves Disney. Now she can combine these two passions.

“Recently, my wife and I rewarded our daughter with her very first manicure! Sophie had never had one before, and she had been very good lately, so we decided that this was an excellent reward for her. In addition to Sophie, we invited her friend Madelyne-Lois to join us. ML and her mom will be accompanying us for our next Disney vacation in June, along with some other close family members and friends.

Amanda had mentioned it would be really cool if the Mouze Kateerz staff could work together on a post about Disney nail art, and while it didn’t seem appropriate for this Dad to get his nails polished to look like Minnie Mouse, Sophie and ML were all about some Disney nails! All I had to do was show them the picture, and they both wanted their nails painted that way, but with a slight change to the base color. Sophie went with a pink base, and ML went with a lavender base, although in the photo they both look like pink to me!

Disney nail art, Disney nails, nail art Disney, Disney nail designs, Minnie Mouse nail designs

You should have seen these two girls — they were the cat’s meow, let me tell you! They were sitting next to one another, chatting like grown ups while their stylists (is that the right term?) took care of their fingers.

Their nails were done at Queen’s Nails in Raleigh, NC, and the cost was quite reasonable. $17 for each girl, plus we added a tip. They did ask to see the photo I had a couple of times, just to make sure they got it right, and they did, as you can see in the pictures!

Sophie and Madelyne-Lois had a terrific time getting their nails done together. For the next time that we do this, Sophie is thinking of trying to get a Daisy Duck look to her nails, but ML — well, she loves Minnie Mouse, so I think she’ll stick with what she has.”

A big thanks to Mike and his wife for taking their daughter Sophie and her friend to have their nails done.

In his day job, Mike is a network security manager, a husband, and a father. However, above all else, Mike enjoys taking his family to Walt Disney World, and that passion for Disney led him to start the Disney blog My Dreams of Disney. In addition to the site itself, My Dreams of Disney can be found on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, and even Twitter!

Now just how long will manicured nails stay fresh and pretty?

I did a little research on manicures using a site called the dailyfinance.com. Manicure devotees typically have their nails done about once a week, which works out just about right with manicure timing. Experts agree that the average salon manicure lasts about three to five days. Your at-home manicure lasts just about two to three days.

The average professional manicure costs about $20. NAILS Magazine reports that by contrast, a single 0.5-ounce bottle of $8 nail polish yields about 40 two-coat manicures. So one two-coat application of polish at home will cost you about 20 cents. (Ok, the cheap skate in me just rejoiced) That figure excludes the costs of the other manicure essentials ( top coat, nail file, other bottles of polish) but it’s still far less expensive to do your nails at home.

For the Do-It-Yourself Disney nail crowd, there are several options.

OPI recently announced a line of ”New Limited Edition Minnie Mouse-Inspired, Nail Lacquers” for summer. OPI’s Vintage Minnie Mouse includes four limited edition nail lacquers. Created in honor of Disney’s beloved Minnie Mouse character, the colors encapsulate Minnie Mouse’s irresistible charm in playful, pretty shades of pink and red.

Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director, explained, “OPI is so excited to collaborate with Disney and draw inspiration from one of the world’s most popular characters.”

She continues,”This collection brings together the expertise of OPI and the iconic style of Minnie Mouse to inspire the distinct palette of vibrant, feminine shades for summer Nails will pop against summer skin in these classic, saturated hues – holding their own alongside the bold prints of the season.”

The line features a pink crème lacquer, one frosted red shade, a shimmery fuchsia, and a heart glitter confetti:

As with all OPI nail lacquers, Vintage Minnie Mouse by OPI contains no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde, and features OPI’s exclusive ProWide Brush for the ultimate in application.

This limited edition promotion will be available beginning June 2012 at professional salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $8.50 ($9.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer.

If you need more information on these nail colors, you could call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com.

I found these OPI photos and descriptions of the new line of Disney Lacquers on a site called Manicure Mommas. Their slogan is “Changing the world, one painted finger nail at a time. They didn’t offer any Disney inspired nail art, but they had photos of a lot of nail colors.

If you’ve decided to go it on your own and just a simple color isn’t enough, I found great web site called Confessions of a Polishaholic that recently ran a contest for Disney inspired nails. Here’s the photo from the winner they picked.

A lot of the entries were created “freehand.” Freehand is where you take a special fine tipped nail brush and paint on your nails, in much the same way you would paint on paper or canvas.

Here’s a great example of a Minnie Mouse freestyle nail art.

While there were no instructions on Confessions of a Polishaholic to re-create these fantastic Disney manicures, I put together a list of instructions on freestyle nail art from several of their freestyle manicure tutorials.

Start with base polish. Apply a base coat.
Paint your nails with the color you choose.
Drop several drops of the color you want to paint with on a plate or some foil.
Using a nail brush, apply the color to your nails.
Cover your nails with a top coat
Do not remove polish for several days.

They don’t point out that freestyle manicures will take some practice, but I am sure it does.

Another tutorial showed how to create the dots so popular on many Minnie Mouse Designs. They say you need a “dotting tool.” If you don’t purchase a real dotting tool, you can use the head of a pin. Dip whatever tool you are using into the polish and touch the nail, creating a small dot.

These freehand nail designs can get very intricate, depending on your level of art skills. Our Mouze Kateerz staff member Donna from DIStherapy searched around on Pinterest and found several excellent sets of manicured Disney fingers. She actually searched for a long time and sent me about 20 photos of Disney inspired nails on Pinterest, but I used my favorite five.

These adorable princess dresses were from nailasaurus.blogspot.com.

These Minnie Mouse nails were on Pinterest from madmanisblogspot.com

Donna found this set of Up inspired nails by inthislifelove.tumblr.com

Donna found these Pirates of the Caribbean inspired nails on Pinterest posted by jawsofkita-lovehim.deviantart.com. For something this intricate, it does sem to be a good idea to paint the fake nails before you attach them to your fingers. Obviously this level of nail art would take a skilled artist.

Disney inspired nails can be incredibly complicated, or just as simple as red polish with white polka dots. Your possibilities are as endless as your imagination and yet also limited by your level of talent. If you would like to see some of the Pinterest designs, stop by Mouze Kateerz on Pinterest. I have “liked” photos, and there’s always the search engine after you look through some Mouze Kateerz Disney World photos.