March's theme for The Lacquer Legion is "lucky," and while I am definitely fortunate in many areas of my life, I decided to take this month's prompt in a more tangible and less abstract direction. My nail art depicts a maneki-neko; you may be more familiar with it as a "lucky cat." These Japanese figurines are often found in restaurants and shops, and are believed to bring good luck to the owner. Their paws are depicted in an upright, beckoning gesture.
The maneki-neko is painted freehand with a small nail art brush, and I added some black, white, and gold sakura around it on the other nails.
I took the stylized kanji on my thumb from this lucky cat illustration by Emma Barratt - I believe it is "fuku" which means blessing, fortune, and luck (maybe someone can confirm for me). Hopefully I didn't butcher the symbol too badly!
Shades used in this nail art include:
Seche Scorchin' Hot
Essie Good As Gold
Cult Nails Tempest
American Apparel Hassid
Have you seen one of these little guys before? I think they are just so cute and friendly!
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Awww this is so cute and perfect for the "lucky" theme! I love the "fuku", you did an awsome job painting that. The floral background is very cute and "asian" too xD I did a Maneki-neko mani as well but for the lunar new year, it's always fun drawing such cute figures hihi
ReplyDeleteVery pretty!! I love the Maneki Neko!
ReplyDeleteI love these!! The cat looks so happy ^_^
ReplyDeleteadorable!!
ReplyDeleteOMG these are adorable! I know about this cat too, since my parents used to have a small figurine of it.
ReplyDeleteHow adorable! I love your interpretation of the theme - these little cats are so cute!
ReplyDeleteI went to Japan and these were everywhere! Good memories :).Your brush strokes on the kanji look really good!
ReplyDeleteSo cute!
ReplyDeleteThis is so beyond adorable and I love it!!! The colours and the flowers are great and the kanji is brilliant. Seriously this design is beast :)
ReplyDeleteIt is "fuku" kanji and it does mean fortune. You didn't mess it, it's accurate (I'm a Japanese language student). It's an awesome mani!
ReplyDelete:D I love it! I saw it when I was scrolling through all the #LLlucky posts and actually said aloud "oh my god that is too effing adorable" and had to click xD well done!
ReplyDeleteVery beautifully done. .. love the cute design. Hope its lucky for you.
ReplyDeleteThis is so lovely. The could are great and your freehand is amazing! I love these little cats; I keep thinking of the cheesy ones where the arm swings up and down :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's fun. I love it.
ReplyDeleteThese are great and so detailed! They are perfect for the prompt! :)
ReplyDeleteAdorable nail art! Love it!
ReplyDeleteThis looks beautiful! I love the colors, and the kanji on the thumb looks perfect :)
ReplyDeleteIt's so cute :D I own a Maneki-neko and I hope it brings me luck :)
ReplyDeleteomg!! it's so perfect!! Amazing nail art! love it!
ReplyDeleteomg i love this! and meneki neko!!
ReplyDeleteSo cute, haha, my mediatecher have one of these in her kitchen! :)
ReplyDeleteSuch a cute nail art :D love the sakura too.
ReplyDeleteThis is beyond amazing! I love it!
ReplyDeleteThis is so adorable! I love it! :D
ReplyDeletewww.cultivatebeauty.com.au
wow!!! Really cute!! Love it!
ReplyDeleteHis little whiskers are super cute!
ReplyDeletegorgeous! ive always loved that little guy!
ReplyDeleteOMG! You did amazing work!!
ReplyDeleteIs maneki-neko popular/well known internationally these days?
The stylized kanji looks just perfect! Are you sure you're not Japanese? ;)
I'm not sure how well known they are -- I've only seen them in Japanese restaurants and maybe in a gift shop here or there. Thank you so much!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I really appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteWow, I'd love to go there someday!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
ReplyDeleteThank you for confirming for me! :D
ReplyDeletetoo cute!
ReplyDeleteeeeeee I love love love this!
ReplyDeleteamyexoxo - Amysbeautydiary.weebly.com
Ahhhw, this is so sweet!
ReplyDelete