Mistletoe

When it comes to Christmas, I have a huge pet peeve–people referring to holly as mistletoe. They are not the same thing. I found this drawing to highlight the difference. 

It’s a little sassier than I was going for, but it gets the point across succinctly.

I really like mistletoe. It’s a little silly, but I like the tradition! Anything that promotes kissing is good in my book. Apparently it’s been a symbol of love since at least Ancient Greece, which is pretty cool. It’s basically a parasitic plant though, so it’s a little concerning what that implies about love… (It’s not technically a parasite, since it can, in fact, exist on its own, but when attached to a host tree, it will suck the nutrients and kill off branches and possibly the entire tree. According to wikipedia, this is referred to as a hemiparasite). I also learned that part of the tradition is to remove a berry from the sprig of mistletoe with each kiss, and once the berries are gone, no more kisses!

You’ll notice that if you currently google “mistletoe nails”, the images that come up are primarily holly. Incorrect. However, I recently saw these nails by Nails Down South on one of the nail groups I follow and I was very inspired by the muted green mistletoe on a white background, so I decided to do my own.

Love love love love these! Artistic, but not overwhelming, and the muted tones are beautiful, but with just enough glitter. I used my watercolor acetone technique that I discovered when I came up with my watercolor roses art that I did a while back.

I also love the graduated spacing of the stripes, and I’m crazy-proud of those bows. This was just an all-around awesome manicure for me, one that made me happy whenever I looked at it. Actually, the best part of these nails was when the lady working at the post office told me I should use them to “get a cute boy to kiss me.” Seems like a solid plan.