Nail It For Rhinos!

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a lovely week off from myself and the blog. Things are kicking off again straight away with a post which is pretty important (and includes a fun nail art tutorial), so make sure you pay attention!

As you may have guessed from the title, this post is about everyone's favourite dinosaur-looking animal, the Rhino...

Now I've been lucky enough to see Rhinos close-up in a pretty wild environment (in Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa), but not everyone will be so lucky. Poachers are often after these beautiful animals for their horns- horrible, right!? What many people don't realise is that these Rhino's horns are made from keratin- the same protein as found in your own finger nails. And yet (I hope) you don't have poachers running after you to tear those off, so why should we let such things happen to the Rhinos, which are already critically endangered, by the way.

I've teamed up with Save the Rhino and their #NailIt4Rhinos campaign to help spread awareness, knowledge and fun, so we can help to save these lovely creatures that we share the planet with.

Barry M and YRNails also got involved by supplying a nail file, Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Polish in "Chai" (Barry M), and some adorable Rhino water decals. I'm glad they support the cause, too!

My nail art design to help spread the word is a pretty simple one, that I'm sure all of you could give a good go at, if not improve on! It uses a simple cling-film (or saran wrap) technique and then a sharpie marker over the top. Without further blabbing then, here is the tutorial!

1. Protect your nails (and those keratin proteins) with a base coat! 

2. Paint on two thin coats of grey polish. Here I've used the supplied "Chai" by Barry M, which is a perfect Rhino-colour, but any grey is good! Leave this for around 10-15 minutes so it dries a little.

3. Grab some cling film, or saran wrap, depending on what you call it, and scrunch it up good! Make sure you leave room to hold onto it though. 

4. Using a second polish colour (I used a slightly more green-grey here, but it doesn't show up too well, so aim for a much lighter or darker version of the polish you used originally), dip it into the cling film and then dab it onto a piece of paper a couple of times, before dabbing it onto your nail. It should make marks like this!

5. Repeat on all nails, and then clean up around your nails using a cotton bud and polish remover. The cling-film technique helps to add some texture to your nails. Give this 5 minutes to dry.

6. Grab that sharpie, and draw draw draw! I drew an attempt of a rhino horn and face, before adding the words "Save Me" to my last two nails.

7. After a couple of minutes, spray your design lightly with some hairspray. This will stop the marker from smudging with a topcoat.

8. Add a top coat to bring a nice shine, and to protect, your design!


Now you're ready to help Save the Rhinos. I challenge you to #NailIt4Rhinos too! Use the tag on twitter and instagram, to help spread awareness. Don't forget to tweet me your designs, too!

Before you go, I have one more thing to ask of you. Rhinos can't be saved simply by putting some art on your nails, and asking people to spread the word. Charities need money too, and so if you could donate just a few pounds, it would really help. You can donate super quickly online and, if you're in the UK, even by text! To donate £3 by text (for UK numbers only!) just text "NAIL15 £3" to 70070

I've done it!

If you can't afford to donate, however, I still have a favour to ask! You can still help out- just share this post, or share donation links. With World Rhino Day coming up on the 22nd September, there hasn't been a more perfect time.

Thanks for reading!!