Manicure Monday & CHD Awareness

It is officially February and Congenital Heart Defects Awareness month.  To raise awareness, I would like to share with you a brief "Heart Beat" nail tutorial and some information about an amazing organization, Heart Heroes!  

Heart Heroes mission is to "provide support and comfort to children and families affected by congenital heart defects (CHD) through the distribution of superhero capes and other forms of encouragement and inspiration".  To date, Heart Heroes, Inc. has provided thousands of capes to children with CHD worldwide.  On average, the organization receives about 100 capes requests a week via the Request a Cape link on their website.  They have shipped capes to CHD children in all 50 states in the United States plus over 40 countries outside the U.S.   In addition, Heart Heroes has a partnership with the Los Cabos Children’s Foundation to provide superhero capes to children with CHD in Mexico.  

I first became aware of the Heart Heroes organization my second year of teaching.  One of my former student's parents is actually a co-founder.  With so many families, affected - my teaching team decided to fundraise for the cause.  In addition, there is now Superhero run to help raise funds for capes!  I hope that you are able to check out the Heart Heroes website or blog and support this important cause.

Now for the nails...

Step 1:   Make sure to prep your nails before polishing; remove any old polish, buff out your nails, file and/or trim.  You'll also want to applying a base coat.  I used Formula X Prime as my base coat.  Then paint all of your nails red.  I used Formula X Flashy, a bright red.  

Step 2: Paint zig-zags across the nails, leaving the ring finger for the heart.  I drew part of a line, then a "v" shape, and continued the line. 

Step 3:  To finish the heart, you need to close the top.  For me, it was easier to start in the middle and curve upward.  

Step 4:  Go back to the middle top of the heart, and close the the top.  You can stop here if you are happy with the design, and finish with a top coat.   Or... go to Step 5!

Step 5:  I wanted to make this a "heart of gold", so I used a gold glitter polish to fill in my heart.  Seal with a top coat and you're done!

I hope you enjoyed this nail tutorial and learning more about Heart Heroes- be sure to check my Instagram if you want to know what is coming (I post there before I post here).  Thanks!