That's the binomial name of the Costa Rican Variable Harlequin Toad and the inspiration for today's manicure. It's quite the colorful frog, and its easy to see why it is also known as the clown frog. Sadly, this frog is now critically endangered thanks to temperature fluctuation, changes in precipitation, stream flow patterns, and the transfer of different pathogenic fungus. Basically, the climate is changing too fast for these little guys to adapt.
I've based my manicure off of the Costa Rican Variable Harlequin Toad shown on the right. I liked how the bright purple/pink designs stood out against the rest of the frog's body but thought that might be hard to duplicate on the nails. If I was going to paint over a black base I would need to lay down something like a white so that the brighter color would starkly contrast.
At first I tried a white onto black splatter but the spray pattern was too varied and clumpy to look anything like the frog's. The next method I tried was stamping a white pattern down and tracing over it. This method proved to be the most feasible and reproducible in the long run.
One coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out then stamped with Konad plate m70 and Konad Special Polish in White. Traced over using a small dotting tool and China Glaze Beach Cruise-R. It was a lot more work than I was hoping for but I believe the results were worth it.
That's a cool looking toad! How sad that his kind are going extinct. :( Fantastic mani, though, and wonderful inspiration.
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