Bong Seon Hwa
Originally published at Curious Zoology. You can comment here or there.
Almost every summer, I go through dying my nails in a the old fashioned Korean way, which leaves me with bright orange nails and fingers.
It’s called Bong Seon Hwa (봉 선 화) and uses the Impatiens balsamina plant to create the color.
The mashed leaves and flowers with charcoal and alum. My mom likes to go traditional and use leaves for the wrapping instead of plastic wrap.
What my nails looked like before. I had already done it about two weeks ago, but didn’t have my camera at the time to document.
Wrapping it up.
One hand all wrapped. After both hands were finished, I wore socks to bed so I wouldn’t get the paste everywhere.
The morning after. My nails are now a brighter orange and so are my fingers.
We were a bit late this year and the plants were already on their way out, so I feel lucky that I was able to get it done twice before fall sets in.
The story is that if I still have color on my nails by the first snow fall, then I will marry my first love. I don’t want to marry my first love, but it doesn’t snow in the central valley, so I should be safe. Orange fingers crossed.
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