Orange Nails Errywhere

It's that time of year again. The time of year where I'm confused as to why most of my girl students have orange fingernails. They all can't possibly have the exact same taste in nail polish. That would be absurd. Well apparently there is a beautiful tradition behind the orange fingernails.

My youngest girls' nails

Fingernails are dyed using Garden Balsam (봉숭아), a flower grown in Korea that is usually used after heavy rainfalls (so about end of July-August). You can buy a powder to dye your nails, or you can go out and find the flower in the wild and do it yourself, (I don't know how to do this). The dye is strong, so be careful; your fingers can be stained for up to two weeks.

The Garden Balsam

And the the cute tradition behind the orange fingernails, if the color stays on your nails until the first snowfall, then you will marry your true love. Aaaaw, how cute is that?? I also heard that in way back in the day, the Garden Balsam was used to ward off evil spirits. Wow, no evil AND you marry your first true love? Amazing.

(Information found at Daughter of Korea)