After her mother denied her request for press-on nails, one girl got creative.
Vegan chef and mom Serafina Peña tweeted a photo of her 10-year-old daughter’s nail art solution. It quickly went viral.
“I told my 10yr old she couldn’t have press-on nails so she made some out of clay,” she said.
Peña told HuffPost her daughter bites her nails, and to break this habit, the mom puts polish on her nails each week. Nail art has also become a fun tradition for special events and holidays.
“I initially said ‘no’ to press-ons because she is only 10 years old after all,” Peña wrote. “We felt it was a bit mature for her age with the particular style she showed interest in. She also has beautiful natural nails which we nursed to health after her being a nail biter. Applying press-ons felt counterproductive.”
Peña said her daughter used “some sort of putty” to create her impeccable nails.
“She’s really into making slime, playing with clay, and molding things. I don’t mind her playing with the stuff so much because it helps with dexterity in hands,” Peña explained.
Twitter users were fans of the little girl’s ingenuity. Peña’s tweet received more than 53,000 likes and 7,300 retweets.
Peña said she was pleasantly surprised when her daughter revealed her clay nails.
“I giggled, thought it was pretty creative and quickly snapped a pic. I thought it was incredible!” she recalled. “I can barely polish my nails using both hands so for her to model out nails for her dominant and non dominant hand was awesome.”
Still, the mom was not expecting such an overwhelming response. She shared the photo on Twitter for her friends and family.
“I had hoped for a few laughs, some smiles and that’s about it,” she said. “Much like any other family photo post.”
Peña said her daughter’s enjoyed her viral fame.
“We’ve received a lot of love, and it makes her smile. She’s even discovered she has a talent for working with clay, and we now share a passion for all things nail art,” the mom explained. “Her father and I have since agreed to let her wear an age appropriate style of press-ons. She didn’t like them too much because it limited her.”