Molecular Nails–Dopamine: The “Feel Good” Neurotransmitter

Welcome to another instalment of Molecular Nails! After going for some retail therapy after having a not so great day, I thought some nails with dopamine might be appropriate!

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain that is involved in numerous physiological functions, but the one I have decided to depict on my nails is how dopamine is involved in the reward system of the brain. Whenever we feel pleasure from a particular activity, that feeling of enjoyment motivates and reinforces us to perform that activity again. This is because of dopamine. Dopamine is released when we have a great meal, during the intake of drugs and of also with love and sex. I chose to go with the LOVE part of our brain’s reward-seeking behaviour hence the pink hearts. I wanted to try to keep my nails rated G! 

dopamine

The base colour is SH XTremewear in Mellow Yellow and the rest is all done in acrylic paint. Happy Friday everyone! I don’t normally get the weekend off, but this time I do! So for once I can look forward to a Friday night!

40 comments

  1. So cute! I LOVE that yellow...I find yellow a "touchy" colour when it comes to nails, but this one is perfect and beautiful :)

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    1. Thank you! I am not a yellow fan either and believe me I wanted to use another base colour, but the yellow matched the whole "feel good" theme so I went with it.

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  2. Haha thanks for the biology lesson! But these nails are adorable!

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    1. LOL, I tried to make the lesson fun! Thanks Sarah!

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  3. Yay! Learning and beauty all rolled into one (my fave two things ;)

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    1. Hehe, thank you! I only wish I had discovered this method of learning much earlier in my academic career!

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  4. Super cute nails! I love how you've combined biology with make-up :)

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    1. Thank you! I always have a lot of fun with it :-)

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  5. Now that is some seriously cute nail art!! Love it!!

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  6. Jayne is posting about sex and pleasure! Hahaha.
    I love when you incorporate biology with nail art, it's fun to read and I learn something new. I love this nail art, it's so cute!
    I'll have to work out a master plan so I can kidnap you and bring you to Florida to help me with Biology and nails! :D

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    1. LOL, oh I can post so much more my dear! Although I might have to put a rated R warning at the top of the page! I'm glad you learned something so now every time you feel good while eating steak, you'll know why!

      I would totally go to Florida to help you with Biology! You can tell your family that I'm just a very dedicated tutor!

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    2. Rated R, you say? I wouldn't be able to read it until next month!
      Haha, I can see it now :D "No, Mom, it's not creepy at all that she came all the way from Canada to paint my nails and help me with biology.. YOU'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND"

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    3. Aww! You're officially an adult next month?! Very cool! We often talk about Florida because of your state's housing prices ;-) I'd love to move there just to have a house!

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    4. Well, not officially an adult but 17 is legally old enough to watch Rated-R movies (here, anyway), so I think Rated-R blog posts count too? :D Haha.
      Oh really? If you ever do and you happen to find a little blonde girl lurking in your yard, it's probably safe to assume it's me!

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    5. Watch them alone/without an adult, I mean. As in a movie theater or renting/buying them. (:

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    6. LOL, if you lurk in my yard often enough, I may leave out snacks like bits of steak so that you don't get hungry while you're out there!

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    7. Oh, Jayne.. you really get me.
      LOL ♥

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    1. So cute! I hit enter before I was done @_@

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    2. Hahaha, I have done that many times! Thank you, so glad you like them!! They are seriously so much fun to do!

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  8. For some reason, I find it really cute that you have to put two fingers together to get Dopamine, haha. Happy weekend!

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    1. Haha, it was my fiance's idea to split them actually so we can thank him! Thank you and have a good weekend too!

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  9. Love it! This is so fun =) Also, for some reason your about me just caught my eye and I had no idea you lived in Vancouver! It's such an amazing city- you're lucky!

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    1. I think I've seen on your blog that you've been to Vancouver right? It is a lovely city even with all the rain. I live by the mountains too so the view is always spectacular :)

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  10. Aw what an awesome idea! I hope your retail therapy and your dopamine mani helped your day! <3

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    1. Oh it sure helped! Although I think the retail therapy helped more. LOL!

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  11. Wow that's such a creative design! I like how you associated the hearts with Dopamine. I also really like the yellow that you used. Cute!!

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  12. Love the cute hearts! That is a perfect yellow to! It is so hard to find good yellows

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    1. I know, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of yellows...they don't show up on my skin very well...but I'm glad you liked the mani!! It was a fun one to do!

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  13. this is the cutest manicure i've ever seen... even though i know absolutely nothing about science! :)

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    1. Hahaha, well now you can tell everyone what dopamine does!

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  14. Oh, molecular nails! I love them! I love the cute hearts too :D (Hehe, now I have some dopamine floating around in my body...)

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  15. I love this, super cute concept and execution

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  16. Oh my goodness!!! Another scientist fashion/beauty blogger!! You are seriously amazing, all these nail designs are way too cool. I really, really want to try them but I'm so awful at doing nails! I hope you don't mind if I feature these on my blog (with links and all of course) because they're awesomely nerdy and fabulous.

    I've just completed my first year of undergraduate science, majoring in both neuroscience and molecular biology, and I blog about fashion & science too!

    xx Annika
    The Pineneedle Collective

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    1. Very nice to "meet" you Annika and thank you for featuring me!! What an honour!!

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