Marbles Valdez designs Ellie the Elephant’s birthday manicure

ACRYLICS featured artist Marbles Valdez, the NYC nail artist behind @ibedoingnails, designed the birthday manicure for Ellie the Elephant, the New York Liberty’s mascot. NailCon shared the set on June 18, 2026, and Ellie showed it off to her fans on Instagram.

Created with essie’s “Birthday Girl” shade, the set is all about the sparkle, a fitting look for a mascot whose style is followed as closely as the game.

Who is Ellie? Ellie joined the New York Liberty in May 2021 and has since become one of the most recognizable figures in New York sports. In 2024 she became the first professional sports mascot with her own float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, won a Glamour Women of the Year award, and was the only character named to The New York Times’ list of the year’s most stylish people. In 2025, essie made her its first ambassador as the official nail polish partner of the 2024 WNBA champion Liberty. For WNBA fans she is a household name, and across New York she has become a symbol of cultural status, from Barclays Center to the front row of Fashion Week.

Marbles specializes in gel and 3D nail art and is profiled in ACRYLICS the Book. She exhibited in ACRYLICS: Hidden Sculptural Art and Wonderland: Surreal Nail Tales. Read her artist spotlight.