Thursday, November 14, 2013

The Digital Dozen does Black & White - Day 4: Middle Eastern Themed

So I will preface this post with an apology! I am the tiniest bit in love with this manicure and I couldn't narrow down my photos to just a few...so this is a picture heavy post! ;) 

This is my 4th mani for the black and white theme and I was feeling really uninspired and a bit discouraged when I sat down to do something. I did 2 looks before this and was about to call it quits but knew I'd be hurting the rest of the week if I didn't get it done tonight. I received a random catalogue in the mail and saw this wonderful rug and decided to be inspired by it! I'm really glad I went for it though because I'm really proud that they came out as clean as they did and I may force random strangers to look at them throughout the day tomorrow. Sometimes I have a heavy hand when it comes to free handing things like this and my lines get too thick way too quickly, but I think I managed to maintain some line weight consistency throughout each nail.

I don't really know what type of art this is - I wish I had been given the opportunity to take art history in school!- so if anyone knows or if it reminds you of a particular type of art, let me know! It felt very middle eastern to me but I have no idea if that's correct or not. 
I cheated a tiny bit in my color palette because I was craving something other than the starkness of the black and white. I ended up using OPI's My Vampire is Buff (it's neutral so I think it still counts!) as the base color and I'm really glad I did. I think a white background would've been too much of a contrast and would have detracted a bit from the design. 
I'm sorry to any polish purists out there, but I did use black acrylic paint for this look. It's much easier to work with when I'm doing intricate detail work like this. I once again used my La Corneille No. 18/0 liner for this whole look and topped it off with a few coats of KBShimmers Clearly on Top (which I LOVE! I think it's replaced Seche Vite for me - Gasp!)
What do you think of these? I'm kind of wishing I had done these as my last mani so I could wear them longer than a day. I just love them! 

Happy Polishing :) 

16 comments:

  1. These are un-real. Love them, I can't believe you have to remove them so soon!!!

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  2. This is beautifully done! I tend to have a heavy hand too when it comes free-handing delicate lines- you did an amazing job!

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  3. Lucy from Lucy's StashNovember 14, 2013 at 6:53 AM

    Fantastic job! I've looked for the brush you've used but unfortunately didn't find it available anywhere in UK :(

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  4. This mani is totally absolutely gorgeous. I can just imagine you accosting strangers in Starbucks and making them adore your mani!

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  5. I'm thinking I might have to order it from Amazon US...

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  6. This is just really beautiful.
    Go you.

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  7. SHEESH! This is crazy. You are so talented!

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  8. These are stunning! Great job!! I'm extremely jealous of these haha

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  9. They remind me a bit of mandalas... and are about as ephemeral, given you needed to take them off so quickly! I really adore this mani, I think you blew off the barn doors (is that even an expression? probably not).

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  10. This is unbelievable! I hope to be able to free-hand like that someday!!! <3

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  11. You blew off the roof of awesomeness with this one, you did :D
    Beautiful, artistic and unique! Love every bit of it! **

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  12. This is another masterpiece created by your talanted mind and hands!! WoW! WOW!))

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  13. These look like the "suzani" pattern of embroidery and textiles from Uzbekistan!

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  14. Your precision with a nail art brush just blows my mind!

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  15. I still can't believe your mad free-handing skills! Mind blown! Love these!

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  16. Awesome, this is amazing detail

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I love getting comments! However, sometimes life gets in the way and I'm not able to respond to every one, but know I do read and appreciate each and every one. If you have questions, I'll do my best to respond in a timely fashion!