Monday, September 16, 2013

31DC2013 Day 16: Tribal Print

I could not nail down a decision on what design to do for the tribal print prompt. It kind of bothered me all weekend. It wasn't until I googled "Aboriginal art" that I found what I wanted to do. I found so many beautiful images of dot artwork, and I knew I had to try it. Then after a couple more hours of decision making and hesitation on the colors and design, I finally got to work. Here's what I came up with!




To start I applied two coats of Zoya Flynn. After letting it dry for a few minutes I applied a top coat. I'm sure I didn't need to, but I wanted to make sure it was smooth before I started with the design.





I started with my little lizard (isn't he cute?) in the middle and then worked my way out. I continued the dot pattern on the neighboring nails. Then on the thumb and pinky I used the same order with the colors, but with concentric circles. I used a long striper brush to make the lizard. For the dots I used the pointy shaped dotting tool from my nail art brush set.



I was just about to post this when I realized something was missing. I almost forgot that I wanted to see how this looked in a matte finish. So I quickly applied some China Glaze Matte Magic, took the photos, and added one to the post. I considered replacing all the ones I had ready with the matte ones, but then I couldn't decide. And it would be that much more work. Which do you like better?



What I used:
Zoya Flynn- base color (I love this color and almost didn't want to cover it up!)
Sephora by OPI What's a Tire Jack?- black
It's So Easy Stripe Rite - for the tiny white dots on the lizard
Sephora by OPI White hot- white for the other dots
BK #25 (from the Born Pretty Store)- orange
Sephora by OPI Studs and Stilettos- brown
Sephora by OPI It's Totally Karma- lime green
Finger Paints- Art Hue Serious?- forest green
Seche Vite top coat
China Glaze Matte Magic top coat

This is one that I really don't want to take off my nails right now!! At least the photos will last forever... I know I will be doing more designs like this in the future! 

11 comments:

  1. Aboriginal nail art?? Freakin love these nails to the max!!!

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    1. I love these too! I love what this challenge has inspired me to do.

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  2. Seriously so amazing. It looks awesome both shiny and matte, but the matte finish makes me think of chalky paint and dry, dusty desert air. I don't know anything about aboriginal art, but that's what I imagine it's like.

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    1. That's why I originally thought of doing the matte finish, I just totally forgot about it til the last minute.

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  3. Haha, Mel. I had a similar but opposite reason for really liking the shiny finish. It reminds me of glazed pottery, which I think is super awesome. This one really is amazing!

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  4. Ooh, I love this! Think I prefer the matte version for the same reason as Melanie. :-)

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  5. Wowy-Zowy!! This is fabulous! I like it shiny. You've become quite the artist painting on your little tiny curved pallates. However, there aren't many artists who have to paint half of their canvas with their non-dominant hand. I think this challenge is making you grow and stretch in your skill and creativity. Thanks for sharing with all of us.

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    1. It really is helping me stretch myself. It's been good to have that extra push.

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  6. How do you get the "off" hand to look as good?

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    1. The other hand never looks as good! But for the challenge I rarely did both hands because 1) I was doing some really complex designs and 2) I had to take them right off to start the next day's manicure.

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I love to hear your comments!