Wednesday 16 July 2014

Cleopatra nail art - LNMBC

Hey y'all!

Today brings us round to another trip through the Llama Nails Movies and Books challenge.  Today's prompt is Historical, and so I wanted to attempt to pay tribute to one of Elizabeth Taylor's most memorable (in my opinion) films, Cleopatra.

Cleopatra nail art

For this stamped look, I used a huge range of Barry M polishes.

L-R: Barry M Matte Topcoat, Espresso, Gold Foil, Coconut, Lychee, Almond, and Mushroom
I wanted to capture both Cleopatra's time in Egypt and her eventually downfall in Rome.  I began with two coats of Coconut on all my nails.  On the ring and pinky nails, I applied a marble nail foil to resemble the marble stone in Rome.

Cleopatra nail art

On my other three nails, I dabbed on Almond, Lychee, and Mushroom with the end of a cotton swab to create a similar marble effect but in brown, earthy tones as would be found in Egyptian walls.  All of the stamping came from MoYou London Explorer plates 17 and 18 and was stamped in either Espresso or Gold Foil.   Technically I think plate 18 is supposed to be more Greek than Roman, but considering that the Romans appropriated just about everything that was left of the Greeks and the movie Cleopatra was full of historical errors and anachronisms, I think this can be forgiven.  Right?  Right.

Cleopatra nail art

To finish off, I sealed everything under a coat of SV, and then topcoated the Egyptian-themed nails with the Matte Topcoat, leaving the Roman nails shiny to further differentiate them, and because stylistically I felt that Roman marble would have been polished to a high shine, whereas the art at the end of the Egyptian empire would have already become faded and dull over thousands of years.

I have to admit that I didn't love these the way I imagined I would, but they're not the worst nails I've ever done.  Let me know what you think in the comments.

As always, other nail art looks based on Historical books and movies can be found in the following linkup:




Hope you guys are having a good hump day and I'll see you tomorrow!

Also, before you leave... have you entered the Nail Polish Bloggers Connection Group Giveaway yet?