Tuesday, August 18, 2015

The Mortal Instruments (+ Tutorial!)

I've been doing a lot of music-inspired designs this year, but I'm doing something a little different today with this book-inspired design! Are there any Shadowhunter fans out there?






The Mortal Instruments and  The Infernal Devices series' by Cassandra Clare have been some of my favourite novels for years. I absolutely adore Clare's writing style and the way she effortlessly mixes humour and sass with a more serious story line. I finally finished City of Heavenly Fire, the last book in TMI series last week (I started it last summer and didn't get a chance to pick it up again during the school year) and it's so bittersweet to be finished. Thank the Angel (book references woo!) that she's writing two more series set in the same world. Definitely can't wait to read more about Emma and Julian, as well as read about the generation after Tessa, Will, and Jem.



Anyways, the manicure itself features a selection of runes (you can read more about runes here if you're not familiar with the series) that are mentioned in the novels. On the thumb is the rune for Clairvoyant sight, the index finger has an Iratze (a healing rune), the middle finger shows the rune for Angelic Power, the ring finger shows the Fearless rune, and the little finger has the rune for Mourning. According to the wiki article (it's been too long since I read the TID series so I can't verify it myself) Tessa mentions in one of the books that mourning runes are red, which is why it's not black like the rest of the runes on my nails. 




This manicure is actually inspired by another TMI design that I did almost 2 years ago. I swapped out a few of the runes, ditched the black outline between the beige and the gold, and changed the design on the thumb, but hey, after 2 years I think that design deserved a bit of a face-lift! :P



I can't believe how long my nails were back then! I don't know if I'd even be able to deal with that length anymore; I get annoyed after a week of grow out lol! And look at that shabby attempt at almond nails omg. Thankfully I've improved a bit in the past 2 years!




Aside from being pleased with how the final design with the runes turned out, I also fell in love with the base of this manicure pre-runes. The matte beige (my love for Ciaté's Doll Face knows no bounds) paired with the simple metallic gold outline just looks so classy, elegant, and effortless to me. I don't think it's simple prettiness was quite captured in the photos, but I honestly loved it so much in person. 



So pretty. Would totally wear this for a formal event or interview.

Also, as you may have been able to tell from the title, I filmed a tutorial for this design! Yay! It includes steps on how to recreate three of the five runes from this design.



If you decide to try the design out for yourself, tag your pics with #looknyanails so I can see them!

Products Used:
Ciaté - Dangerous Affair
Ciaté - Doll Face
Essie - Dress To Kilt
Essie - Good As Gold
Essie - Grow Stronger Base Coat
Essie - Licorice

HK Girl - Clear Top Coat

xo,
Becca.

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