31DC2013 Day 28 - Inspired by a Flag

Hi Lovelies! Today I'm forging ahead to Day 28 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. The theme for today is a manicure inspired by a flag. I had a tough time deciding on a design for this one mainly because I was pretty set against recreating a country flag. I started racking my brain for other creative flag ideas and I was coming up blank. It wasn't until I saw the Messy Mansion stamping plate innocently hanging out on my table waving it's little pirate flag that inspiration hit!

For this manicure, I started out with a base of OPI You're So Vain-illa, a perfect egg-shell cream shade to layer over...

I sponged a mix of OPI You're so Vain-illa, Going My Way or Norway?, and Ice-bergers & Fries to create an aged effect that I wanted. The 'burnt' edges were created with Going My Way or Norway?, Ice-bergers & Fries and KleanColor Black. Using a small brush and acetone, I removed parts of the polish where I wanted the burnt effect.

I stamped the barely there map background using OPI How Great is Your Dane? and Messy Mansion plate MM37. The rest of the images including the pirates, flag, and X were stamped from the same Messy Mansion plate MM37 using KleanColor Black.

I initially coated the manicure with a glossy coat, but I felt this took away from the aged look so I ended up using Essie Matte About You for a final coat on this manicure.

What do you think of this manicure? I would love to know!

Looking at it now, I realize how similar my color scheme turned out to yesterday's Inspired by Artwork manicure. Amazing that with such similar colors, you can get a completely different look and feel...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

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