Friday, February 28, 2014

Vera Bradley Adoration Nails

As promised, here is a nail design based on an item I adore: my red Vera Bradley purse. This design is inspired by the February Lacquer Legion prompt, which is Adoration.


In general, I'm not nearly as in love with Vera Bradley as the rest of the Midwestern U.S. seems to be. At best, I can usually take or leave their purses. However, this one was a Christmas present from my mother in law, and I instantly fell for it. Bright red? Paisley? Pleats AND quilting? Yes please!


By sheer coincidence, the first time I carried this purse the other day (I don't carry anything really nice when I'm sure to drop my purse in a mud puddle), I realized that I already had all the colors I needed to pay homage on the way in a neat little package. I took this as serendipity and immediately started studying it for design ideas.


As I am wont to do, my first instinct was to try to do too much. I sometimes forget that less is often more with nails. First round, I had five different purse-inspired designs, including a decent-for-a-first-try quilted pattern. While none of them (well, one of them) were tragic on their own, all together it was much too busy, especially when the colors I chose had such subtle contrast. I cleared them all off (which is bad, and as you see, my cuticles paid for it) and stuck with the design I liked best on all of the nails. It's a simple pattern that's not as directly representative of the purse, but the things I loved most, the color combination and the vintage lines, are still there. The colors I used are some of my best Julep purchases yet, Catherine, Nellie, and Gayle. I used a toothpick and a small nail art brush to flesh out the shapes and add in the accents.





I had fun with this first attempt at fashion inspired nail art-I'm looking forward to raiding my wardrobe for more nail looks. Have you transformed a favorite item of clothing into an awesome nail look? Share below, or hit me up on Facebook and Twitter!
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