Nail Art Challenge #7 - Bowie-spiration

No, of course I didn't do the lightning bolt, everyone does the Aladdin Sane lightning bolt.

If that is the sum and total of your exposure to the visual world of Bowie I recommend pouring a big glass of wine and parking yourself in front of google image search and youtube for an evening of amazing.

People often refer to Bowie as a chameleon, but that implies that he blends in or adapts to whats around him. For the better part of 50 years Bowie has MADE what is around him.

And he was awful nice, really quite out of sight. 
And he sang all night long

As much as I love Thin White Duke era Bowie it's a hard look to express in nail polish *laughs*, so I decided to go Ziggy Stardust era and used this stunning Kabuki inspired look in fuchsia, white and gold as my muse.

I started with a base of gold and did a half moon mani with white. I then edged that half moon by sponging on a coppery glitter in a black base (Sparks Fly) and sponged pink on to the tips.

This was fraught with technical difficulties. It was my first attempt at using a sponge and the polishes I used weren't really suited for what I was trying to make them do.

I had to put so many layers of white there was a really visible step down and a very stark white edge.

I managed to cover much of that with a detail brush and more of the Sparks Fly but it was still a bit messy for my tastes.

My attempts at test swatching that black did not prepare me for how sooty it would look.

The pink came out about how I wanted though it is a bit more solid in real life. It got kind of washed out in this shot.

My cuticles were also an utter mess afterward and it was a LOT of effort getting them clean. My dislike of cuticle cleaning is a MAJOR motivator in keeping a steady hand while painting so this will probably not be a go-to technique for me.

I do like how the topcoat brought out the fine copper glitter though, and I'm looking forward to revisiting that polish under better circumstances.

I've picked up what will hopefully be a better white for future attempts (Essie Blanc) and when I do hit the sponges again I will investigate ways to "tape off" my cuticles first.

For more amazing Bowie nail art check out this pile of posts form MonkeyNailArt (just scroll on past the penguins, or don't, they were cute too).