Saturday, August 21, 2010

Serpent and the egg

Hello ladies,

My philosopher friend moved across town this week. As he was packing his collection of over 3,000 books, he handed me a copy of Alchemy and Mysticism to peruse. There were endless illustrations of serpents. Familiar themes were the snake eating its tail (the ouroboros) and the serpent wrapping itself around a large egg. These alchemical drawings are meant to convey the cycle of life and creation.

I am really fascinated by snakes. As much as I would love to care for one as a pet, I admittedly would have difficulty at feeding time. I think for now I will continue communing with them when I have the opportunity and creating an occasional serpent theme manicure.

Using Nubar Rosso as the base, I worked with a Chinoisserie palette of color. I stamped the snake from fauxnad plate H21 in Konad black special polish. I placed a gold sphere from Bundle Monster at the serpent's mouth. I repeated the gold at the tips with a Nubar nail art pen in 24K.







How cute are these peppers?





A brecciated jasper crystal skull.



The rosemary was incredibly fragrant.




Rosso applied beautifully. Two coats brought perfect opacity. This is truly a stunning polish. The foil finish paired with the glass flecked shimmer makes the red look fiery and bright like the red hot shade of metal being forged.

Part of the Venetian Glass Collection, Rosso was sent to me for review. The Nail Art Pen in 24K is from the Bejeweled Collection. This set was provided for my consideration. The full line of Nubar products can be purchased at bynubar.com.

Image plate H21 was provided for review. Additional nail art stamping plates can be purchased from chez-delaney.com.

Happy painting, ladies!

17 comments:

  1. This polish Nubar is really wonderful. Pffffff, as usual, in France, it is untraceable... Very attractive.

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  2. cocolive: Thank you! I am so glad you like Rosso. I will ask the representative at Nubar what sites offer shipping to France.

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  4. Ah, serpents. Lovely. I just love how Rosso goes with gold and black!
    And rosemary! <3
    Peppers ARE cute :)

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  5. Nail-r-saurus: I truly appreciate your taking the time to comment. Comments left here that are unrelated to the post will be read and then deleted as they are clearly intended for me and not the blogging community.

    If you look at my text under POST A COMMENT, it reads: "If you have any questions or links that are unrelated to the post, please e-mail me." I don't want the comments section to be used in cases when a personal e-mail would be much more appropriate. I am going to add a section to the FAQ because this seems to be a confusing issue.

    There are no hard feelings from me at all. I genuinely welcome your comments. :)

    Daria: Thanks so much! I think it's good occasionally to coordinate one's manicures with rosemary and peppers.

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  6. Let me just say...this manicure is 'charming!' ;D

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  7. Kimberly: Thanks! I love a good (or a bad) pun. Awesome! :)

    MissMidnightBlue: Thank you! I'm so glad you like the look. <3

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  8. Lovely! ^^ This mani actually has a very oriental feel to it, with the gold and the red. Even the serpent stamp and the gold sphere reminds me of a dragon devouring the sun during an eclipse. I think it's an old Chinese legend of sorts. c:

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  9. Nubar Rosso looks so beautiful here! For nail-art-stampings I prefer dragons to snakes, but I own a silver snake-ring which I really love and I've been searching for a "twin-ring" for the last 5 years, but unsuccessfully :(
    I am not a huge fan of reds, I just feel reds make my own hands look so mature ... I know, it sounds crazy, but I feel this way.

    In my room there's only China Glaze Ruby Pumps and Nfu.oh 45 representing the "red" color range ;) and dozens of blues and purples and mud-colors ;) ... but ... Nubar Rosso is really growing in my liking. I've seen many swatches by now and it seems a really beautiful red. Maybe, just maybe, I'll slowly warm myself up to reds ...

    On your hands it looks stunning, especially with the stamping on it, and I LOVE how you do your photos in those flower gardens! It's such a nice touch!

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  10. Nice mani, and I love the little line at the tips, what a great idea!

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  11. I agree with Caitlyn that this has an Oriental feel to it. My Mother had Japanese silk pajamas her brother brought her back from WWII. They were red silk with black bottoms. They had a snake on them with lots of embroidery with gold silk thread. Many other symbols with black and white silk thread. I loved to look at it and wear it when I was little. They probably weren't pajamas in Japan. As soon as I saw your manicure it brought back this memory. Unfortunately I don't have them anymore. I couldn't wear them as an adult. They were so tiny. My Mother was on 4"11" and very petite at that time. Wish I could have seen her in them. She must have looked stunning.

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  12. grace: Thank you so much for sharing! I will have to look up the legend of the dragon and the sun. <3

    Caitlin: I just searched 'snake twin ring' through Google and I had to finally look away. I've been wanting a snake ring for awhile. <3

    It's interesting how blogging has expanded my palette with nail color. I always wore burgundy and red before, but never yellow or taupe.

    Rosso is more of a hot red with yellow undertones. It's quite distinct from Ruby Pumps. If you only own a few reds, Rosso is a great contender. It glows even more than my camera could capture.

    I have such a great time in the garden and I love sharing my delights.

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  13. Shiny!: Thanks! While not the originator of the tipping look, I have tried it in lots of ways. You can see many of them under the 'funky french' label.

    Lucy: I love your stories! Thanks so much for sharing them with me. I am so glad my manicures can call such beautiful and vivid pictures to mind. xoxo!

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  14. Now I have to say this tipping combo is lovely. Much better than the first I ever saw (since following you) the black and red. :P I didn't think it had an oriental feel until reading these other comments, but I guess it does. :)

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  15. That manicure is absolutely breathtaking! I feel like I say this about almost all of yours, but they really are. I love the red with gold and black accents, it's such a classic Japanese feel. Also, this is obvious, but your garden is spectacular.

    I'd love to see your garden in person, be able to walk through and photograph the flowers, sit and drink a cup of tea while the sun sets. Silly, I know, but I get such a peaceful feeling looking at your photographs! Thank you so much for sharing them!

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  16. Like these. very nice and love the flowers as always!

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