The Big Top

So for whatever reason, I adore circuses. I adore going, but I also adore them as a design scheme. I think I just like the excuse for bright colors? Or maybe because the main color is red (my favorite). Regardless, I am obsessed with circuses and carnivals enough that I was going to theme my wedding around circuses (back when I was in a serious enough relationship that planning my wedding was only slightly premature). So when I saw these nails by Algae Veronica, I first adored them on their own, then realized they reminded me a little of circus tents if I changed the colors.

I’m actually quite proud of these, because I am getting a lot better at making stripes AND I managed to use a striping brush well for the first time. Striping brushes are so long and unwieldy that I had not gotten the hang of using them until these!

Originally I wanted to only do yellow and red, but when I googled “Circus tent,” a lot of the results were yellow, red and blue, so I went with that. I could have done only red and yellow though, I took a picture halfway through the process to show you.

I also like the uneven stripes on these. I may do these again in different colors with unequal stripes. My mom thought they were really busy, but whatever, I liked them.

I really like the combination of stripes and an angled french. I think next time I will line them in one of the colors I’ve already used instead of in black. This, along with skipping the dotted scallops will probably cut down on the busy-ness. I think this design may become a fallback though.