Drop Dead Gorgeous: Sponsored by Swarovski Crystals ®
Day of the Dead has a special meaning to everyone. For me, it has always been a special day to remember my relatives and friends who have closed this chapter of their lives and started a new chapter in their afterlife. So with that in mind, I decided to celebrate their lives by creating a unique nail art with the center highlighting their journey into the afterlife. Though it may sound gloomy or morbid, the challenge was to make it festive and colorful like any holiday tradition. I included candles in my challenge because it was a tradition in my family to light candles for the dead.
Candles in the cemetery, a family holding candles, larger candles under Lady Catrina and the Mariachis all represent hope and faith even in the darkest of time. We now bury the dead away from their homes. So the graves are decorated with the idea that the dead return there first. Candles are placed in the cemetery so that the dead will be able to find their way with the guide of the Alebrijes.
I included Alebrijes because these painted animal figurines have become a form of symbolic art in Mexico. They are there to guide the dead. But beware, these spirit guides can change to any shape!
Above looking down are the ancient Aztecs Gods with Mictlantecuhtli, God of the dead in the Center. Off to the left side is Lady Catrina, Santa Muerte, observing our celebrations. But what is she really watching? When the last candle burns out, everything will be revealed in the darkness!
Happy Day of the Dead Everyone!
Step-by-Step Nail Art Tutorial
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I approached this challenge by researching Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) to better understand it's history, significance and influence in today's culture. After reading different articles, viewing images and videos, I arranged a collage for inspiration. The collage is built around images, and themes about life, death, family, love and traditions
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With my collage in front of me, different ideas and images will take shape in my head. With pencil ready in hand, I start drawing pictures, adding ideas and colors to support my drawings and finallying including textures to complete my story
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I use CND Brisa to glue the nails together in a rectangle as my mural. I begin by lightly drawing different part of the pictures on the nails to get a better idea of size, scale and space distribution. I'll remove different elements or add new ones during this proccess. After my drawing is complete, I started to fill out the sky with colors already visualized in my head
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Beginning with the center of the nails 1. Draw a big marigold flower to represent as a portal/bridge for the dead to cross. You can apply orange color and a little of red color to give nuances. 2. Paint the face of the skull as if you were forming it with the flower stick or roots in a very organic and fluid way. 3. Draw the faces of the houses and paint them in brilliant colors
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I choose candles as one the main elements to represent hope and faith. It is Halloween, so let's have some fun and make them ghostly beautiful! 1. Draw your candle and make faces to represent the flames, spiders or anything you want! 2. I use blue and purple to paint mine as well as a little yellow and orange to give the effect of melting face. 3. Paint the face with black gel art and cure. Don’t forget to add lights and shadows to your candle!
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Alebrije is a spirit guide that takes the shape of an animal to help guide the dead to cross. They can be any shape or animal you want. This is my favorite part! 1. Make a marbling of bright colors as if they will explode between them. 2. Draw any animal. 3. Paint it with different colors of gel and cure, on top you can add dots in different colors that make contrast. 4. As a background I used glitter gel and draw lines without specific order
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"Lady of Death or Catrina" 1. First draw the outline of your face to shape it. 2. I did all the scribbles on her face with gel polish and then cured. 3. Paint a white circle on her head and then I made some black contour to give it a flower shape. 4. I painted the flower in several colors of red to give depth with shadows. 5. Repeat the same steps with the other flowers and add one or two leaves. 6. Finally I added Swarovski crystals to give it a modern and elegant look!
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Paint the Town! 1. I drew a cobblestone street and painted it in brown tones 2. I added Mariachis and painted them in blue. 3. The cemetery I made different types of tombs to give depth and different heights, decorate it with white candles and many "flower of the dead" or marigolds 4. I included a celebrating family and painted decorations for the town and streets. 5. The final touch was to inlcude Swarovski crystals to give more emphasis to the flower path, I also added a large crystal to the Marigold that is in the center to serves as a bridge for the dead to cross into our world
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"GLOW IN THE DARK" The Twist Ending! The nails are actually 2 different worlds coming together on Day of the Dead..! 1. The world of the living is the image you see in the light. 2. The "Day of the dead", is the day when the living and the dead meet again. With glow in the dark top coat I made the ghosts and emphasized the parts of the drawing that I wanted to glow in the Darkness. The alebrijes change shape so I made them change by painting only certain parts of the body with the top. The Ram turned into a snake because it is my animal according to the ancient Aztec horoscope. 3. The underworld in which only the dead "live" can only be seen in the dark
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Add Swaroski Crystals to accentuate elements and to complete your Nail Art
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