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| Renaissance Cosmetics inspired nail art |
I will say these past few months have been quite a challenge for me. What started as a joint venture with my sister is now a solo operation - our split was amicable but mainly due to the fact that this was always my "thing". And because of my limited time I really have to think about what I can accomplish with my business. There seems to be a tendency amongst many indie brands to expand - make more polish, get more customers, find distributors, etc. Rather I'm thinking very small production, focus on "artisan" mentality, and good service to the small group of customers that I already have.
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| Renaissance Cosmetics inspired nail art |
If you are out there reading this and thinking about starting an indie brand, I do have some advice. Think seriously - with so much competition it's extremely difficult to make a name for yourself. In society we have this idea that "if you build it they will come." That is not always the case. Being good at something (i.e. making polish, mixing interesting colours) does not make you good at running a business. And having a large following on a blog or social media, does not translate automatically to paying customers. And then there's the money - there's so many expenses, many that you might not even realize at first.
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| Renaissance Cosmetics inspired nail art |
Okay, now that I've killed your dreams, on to the reason why you're probably here - the nail art!
About this design: I wanted to do lettering that recalled Renaissance designs that I've seen online and in historical texts. Often times in Medieval and Renaissance texts there was a decorative initial letter, set in a square and decorated with vines or floral motifs. For that reason, I framed both nails and painted some very light vine motifs in the background.
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| Renaissance Cosmetics inspired nail art |
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| Renaissance Cosmetics inspired nail art |
To get this look: I started with a base of L'Hiver, one of my favourite polishes I've made. I have so much love for this polish - it has a subtle gold shimmer that contrast beautifully to the baby blue base. Then I framed both nails using Spadina, and also used it to paint the vine motifs very lightly. I freehanded the letters with St. Clair. Then I finished with a touch of black mixed with Spadina. I used this to lightly outline parts of the frame and letters - this acted as more of an accent.
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| Renaissance Cosmetics inspired nail art |
Overall: I'm very happy with my first attempt to do traditional lettering. And perhaps it's something I may try to do again sometime. The background vine motifs aren't very clear, but I do think they add a bit of variation, which is nice. Given that we haven't released a ton of polishes, I'm just happy that I was able to come up with something using what we have.
What do you think of this? And thanks for reading!
See also:
Day One: Pretty Little Bottles
Day Two: Ode to Kodachrome
Day Three: My Erin Condren Planner
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Looks so good! I like the blue and gold together so much :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely manicure!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a gorgeous mani! I love the Olde English font you painted. When I was little, I had many storybooks that started out just like that. The first letter of the story was written in the old style like yours and yes, they always had the vines and leaves intertwined. You brought back fond memories. How pretty. I don't buy indie polishes although I have seen many I would love to have. My addiction is bad enough with just drugstore polishes. Sinful Colors alone keeps my wallet cleaned out.
ReplyDeleteThis is so lovely *_*
ReplyDeleteI love Renaissance art and culture and your lettering with the vines is just class ♥
I find it very interesting what you say about your business experiences, you can say about the same for most little creative things people do... I know, I'm a little freelancer. And it's here in Germany too.
I cross fingers for your Renaissance Cosmetics! Your colours are lovely. I especially love the "antique gold /brass" :-)
The very best wishes from Berlin,
Moni
This is amazing!
ReplyDeleteThese are gorgeous! And the polish is amazing!
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love this! The colors are perfect, flow together so well! And it all really fits the Renaissance theme so well! I especially love the vines, so cute!
ReplyDeleteThese are so gorgeous!! I am insanely jealous of your lettering skillz. Lol. Your polishes are amazing, I'm sure your brand will be a success! <3
ReplyDeleteThe lettering looks great and Spadina definitely helps bring across the medieval vibe :)
ReplyDeleteSo so pretty! The lettering (and polishes) are gorgeous!
ReplyDeletethis is so beautiful and elegant. I just love the lettering. Sighs xx
ReplyDeleteThis is a gorgeous mani. And I just went on your site and I love your other polishes also! Hopefully some day I won't be so broke and can become a customer. :)
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful!! For your first time doing renaissance lettering I think you killed it. I love that you did your brand too. The polishes you used are adorable.
ReplyDeleteAwesomely wonderful, beautiful and creative! I love medieval everything!
ReplyDeleteThis is a gorgeous manicure!
ReplyDeleteAnd I can imagine what you're saying about running an indie brand being true, there are so many out there! Kudos to you for doing it your way, and keeping it your "thing" :) Your polishes are gorgeous!