33DC Day 13 - Chinese (with some Japanese influence ;) )

Hello everyone! I hope that you all had a fabulous weekend! I've spent most of the weekend feeling fluey and sorry for myself, but today is a nail day so time to cheer up!

I had a couple of exciting ideas for today's Chinese theme, but my hands are a bit shaky and weren't cooperating with the fans or the dragon scales I was originally planning! So I decided to go with a simpler cherry blossom design. Now I know that cherry blossoms are traditionally more associated with Japanese culture, however a bit of Googling and a look through Wikipedia shows that fortunately (!) they grow quite prolifically in China, and feature heavily in traditional Chinese art. So there! ;)

I started with two coats of Barry M Gelly Blueberry and allowed that to dry. I then painted on the branches using a striping brush in Color Club Rebel Spirit and Models Own Nude Beige (more a coffee colour really). Lastly, I added on the cherry blossoms with the tip of a fine detail brush as a dotting tool, to create a softer finish, using La CoOlors French White, Color Club She's Sooo Glam, Nail Essentials Classic Pink and Models Own Raspberry Crush. 

So, they may not be the most authentic Chinese nail art you'll see today if you look at all the links below, but I managed, with the help of the internet, to justify them for the most part. I'm now going to go and have more tea and ibuprofen and hope that my brain will be back in gear in time for Wednesday's Abstract mani :)