Moroccan Quatrefoil

My passion for nail art has also stirred in me a passion for patterns and fabrics. I now see patterns as something I can potentially recreate or be inspired by and I'm really enjoying that aspect of this nail art experience. 

To the embarrassment of my boyfriend, if I find a pattern somewhere - be it a table cloth, t-shirt or pillow case - I will snap a quick picture of it so I don't forget that I fell in love with it. Then when I get home I often fruitlessly search the internet for a general name of said pattern. Today's search informed me that the pattern I have been wanting to recreate is called Moroccan Quatrefoil. 

One of the very first manis I did that I really truly loved was a tape mani with this pattern. I painstakingly cut painter's tape to create a template I could paint over. Looking back, I can't believe I decided to stick with nail art after how frustrating that process was, but I LOVED how they turned out and was so proud of what I had managed to create. This was before I had figured out how to use my brushes so the idea of hand painting this pattern seemed absolutely absurd to me. Since then I've been wanting to do something else that was inspired by this classic pattern. 

Most quatrefoil patterns that you see create interest by repeating the shape seamlessly over and over. I had originally planned on doing this with my nails, but discovered that that was going to be more frustrating than the original taped one. So I opted for my own version.  

The base burgundy color is China Glaze's Purr-fect Plum and the offwhite is American Apparel's Cotton. 

I'm visiting my parent's place for the weekend and have none of my normal lighting or editing software for watermarks, so I made do. This however meant that photographing the detail with the high gloss shine of Seche Vite did not go over so well. Although the photos shown above are matted, I ended up going back to the shiny top coat for these. I've included the only two photos that managed to not have glare on the top coat. 

Do you have a preference between the two finishes? 

Happy Polishing! :)