Hello friends! The next prompt for _nailaddiction's Summer Nails Challenge (#sncjuly2016) is "Egypt", and this is my Ancient Egypt inspired manicure for the week. As a child, I was always fascinated with Ancient Egypt. I was particularly drawn to the mysterious and beautiful symbols that adorned the tombs of the great pharaohs and their intriguing calligraphy. With this week's design, I tried my best to incorporate some of the gorgeous symbols that are commonly associated with Ancient Egypt.

On my left hand, I am wearing a Uraeus (cobra) on my thumb, which was used as symbol of royalty or authority and represented the Goddess Wadjet. This cobra, along with the striped design on my index and pinky fingers, were inspired by the mask of the mummy of Tutankhamun. On my middle finger is a scarab, which were very popular amulets in Egypt. This is followed by the Sun God Ra depicted as a bird. On my cinderella (right) hand, I went with more simple designs. The symbol on my thumb is the "Eye of Horus", which represents royal power, protection and good health. Next is the Ankh which symbolizes life. Finally, I decided put a Mau (cat) symbol on my ring finger because the ancient Egyptians worshiped them.
I feel very strange when I look at my hands because of the difference in the designs. With one being so simple and so bold and the other colourful, my eyes don't know which hand to focus on! Both of these designs makes for very beautiful manicures though, so to see how I created them and for a closer look at these designs, please continue reading....