Hello, lovely merfolk! I wanted to share my mermaid nails that I’m currently rocking. I am by no means a nail guru, but thought these turned out pretty cool and would be fitting for the first non-crown related post on the blog. Just as a heads up, this was a time-consuming process: my right hand took about an hour to do. Being a south paw, I gave up when it came to painting the left and went with solid colors topped by the same glitter coat. I’m a fan of rocking different complementary styles on each hand and I think these mermaid nails are fabulous!

My pinky and ring finger took the longest amount of time, but I got faster as I went on. I also switched the pattern up when I got to my middle finger and randomized the colors. I liked it a lot better and would recommend doing your mermaid nails that way. You can use this technique on an accent nail for a quick change or go balls to the wall and do both hands if you have more time.

Steps to magical mermaid nails

Want to know how to replicate these scaly nails? I started off with seven different colors that complemented each other. You can use more or less; I would start with at least four colors for variation’s sake. I did not use any special tools for this, just a careful hand and the polish brush that came with each bottle.

• To start, you’lll want to wipe the polish off on the sides  of the bottle and use a smaller dot of color on the tip of the brush; using larger dots will lead to color bleeding and uneven drying.
• Beginning closer to the cuticle, place a couple dots of color. You can do the same color (like on my pinky and ring finger) or use a variety of colors for each dot grouping.
• Then, you’ll place the next dot grouping slightly overlapping the previous dots, so it gets the proper scale look.
• Continue to alternate colors and overlap the dot groupings until you get to the tips of your fingernails.

Once your scales coat dries, take a sheer sparkly topcoat and paint over your scales to give them an extra magical look. You’re done! Congratulations on your hard work and enjoy those sparkly tips, you sultry sirens!