MANI MONDAY: Glittery Mermaid Smoosh Nails
Hey guys! For this week's Summer Lingo themed #CBBxManiMonday, I went with the word mermaid. I love scales nail art and I had some random nail stencils that have been hanging out in my collection for years that I decided to give a go. Full coverage nail vinyls have always been kind of tricky for me, but I decided to use them to make decals and I'm... kind of obsessed, as I tend to be.
Anyway, keep reading for a closer look and to see how I did these Glittery Mermaid Smoosh Nails!
I wanted a really, really oceany kind of blue for the base, so I dug in my collection and pulled out Glam Polish's Nalu, which is this gorgeous rich cerulean blue that's packed with holo shimmer and flakies. It's an oldie but SUCH a goodie and a favorite in my collection.
Next, I reached for those old mermaid stencils along with three pastel shades in a purple, a blue, and a turquoise. I wanted to stick in the same colour family, but not blend in with the base at all. I pressed the decals down onto my nail art mat and then applied dots of each shade of polish to my stamper head before smooshing it into the decal. You could do this on your nails, but I find that the flat surface of the mat gives better adherence and ultimately a more crisp image. I peeled the stencil up as soon as I was finished smooshing and then applied a thin layer of glossy top coat to make the decal.
Once the decal was dry, I first applied a coat of sticky base coat and let that dry for about a minute until it was tacky, and then I used a pair of tweezers to peel up the decal for transfer to my nail. I actually used two methods to apply the decals for this mani - a stamper which is what you'll see in my tutorial video, as well as just laying it on the nail and using a makeup sponge to gently press it down. For me, the latter is the way to go and what I would recommend. It just gives a smoother result. Anyway, once it was fully adhered to the nail, I used my cuticle tool to trim the excess and some tweezers to pull it away and then cleaned and crisped up the edges with a clean up brush and some acetone.
I finished with 2 coats of Essie Speed Setter an voila!
(See the full list of the products I used below!)
Glam Polish - Nalu
Color Club - Factory Girl
Color Club - Blue-Ming
Color Club - Pucci-Licious
Orly Bonder Rubberized Base Coat
Essie Speed Setter Top Coat
Mermaid Nail Stencil
Born Pretty Store Nail Art Mat
BeautyBigBang Clear Stamper
As I've been writing this, I am really recognizing how wordy I get with these posts - but I really do hope that they're helpful! If you'd like to see a short video tutorial on how I did these nails - and some other recent mani's I've done - head over to @pblnails on Instagram to check it out and follow me there to keep up with all my nail art!
I love love love how these turned out and they have me determined to add more nail vinyls to my nail art collection because I feel like there's just SO MUCH you could do with them. It also really, really drives home, for me, just how much a gorgeous base polish can pop when it's paired with the right nail art. Swoon!
As always, be sure to head over to Cosmetic Proof and See The World In PINK to check out their nail art for this week's Summer Lingo #CBBxManiMonday!
Thanks for reading!
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