NAIL ART: Shades Of Blue Sponged Fish Tail Nails

by - August 03, 2022

 THIS POST IS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PUEEN COSMETICS.

It seems like every summer I find myself wanting to do some sort of mermaid or fish scale nails, but I don't just want to do the same thing every time so I find myself really trying to think of different techniques and looks for the base. The trick, I think, is maintaining a texture that suits the feel of fish scales while also really doing something different with it. I actually think that the sponging technique I used to create this base might be my favorite so far when it comes to this style of mani because it gives a really beautiful, shimmering texture that I think suits the fish vibe perfectly. 

Keep reading for more!


To create this base, I reached for all stamping polishes from Pueen, which are beautifully pigmented and really made this an entirely easy design to put together. I knew I wanted the blue to lean more towards a teal in the end, so I chose Metallic Turquoise as my base polish and applied one coat of that to all of my nails. Again, it's a super pigmented stamping polish so I got full opacity to work with on that first coat and it actually applied really, really easily.

Next, to create the texture, I ripped small pieces off of a makeup sponge, being sure to keep them quite rough, and used a pair of angled tweezers to dab those bits into the polish and then sort of randomly on the nail. In order, I sponged on Silver Dust, Baby Blue, Ocean Blue, and Pure White, being mindful to try not to overdo any of the colors. At the end, I decided I had lost a little too much of the teal tone, so I went in and sponged a little bit of Metallic Turquoise as well to amp that back up. 


For the stamping, I went back and forth on what color to use but ultimately decided to keep it really simple but also quite high contrast by going with white. This image from the Pueen Nail Party 03 Stamping Plate is really quite impactful with thicker lines than some other similar images I've seen and used in the past, and I think it creates a really distinct design overall. I didn't try to do anything fancy with the stamping, just kept it straight on the nails, and I feel like the irregularity of that sponged base does really help to keep it from feeling overall too samey.

Once I was happy with the overall design, I went in with a layer of nail art top coat to seal in the design and then followed with a generous layer of glossy top coat for shine. (And I hated the top coat so very, very much that I will likely never use it again, so if you're looking through the list below just know that I do not recommend.) And voila!  


All Products Used
Pueen Cosmetics - 611 Mexicali Turquoise*
Pueen Cosmetics - 802 Baby Blue*
Pueen Cosmetics - 607 Ocean Blue*
Pueen Cosmetics - 601 Silver Dust*
Pueen Cosmetics - 806 Pure White*
Apipila Smudge Free Top Coat
Essence Color Shine Top Coat
Pueen Cosmetics Nail Party 03 Stamping Plate*
Pueen Cosmetics Clear Stamper & Scraper*
Pueen Cosmetics Latex Tape Liquid Peel Off Cuticle Guard*


I'm honestly so obsessed with how this mani turned out and I'm really, really eager to keep playing around with this particular sponging technique to see what other kinds of textures and looks I can get with it. It's a little bit of a trust the process type of design because in the middle there it can feel like there's no way it'll come together in the end, but once you add that stamping it really comes together beautifully.

If you're interested in picking up any of the Pueen products that I used to create this mani, they are all available from Amazon at a really affordable price point, so be sure to check them out!

Thanks for reading!


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