Blingy mermaid scale nail art

I can't even with these nails!

Almost literally!

This is the first time I decided to use a makeup sponge to apply a glitter polish.  Using a sponge gives you craaaaazy glitter coverage as the sponge absorbs the jelly base, so you end up dabbing on tons of glitter at a time!  It's awesome and probably how I'm always going to apply glitter from now on.

The glitter that I used is Zoya Vega - from the Ulta Pixie Dust line.  Which means it's suuuuuper sparkly with bunches of different sized holo glitters.  Because of how textured Ultra Pixie Dust is, and how densely the sponge allowed me to apply the glitter, I had to use about four coats of top coat.  As much as I love the look of Pixie Dust, I kind of hate the feeling of sandpaper-glitter nails so I prefer to smooth it out!

You've seen my background color, Nicole by OPI Candid Cameron, a zillion years ago in my Fifty Shades of Blue post.  It's one of my favorite pre-polish obsession polishes!

What do you think of this look?  Are you secretly a mermaid?  Let me know in the comments!

Beach nails! (Plus some other nail art)

I have three different nail art designs to share with you today!

Beach Nails

Derek's brother and his girlfriend came to visit us over Memorial Day weekend, and we kicked off summer with a trip to the beach!  This was actually the first time I've been to the beach in, I don't even know, over two years I think.  Having grown up in Michigan, that just breaks my heart... Anyway, I had to honor the occasion by painting my nails accordingly!

I've seen this look a few times before, and I was super excited to give it a try.  The tutorial that I followed most closely is by Janelle Estep on YouTube.  I used Zoya Bar for the sand and Zoya Robyn for the water, and China Glaze White on White for the sea foam.  I also threw in a thin coat of Zoya Sparkle Gloss on my right-hand water nails, but I didn't think to do that on my left hand.

Then at the beach, I just had to model my nails next to its matching scenery!

I'm especially proud of this last one:

We were at a small beach on Chesapeake Bay.  Those rock formations in the background were all along the beach - apparently, they're there to keep the jellyfish out of the swimming waters during jellyfish season!  Yikes!  I miss the fresh waters of Michigan. :x

Maddie's Nails

Derek's brother's girlfriend (oh for Pete's sake, there HAS to be a faster way of saying that... can I just call her my sister in law?) loves my nail art.  We've been saying for the past year that I'll do her nails when we get together, but it just never happens.  This time, we had the benefit of a dining room table and my entire polish stash, so it finally happened!

 

She chose the bright green, Zoya Tilda, to match her bathing suit, and I used Zoya Nori to spice it up with the interlocking dots design.  I absolutely love doing this design - it's so simple, but it looks so complicated and intricate when it's finished!

I like interweaving fingers with my friends when I do our nails.

I started polishing that night with my toe nails around 8 pm, and I finished with Maddie's nails around midnight!  So much polishing! :)

Copycat Nails

The day I decided to swatch Zoya Oceane (a post which I have not published but will soon, I promise!), I knew that OPI My Gecko Does Tricks had to be paired with it in some nail art.  So I got slightly less than creative and basically re-created Maddie's nails on my own.  Do I get bonus points for owning the same colors in different textures?

 

I was pleasantly surprised when layering Gecko on top of Oceane on my left hand - one coat of Gecko is so sheer that I expected to need two coats, but the blue didn't show through the green at all with only one coat!

Layering Oceane on top of Gecko on my right hand left a pretty visible line, because of how thick Oceane is.  I think in the future, I'll stick with the thinner color on top.

Macro, just because I love playing with my lens!

I meant to do a photo tutorial of this one, but I forgot.  Maybe I'll just have to do this design again some time soon so I can show you how easy it is!  (Don't worry, I'll pick a different color scheme if I do.)

That's it for nail art today!  What do you think?  Which is your favorite?  Have any of you tried the alcohol-spray watermarble technique to get a design similar to the sea foam design before?  Let me know in the comments!