Under The Sea with Fimo Fish

This was the mani full of troubles.

Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration.

I have wanted to paint mermaids on my nails. 

This is not that mani.

I wasn't sure if this should be full nail or french tip. When I couldn't decide, I made this mani instead.  I used Kiss Oval Active full cover nails. More on that in a moment.

I then had to decide if the bottom of the sea would be on the nails tips, or at the cuticle edge. Do you ever think about these things when doing nail art? In the mean time, I painted all the nails with Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, my white-ish base of choice. While that was drying I decided the bottom of the ocean would be at the tips of the nails.

Click on pic to enlarge details

Polishes:

This is the exact order in which I used the polishes.

Left to Right: Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, Revlon Mint, Confetti Tahitian Turquoise, Wet n Wild Teal or No Teal, LA Colors Black Velvet, Confetti Tiara, LA Colors(no name) turquoise glitter, Confetti Party Palace Blue, Color Zone (no name) blue glitter.

1. Sponged 2 coats of Mint. Let dry. Then...
2. Sponged 2 coats of Tahitian Turquoise. Let dry. Then...
3. Sponged 2 coats of Teal or No Teal. Let dry. Then...
4. Sponged a very tiny amount of Black Velvet right on the nails' tips. Let dry. Then...
5. Dabbed Tiara on Mint area. Then...
6. Dabbed turquoise glitter on middle section. Then...
7. Dabbed Party Palace Blue on top section avoiding very tip. Then...
8. Dabbed Color Zone blue glitter over Black Velvet. Let dry.

Here's what they looked like after all that.

 It had come to my attention that the last 2 manicures I've worn have been fimo fruit.  I wanted something different so I pulled out all my little fimo fishies.

I decided on using the blues, greens, golds, and diamond rhinestones from the big wheel.

And the black and white flourishes from these stickers.

I'd watched a lot of youtube videos on under the sea type nail art. So many talented people who can paint and draw with brushes and polish. I'm not confident at all to attempt that. After all the time I spent adding all those layers, I didn't want to risk messing up big time by trying to paint by hand.

Wearer's point of view

When I add stickers, I try to do mirror imaging. While I was adding all the embellishments, I realized I'd made a huge blunder! I had painted only NINE nails! I was missing my left ring nail. Even when I took this picture, I did not realize my mistake.

When I saw what I had done, I could NOT believe it! I had to go through all the steps again, just for one nail. 

INCREDIBLE!

And since this was a nail art project with many problems, I couldn't get the nail to stay on the duct tape so I could paint it. Finally though, I got it painted and embellishments applied.

And here's the mani I'm wearing this weekend!

Pretty wild? 

Hope you all have a great weekend!