Mermaid in Paradise

Happy Saturday, friends!  We made it to the weekend – time to celebrate with some gorgeous (and so simple) nail art featuring a couple of fun (and new-to-me) beauty products.

For these very mermaid-y nails, I first brushed on two smooth coats of Polish Me Silly’s multi-chromatic Paradise, a purple-to-turquoise-to-periwinkle colour-shifter, and topped them with one coat of Seche Vite.

Paradise, another stunning lacquer from Polish Me Silly’s universally gorgeous line of Mega Multichromes, is so unbelievably beautiful, I would have been content to leave it just as-is, but then I remembered the mother of pearl-type shell stickers I purchased from Daily Charme some months back, and the idea for this marvelously mariney mani took shape.

The stickers themselves come on one small adhesive sheet.  Made from real shells, the colour-shifting, iridescent stickers are finely scored in a delicate diamond pattern, which allows them to adhere neatly and firmly to your nails, exactly like a nail appliqué.

For this manicure, I eyeballed the approximate size of my index and pinkie nails (parts of my anatomy I am more familiar with than others, true) and then cut out a corresponding “nail strip” with a pair of super sharp manicure scissors.  Then, carefully removing the paper from the adhesive backing, I laid the stickers down on my nails and gently pressed them into place before trimming off the excess material along the tips of my nails. So easy!  So beautiful!

SO DELICATE.  No, really, these shell stickers are gorgeous and can take a lot of back-and-forth, but what they cannot handle AT ALL is soap.  Anything harsh or abrasive, I’m assuming, which is why I naturally decided to forgo the topcoat.  But I really wasn’t expecting them to fall apart during the gentlest of hand-washings (I always wash my hands before taking pictures of my manicures.)  If you look at the right edge of my index finger, you can see the small tear that opened up in the sticker.  It’s not the biggest deal, particularly as the polish under the sticker is of the same colour-bendiness as the sticker itself, but something to be aware of – manis involving these shell stickers may not be in it for the long haul.  Definitely a one-and-done nail art accessory.

Otherwise, I am so impressed with both these stickers and, of course, another fabulous pick from Polish Me Silly.  Such an awesome, easy look, and 100 percent mermaid-approved.  You know Ariel would dig on the shells. 😉