A Multitude of Mermaids

Closing out the long weekend for us Canadians and kicking off the work week for the rest of you fine folks with this little video I made for our YouTube channel, Park or Perish!, of one of my favourite rides at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid!  As my husband has pointed out, my affection for this new-ish attraction is fairly unsurprising given that it’s essentially the Haunted Mansion, themed to the Little Mermaid (they share a similar ride profile, right down to the Doom Buggies/Clam Shells that usher you through the ride (don’t forget to pull down your sand bar, wah-waaaahhhhh) and the bats/stingrays printed on the moving walkway at the end of the ride.)

And while I was dinglehopper-deep in fond memories of Journey of the Little Mermaid, I thought it would be fun to round up the many, many mermaid manis I have done over the years, including a number of ever-evolving Little Mermaid manicures honouring our girl, Ariel.  Gosh, some of my earlier stuff was dod-gy!  That’s one of the very nice things about dabbling about in a visual medium – when your talents evolve (and they absolutely will, with enough practice) you’ll really be able to see how very much you’ve improved.  It’s great (mermaid) motivation. 🙂

Dinglehopper

Also known as Ariel, the Little Mermaid’s styling tool of choice.  Dang, that girl manages to look so great given all the DIY fashion she’s got going on (shells, dinglehoppers, fetching burlap sacks.)  Prince Eric is such a dummy, though – Ariel really shouldn’t waste her hotness on him.  She’d seriously be better off with the crustacean-murdering chef at his castle.  Or one of Ursula’s eels.  Eric is totally the worst!

I think this post may have gotten away from me a bit. 😉  Just some mermaid nails for the summer solstice.  I’m sure Ariel’s enjoying the extra daylight hours.  To the rest of the summer!

The Shape of Water

Neptune nails.  Both in terms of inspiration, and also the unbelievably gorgeous base polish I used here, Enchanted Polish’s Neptune.

Also, given The Shape of Water’s best picture win at this past Sunday’s Oscars, it seemed an appropriate time – nay, the only time! – to make this “In love with a fishman” Disney joke.  Good lawd, that Triton is jacked!  His arms-day routine must be nuts.

Marvelous Mermaid

Tremendously practical, this mermaid-approved mani!  That just tends to happen with glitter placement – here using Whimsical Ideas by Pam’s blue holo glitter bomb, Mermaid – but all the same, perhaps next time in the interest of not snagging my nails on absolutely everything I pass, I should scale back a bit?  Wah-waaaaahhhhhhhh. 🙂

Fishnets and Mermaids

Because nine times out of 10 your intended fish scale design will wind up looking more like fishnets.  But super cool purple fishnets over a holographic turquoise base, which sounds like just stupendous leg adornment, right?

For these nails that could either be mermaid scales or fishnets, or perhaps even a mermaid IN fishnets, I used two holographic A England polishes, turquoise Whispering Waves and plummy Crown of Thistles, painting the purple scales over the turquoise base on my index and pinkie fingers, before topping my two middle fingers with one coat of Whimsical Ideas by Pam’s Mermaid glitter topper.

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. 😉

 

Winner Winner, Mermaid Tail Dinner!

Oh no. No, no, that doesn’t sound right at all. Pretty disgusting, actually. And after I came in all strong on that “winner winner” opening note. But GUYS! GUESS WHAT? I won the Canadian prize pack for the Oh Mon Dieu Nail Art Challenge! And for my favourite nails of the challenge, too, my Simpsons Beerquarium mani (yeah, I know I’ve said previously that I don’t play favourites, but I didn’t want the other manicures to feel left out.) This is totally awesome! I hardly ever win anything (although now that I’m thinking about it, I won a ridiculous number of prizes at various bridal shows I attended when Mr. Finger Candy and I were enfianced.) But this is seriously so much better, in no small part because the prize is kickin’ – lots of cool polishes and polish-related accessories I’ll be sure to talk about endlessly on this blog! So great!

But on to this mani, which I was hard at work at when the good news came in. I think these multichrome, gradient, holographic mermaid tail nails (with pearl-in oyster accent nail) are kind of the shit. There’s a lot going on here, but I’m just so blinded by all the colour-shifting, rainbow sparkling beauty to give much of a frig. For the multichrome-on-multichrome gradient, I topped two coats of Enchanted Polish’s turquoise-to-purple Magical Mystery Tour with two sponged-on coats of Enchanted’s mostly magenta Entwined. I then added the fish scale detailing with Liquid Sky Lacquer’s megawatt silver holo, Dream. Finally, on my ring finger I painted on something that I think looks more or less like an oyster (although it could also be a purple catcher’s mitt.) Winning mermaid magic.

Half Moon Mermaid

Neon half moons are the order of the day for a challenge I’m participating in over on Instagram, a theme I’m not wildly fond of as it tends to make my already size-challenged nails look even smaller and nubbier than they already are. But do you know what might be better than *a* half moon? Many half moons, particularly when they’re layered together in a lacey, scale-type design over top of a blue and green neon gradient dusted with holographic glitter.