Under the Sea Nail Art - Take 2

9:00:00 AM

Happy Monday, Polished World!!  How are you today??  Hopefully it is nice and sunny where you are.  It has been a fantablous few days here, but a little too cool.  Seriously, it's August but it feels like September.  I'm never happy when it comes to the weather, because let's face it, if it were 90 degrees with awful humidity, I'd be complaining as well.

Today's manicure though screams warm weather to me since it surrounds around the ocean and the cute little critters that dwell within.  When I think of those lil animals under the sea, I think of the Caribbean where people go to scuba to see them.  Is it ever 35 degrees when someone is scubaing in the reefs?  I think not.

Last year I did similar under the sea nails after seeing a pin on Pinterest.  I can't seem to find the pin on my board anymore to link where that pin came from to post here to show my original inspiration.  I wanted to attempt these nail again now that I have actual nail art supplies instead of just tooth picks.  I pulled up the old blog post as a blueprint, grabbed all my supplies, and started painting.  I feel like it's been forever since I've done in depth nail art such as this!

I'm so pleased with how they turned out!  I switched them up a bit and didn't do all the nails identical as last years.  Let's take a look!



Colors Used (Be Prepared, it's a lot)
  • Base
    • Sally Hansen - Blue Away! to Sinful Colors Endless Blue
  • Fishies
    • Zoya - Darcy and Mickey
  • Squid
    • Zoya - Thandie
  • Starfish
    • Zoya - Bobbi
  • Shark
    • Pure Ice - Kiss Me Here
  • Shell
    • Sally Hansen - Fuschia Flare and Pink Blink
  • Ocean Floor Details
    • Sand
      • Zoya - Avery
    • Seaweed
      • Orly - Coachella Dweller
    • Rocks
      • Sinful Colors - Cool Grey and Pure Ice - Kiss Me Here
  • Black and White
    • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
    • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White

I started off with a thin white base coat of white polish.  I was going to do a plain blue base, until I remembered that he ocean gets darker the deeper it gets.  Since my tips were going to be sand, like the bottom of the ocean, I decided to gradient the ocean depth.  Once the gradient was on, with Zoya Avery, I used a nail art brush and drew on the uneven ocean floor.  Avery is such a perfect nude which gave a great sand look to the manicure!  As the sand tips dried, I began detailing the fish, squid, and shark, followed by the starfish and shell.  As everything was drying, I painted on all the seaweed, little rocks, and eyes.

It was quite a tedious process, but I love the outcome!!!!  It took about 2 hours to complete both hands.  Yes, my right hand had this exact design on it as well.  I'm kind of crazy like that!

What do you think?  Missed my complex crazy nail art?   Ideas for more?

Until next time, <3.

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