NOTD: MSMD Gilded Mermaid nails

Hello!

I've recently seen several versions of 'Mermaid Nails' that I adore, and wanted to try my own version of them. You can see two of my favorites by clicking here and by clicking here.

I wanted a blue-green base that had texture, so I started with two coats of Orly's Halley's Comet:

Orly's Halley's Comet (well, mostly...the ring finger is actually Essence's Choose Me)

On top of that base, I put a generous layer of Spoiled's Pet My Peacock glitter, trying to get both a random spray of glitter, but making sure there weren't any super obvious holes. Then, I covered all of that with a layer of LA Color's Radiation, a sheer greenish blue, with gave an opalescent look to the glitter and tone down its sparkle just a little bit. I decided that I wanted my version to be a 'Gilded Mermaid', so I stamped my 'scales' with China Glaze's Passion (by far the best gold polish I've found for stamping by the way), using Mash Plate 46. To give a final subtle sparkle of a different kind, I went over all of it with China Glaze's Golden Enchantment.

Then...Ah, then.


Then I decided to put on gold French tips...This was not my finest decision-making moment:

Gilded Mermaid nails...that are maybe a little too gilded.

I don't often do this, but the tips bugged me so much, I removed the whole thing and started over. Here is the look without the tips:

Mermaid nails in the light

Mermaid nails in the shade

And I think I do like that much better. The gold tips just make it a little too...I don't know what the right word is, but just a little too.

Strangely enough, when I was trying to decide if I would still like the gold stamping without the gold tips, of if I should go with another color to stamp the scales, I took this picture, which shows the layers, textures, and colors really well, I think:

Some texture for ya!

At the end of it all, I'm pretty darn proud of them, especially because I've never done a glitter sandwich before. Next time, however, I think I might go for the smaller, typical scale lines, rather than these thicker ones. But I loved the deco sort of look to these!

Thanks for taking a look. And don't forget to check out the other ladies that participated in MSMD Monday, shown below.  :)

M.