What you'll need:
- a clear top coat (preferably something a little thick so everything stays in place, just pick something up at your local drugstore)
- nail polish for the fishes, sea weed, bubbles, and waves.
- tooth picks (unless you have the nail polish pens or a brush)
- gems (optional)
Step One: I like to leave the thumbs for last because you tend to push your thumbs against surfaces that could damage the paint more often than your other fingers.
On all your fingers except your thumb, make a circle where you'd like the fishes body to be. It's your choice whether you want to make the fish different colours (like I did) or have them all the same colour. My fish bodies took up about 1/3 of a nail, but you can make them any size you like. I wanted my fish in the middle of the nail, but once again that's up to you.
Now, the tails. These are easy, dip your toothpick into the colour of polish you'd like to use. If you're using a brush or pen, just continue on the same way you've been going. Make a small "V" on it's side, depending on which way you'd like the fish to face. They will end up looking like "<" or ">". Make sure they're attached to your fishes body.
I added bubbles ontop of the fish, but feel free to do whatever you like. I put three white dots in a triangular pattern ontop of the fishes mouth.
Your nails should look something like this:
Now, the thumbs.
Step Two: Make the same fish body you did in Step One, but instead of centering the fish make it farther to the right or to the left (depending on where you want to put the seaweed).
Now, using a toothpick or your pen, make waves above the fish by making small connecting "c" shapes. These should look like small cresting waves. If you want a smoother ocean, make horizontal ''s'' shapes. With a different toothpick, make 3 small circles above the fish's head in a triangular pattern for the bubbles. Lastly, the seaweed. Beside your fish on the side of the nail with more space, draw a squiggly vertical line about 1/3 of the way up the nail with green nail polish. Draw connecting squiggly lines off the sides to make the seaweed look bigger.
*optional* If you have gems like I do, you can make the fish have sparkly eyes. Take a toothpick and put the jewel on the end. It may be tricky at first, but you need to keep control of the gem. You don't want it falling onto your nail where it will be hard to get off without damaging the rest of your design. Carefully place the gem in the middle of the fish head where you'd like the eye to be. I prefer using a different colour than the body so it stands out.
If you dont have gems, you can still do this with a toothpick by making a small circle in the middle of the fish head with a different colour polish.
Your nail should look like this:
Now, repeat on the other thumb. Your fish can be facing the same direction, or opposite.
After making sure your nails are dry, put the top coat on. You dont want the colours mixing - check to make sure your nails are completely dry.
IMPORTANT NOTE: be careful if you're using gems, they take a long time to dry completely. You must be very conscious of what you're touching otherwise the gems will be moved on your nail, possibly smudging your design.
If you feel like doing the matching toes.... :
Step Three: My younger sister already had a nice blue colour on her toe nails, so I put my design ontop of that. With toes it's harder to see detail, so keep it simple but colourful.
As in Step One, make a solid circle in the middle of the big toe's nail. The other toes will be too small to draw on, so I leave them a solid polish colour. Since this nail is larger than your finger nails, make the circle bigger so it is easy to see. Again, make the sideways ''v'' shape for the tail.
I decided not to put bubbles, but that's up to you.
As with the thumbs before, I put gems for the eyes in an opposing colour.
Wait until your design is dry, and put on the top coat!
Your nails should look like this:
Everyone loved the fish design, it turned out to be a lot of fun and was incredibly easy to do!
A good way to impress your friends with doing very little work.
