Disney Princess Nails: Ariel

 Under the sea…  These nails are inspired by the princess Ariel from the movie The Little Mermaid (1989).  Each month I will bring you a new set of nails based on a Disney princess, in the order of their release.

You’ll need:

Base coat

Top coat (I prefer Seche Vite)

Striper brush

Dotting tool

Light blue, teal, (optional) blue shimmer, champagne, brown, light purple, dark purple, dark green, medium green, nude, red, yellow, coral, white and black nail polishes (I used: OPI Nail Lacquer in Can’t Find My Czechbook; Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in 280 Jazzy Jade; OPI Nail Lacquer in Go On Green!; Sephora by OPI Nail Color in Chestnuts About You; OPI Nail Lacquer in You Don’t Know Jacques! Suede; Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in 370 No Hard Feelings; Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine Nail Color in 05 Flair; Sally Girl Nail Color in Adios; Sally Girl Nail Color in Surf’s Up; OPI Nail Lacquer in My Vampire is Buff; Victoria’s Secret Beauty Rush Nail Paint in a bright red; Pure Ice in Excuse Me; OPI Nail Lacquer in Strawberry Margarita; Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in 110 Hard to Get; and Sally Hansen in Hard as Nails in 880 Black Heart)

Start with a base coat.  Paint your pinky nail and index finger nail in alternating vertical stripes of light blue and teal, and go over them with a clear coat while still wet to blur lines.  I topped both of these nails with a light blue shimmer coat for some extra shine.  For your ring finger, paint the entire nail with your champagne color then add the brown on both sides, again going over it with a clear coat to smooth out lines as much as possible.  Paint your middle finger nail light blue.  (I added the light blue shimmer on this one, too!)  Then paint your thumb nail brown.

On your pinky and index fingers, use your striper brush dipped in a medium to dark green to create a fish scale pattern.  Paint small, curved shapes starting across the top of your nail.  Under that line of scales, paint more in a row that doesn’t line up with the first one.  Then continue to add rows of scales with alternating placements until the whole nail is covered!

At the top in the center of your middle finger nail, add a little bit of light purple and smooth it out with a clear coat.  (This will represent some of the light from the rock opening coming into the underwater cave.)  Next, use your striper brush in a medium green to make the mermaid tail shape near the left side of the nail (start about halfway down with a narrow rectangular shape that get a little smaller and curves toward the left at the bottom, ending in two triangular shapes for the fins.)  Dip your striper brush in the nude polish and create a small section right on top of the tail, with an extended shape portraying Ariel’s arm and hand reaching toward the rock opening at the top of the nail.  Use your striper brush in the bright red polish to create the back of Ariel’s hair, sort of a comma shape, starting with the rounded top next to her hand, coming down to the top of the tail and curving in the direction of the base of the tail.  Then use your striper brush to make dark purple lines going horizontally across the nail (not covering Ariel or the light purple “light!”), a little closer together at the top and getting further apart toward the base of the nail.  These represent the levels of the rock walls in the underwater cave.

On your middle finger, use your dotting tool and/or striper brush to make yellow star shapes around the edges, then coral ones.  (They can overlap!)  Then use your striper brush dipped in the bright red color to paint “Under the sea” in the center. 

Now for the thumb we’ll add an element of evil!  Use your striper brush in light purple polish to create the profile of Ursula on the right side of the nail.  (Almost a half-potato shape starting about ¾ of the way up the nail, going into a narrower “shoulder” shape, then extending out to look like an outstretched arm with her hand out, palm up.  Leave space between her arm and the base of your nail.)  Use your dotting tool to make a small white dot near the outer edge on the smaller portion of the potato shape, for Ursula’s eye.  Use the striper brush in white to create small curved smile shape near the outer edge of the larger portion of the potato shape, and some wild hair sticking up on top of her head.  Now add some details with your striper brush: dark purple to outline the arm and hand, and the top of the shoulder, as well as random lines in the white hair; black for the pupil in the eye, a menacingly arched eyebrow and a small line in the center of the white smile for teeth; and bright red to outline the white smile as lips.  Finally, use your dotting tool to create a yellow circle floating above Ursula’s hand, as she covets her prize of Ariel’s voice!  Finish each nail with a top coat to seal in the look.

~ Alyssa