Mermaid | Nail Art Tutorial

mermaid nail art tutorial

Want to know how to create this gorgeous mermaid nail look?

Find out here and follow our 16 step tutorial to easily paint this gorgeous mermaid nail art on your nails!



The products we used to create this look:
Nail polish and nail art tools
1. Vitamin Base Coat – Natural Collection
2. 7 Day Wear Nail Polish – Collection – White Out
3. Time To Shine – Make Up Gallery – Pink Soda
4. Under The Sea – Barry M – Jelly Fish
5. 60 Seconds Super Shine – Rimmel London – Breakfast In Bed
6. 60 Seconds Super Shine – Rimmel London – Go Wild-er-ness
7. 60 Seconds Super Shine – Rimmel London – Your Majesty
8. 60 Seconds Super Shine – Rimmel London – Sparkle Every Day
9. 60 Seconds Super Shine – Rimmel London – Black
10. Beauty Sponge
11. Dotting Tool
12. Pointed Drawing Brush (Small)
13. Dotting Tool
14. Purple Sequins
15. Silver Heart Gem
16. Purple Glitter

Would you like this design painted on false nails for you?

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If you can’t find this design with our other false nail sets in our shop, please contact me and I will happily sort it out for you!

Now lets show you how we created this mermaid nail art!

summer nail art

step 1

First of all it is important to make sure your nails are clean and ready to be painted before we start, so we need to do a little bit of preparation. If you have nail polish on already, you will need to take it off with some nail polish remover. After this is done, I usually wash my hands just to ensure my nails are completely clean.

Then it’s time to tidy your nails up a little and to shape them to how you want, using with your file. Also, if you want make your nails appear longer – you can push back your cuticles. If you place your hand in some warm water for a few minutes, it will help soften your skin making it easier for you to do this.

Once you are ready, you should apply a base coat to your nail as this will protect your nails from being stained but also will make applying your nail polish much smoother. We used the Vitamin Base Coat (1) to do this.

summer nails

step 2

Once your base coat is dry (this shouldn’t take too long), we can start moving on to the more exciting parts – deciding what colour you want your nails to be! For this look, we decided to paint our index finger nail with the nail polish in the colour Pink Soda (3) and the rest of the nails with the white (3) nail polish. We applied 2 coats of the nail polish as this makes sure the nails are covered well.

We recommend you apply two thin coats rather than one thick one as the thicker the coat, the longer it will take to dry.

mermaid tail nail design

step 3

Once the white nail polish is dry, it’s time to start creating the mermaid nail look! The first thing we need to do is create the ombre look on the middle finger nail. To do this, we used a beauty sponge (10) and painted a horizontal line with the nail polish in the colour Pink Soda (3) at the edge of the sponge, and then painted another horizontal line with the nail polish in the colour Jellyfish (4) under it, just slightly overlapping*.

Once you have done this, you want to gently stamp the sponge onto your nail a couple of times to create the ombre look. After doing that, we painted our thumb nail with the nail polish in the colour Jellyfish (4).

* You can see this in the image of the products and tools used at the top.

mermaid designs for nails

step 4

Now you just need to build up the ombre nail by repeating the previous step a few times until it is dark enough for what you would like. We also painted another coat of the nail polish in the colour Jellyfish (4) to the thumb nail.

mermaid nail art designs

step 5

Next we painted an outline in the shape of a mermaid tail on the little finger nail using a dotting tool (11) with the nail polish in the colour Jellyfish (4). We also painted an outline on the ring finger nail to finish creating the shape of the mermaid tail using the dotting tool (11) with the nail polish in the colour Jellyfish (4).

mermaid style nails

step 6

After you have painted on the outline, it’s time to start creating the mermaid tail! We started by applying a top coat to the top half of the nail and then gently applied the purple sequins (14), staying within the outline.

mermaid tail nail art

step 7

After you have finished at the top of the nail, you want to apply the top coat to the bottom half of the nail and continue gently applying the purple sequins (14).

You may need to cut up some of the pieces so they fit within the outline.

mermaid tail nails

step 8

Now it’s time to finish creating the mermaid tail! Just continue the same process in the previous 2 steps to create the rest of the tail on the little finger nail. Again, you may need to cut up some pieces to make it fit.

mermaid fingernails

step 9

After you have finished creating the mermaid tail, we applied a few pieces of the purple sequins (14) to the middle finger so it looks links it together. To do this, we applied a top coat to the nail and then gently applied the purple sequins (14) to the bottom of the nail.

mermaid manicure

step 10

Next we painted the small white areas around the mermaid tail on the ring finger nail and little finger nail, using a small pointed drawing brush (12) with the nail polish in the colour Breakfast In Bed (5).

nail designs mermaid

step 11

Now it’s time to start adding the detail on the index finger nail! Firstly, we started with painting on the mermaids bikini. To do this, we used the dotting tool (13) with the nail polish in the colour Go Wild-er-ness (6).

nails mermaid

step 12

Next we painted on the necklace. To do this, we used the dotting tool (11) with the nail polish in the colour Your Majesty (7).

Make sure you leave enough room for the heart gem to be placed!

mermaid tail nails

step 13

Once the purple bikini is dry, we then went over it with the pretty purple sparkly (8) nail polish to add the final touch.

mermaid inspired nails

step 14

Next we applied a top coat across the index finger nail and gently applied the heart gem (15) on the nail to finish creating the necklace.

mermaid nail art

step 15

Now it’s time to start adding the final touches! Firstly, we outlined the mermaid tail using the dotting tool (11) with the black (9) nail polish.

mermaid nail designs

step 16

And the final thing to do to finish creating this look is apply the small pieces of glitter onto the middle finger nail, so it looks like the mermaids tail and body are joining. To do this, we applied small bits of top coat on the nail where we wanted the glitter to be, and then gently applied the purple glitter (16) on the nail.


And that’s how we created this mermaid nail look! It’s a gorgeous under the sea look for your nails!

mermaid nails

Now it’s your turn! Have you created this look? We’d love to see it – tag us on Twitter and Instagram!




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