Easy DIY Mermaid Effect!

I saw this one instructable with the mermaid scales on the leg, and I thought, Hey why not do that? That seems cool. So I checked it out. And saw that I had none of the materials. So. I decided to make my own way. Here it is. Materials:

~Cotton balls

~Nail polish

~Pen

~Toothpicks

~Q-tips

~ Nail polish peel-off basecoat

That's it!

And some things you should know about the scales:

~ Don't scratch them, they will rip

~ Be gentle with them

~ Always apply the basecoat when told or it will be tough to get off :/

~ If you don't have a peel-off basecoat, maybe you could use liquid Elmer's glue? Peel off basecoat is probably safer though, so try to use that. Or you could use liquid latex.

To make the hole in your hand, first, stretch out the cotton balls and lay them out how you want the hole to be. Then paint over it with basecoat. It's easier to shape it now.Let it dry for a bit, then use a shiny nail polish to paint where the scales will go. Make it sort of thick so that it won't rip as much when you take it off. Next, use some pink nail polish to put around the outside of the cotton. Next, use some skin tone nail polish to paint around it. To make it blend with your skin, rub it one way and use a polish that's very close to your actual skin color.

Paint where the scales will go the color you want the scales to be. Then peel it off gently and add the shiny nail polish on top of it. Let it dry for a while. If you think the base isn't thick enough to write on, paint more of the shiny polish or a clear nail polish if you don't want the color to change. Let dry.

Once the paint is dry, use a black pen to draw the scales on. Next, use a darker color than your base color to add some detail to the scales and paint a tiny bit around the edges. Touch up any pink that got messed up. Let dry. You're done!

Instructions in order of pictures:

1. Map out where you want to place it, get a central idea of the area.

2. Paint the peel-off basecoat around that area.

3. Paint around more, make the area bigger so that when you do the skin tone paint it will peel off.

4. Place the mermaid effect on the basecoat.

5. Let dry.

6. Do the skin tone, and done!

To remove it, just peel it off and use nail polish remover to take off any skin tone nail polish.