Baby Mermaid Monday - Tropical

Hi everyone! Got some very temperature appropriate nails for how hot it's been this week, I hope the weather will last for my days off next week!

This weekend I had a go at some nail art for #BabyMermaidMonday, which is an Instagram hashtag with a monthly theme (always mermaid related of course). Todays theme was pink, orange and yellow, so a very tropical feel. The main colours had to be pink, orange and yellow, but small amounts of other shades (e.g. gold and black like I've used are allowed for detail/outlines).

For the mermaid scales and the fiery mermaid on my thumb nails I used the Bundle Monster twi_star plate, and for the leaf gradient stamping I used Mo You Londons Tropical Plate 10. For the palm tree I created a decal myself on my Uber Mat, using a nail art pen for the outline and filling it with black polish using a dotting tool. I think I should have gone for a slimmer or gold palm tree as the black is a bit overpowering.

For the mermaid on my thumb nails I used the advanced stamping technique (you can see how here). I started with a little bit of ILNP's shimmery topcoat, The Magician. It's not all that clear in the pictures but it worked surprisingly well over these colours and gave the mermaid a warm subtle shimmer. Unfortunately the mermaids hair got a little smooshed as I was in a rush! I did like this nail art though as the gradient went better than usual and I'm enjoying having bright summery colours again!
Colours used: Alpine Snow - OPI, Black Knight - Mo You London, Nail Ar Pen in Black - Barry M Sunshine - Rimmel, W18 - Color Cosmetic, Seymour Walk - Nails Inc, Uptown Glamour - Nails Inc, The Magician - ILNP