Day 4: Teal - Betta Fish!

 Today's challenge was either green or teal, and I decided to go for super-duper tealsplosion. This is my first attempt at a freehand scale pattern and it turned out...okay. But the itty bitty betta fish were fun! They're modeled after a butterfly betta fish I had about eight years ago.

 I started with one coat of Sinful Colors Opening Night, a dark teal shimmer. I then used the bottle brushes to create gradients on my thumb, index, and pinky fingers using Barielle A Bouquet For Ava (Mid-teal) and Sinful Colors Sweet Nothing (Light teal). To blend everything a little and add more pizazz, I used Icing Mermaid's Tail over the gradient, then added a few patches of Nicole by OPI Diva Into the Pool.

 Using a small brush, I painted on the scale pattern with Sinful Colors What's Your Name, which is a black-based jelly with teal-green shimmer. I highlighted the edges of each scale with more Diva Into the Pool, then colored a few more scales with the shimmery Nicole by OPI It's All About the Glam. It's hard to see in some of the pictures, but each scaly nail also has a few scales covered in small cellophane hex glitter that are mostly translucent but shine extra bright when the light hits them.

For the fishy nails, I roughed out the fish bodies with more What's Your Name, then used Sweet Nothing to add the fins and scales. The white sections were done with China Glaze White on White. I then colored in the negative area around each fish with more Sweet Nothing before adding rows of the tiny cellophane glitter.

 Colors Used:

Sinful Colors Opening Night

Barielle A Bouquet For Ava 

Sinful Colors Sweet Nothing

Nicole by OPI Diva Into the Pool

Sinful Colors What's Your Name

Nicole by OPI It's All About the Glam

China Glaze White on White