Mermaid Effect Nails With Essence Aquatix

I tried these out a while back and then couldn’t find any of the limited edition collection since so was excited to see Essence Aqauatix Mermaid Effect Nail Stickers on the clearance shelf at Shoppers Drug Mart.  I love blue polishes and these mermaid stickers adds a nice effect you rarely see.

The stickers in the packaging do not look very special, in fact when I first saw them, I put them back thinking what does pink have to do with mermaids?  It wasn’t until I saw someone post a picture of their nails that I realized you paint over them for the effect.  Essence Aquatix stickers are around $2.99 for 12 stickers, so you can do a whole set of nails but you can pick them up on clearance for under $2 now.

You also need a blue polish to paint over the mermaid stickers.  Essence have a range of Aquatix nail polishes in mermaid colours you can use, sadly I missed out on these so had to choose from my own polishes.  I used Maybelline Color Show in Blue Blowout and Zoya Maisie effect coat to give it some sparkle.

• Start by cleaning your nails thoroughly, you want the stickers to last as long as possible.
• Choose stickers by nail size and apply close to but not at the cuticle
• The mermaid stickers are longer than most nails, so bend it over at the tip and file off the excess sticker
• Once you have applied all of the stickers, use a blue polish to paint over the sticker – I chose Maybelline Color Show Metallic in Blue Blowout.
• You will see the sticker crinkle up after a few seconds once you apply polish
• You may find some areas do not crinkle, a second coat helps even out the effect
• I applied Zoya Maisie fleck effect coat to give it some extra shiny/sparkly mermaid effect

You can remove you mermaid manicure by carefully peeling off the stickers, but some nail polish remover helps.  The stickers last about 3 days before they need to be removed.  You should wrap the tips with your blue polish as you are filing at the tip so it wears away a little easier than just polish.