Jaws Nail Art

When I was a little girl, my father took me to a Jaws marathon. It made me:

• Psychologically scarred for life
• Convinced that tiny sharks hide in bathtub drains, waiting to swarm out and kill anyone who’s foolish enough to remain in the tub after pulling the plug
• Obsessed with all things horror

So, it’s only fitting that Jaws is the inspiration for my first horror-themed manicure!

Jaws Nail Art: General Info

• The shark decals are by Moon Sugar Decals
• The dripping blood  on my middle and pinky fingers are (fucking awesome!) nail vinyls by whatsupnails.com
• The white base polish is Snow Me White by Sinful Colors

Jaws Manicure: Finger-by-Finger Breakdown

Yay! This will be fun! I love breaking fingers (and legs, toes, noses, the spirits of my enemies–the list goes on and on).

Thumb: 

I painted the water by hand with a variety of blue polishes, including a few jelly polishes. The jellies give the water a look of depth — in person, the ocean almost seems 3D.

I added the adorable touches of gore with red Konad stamping polish, using MoYou London’s Blood, Glorious Blood Everywhere! I Looooove Me Some Blood Collection Artist Collection plate 23:

Seriously, if anyone is buying this stamping plate for images of paint spatter instead of blood splatter, YOU ARE NAIL ARTING AND PROBABLY DOING EVERYTHING ELSE IN LIFE ALL WRONG.

Okay, I obviously I have very intense opinions about MoYou’s misnamed stamping plate, but let’s get back on track.

Index finger:

This gradient was made with an electric blue holographic polish from Orly that I’ve had for years (and that has no name on the bottle), and  Bottle of Infinite Stars, a sumptuous dark blue jelly by Femme Fatale Cosmetics.

Middle finger:

I used Rapid Red by Sally Hansen and Clambake by Essie for the dripping blood vinyls. I love the oozing quality of the blood on my middle and pinky fingers.

That’s what’s great about nail vinyls: if you use thick polish or layers of polish, they can bring texture and even a three dimensional feel to nail art designs.

For the hint of water, I used a makeup sponge to dab on a few layers of Cinderella by Sinful Colors (a very light, sparkly blue jelly).

Ring finger:

For my ring finger, I did a play on the classic french tip design.

I used a kitchen sponge to make an intentionally rough gradient, hoping to capture the look of churning water. Normally, I use makeup sponges for gradients, but they apply polish too smoothly for what I wanted to achieve here.

From lightest to darkest in this gradient, I used:

• Cinderella by Sinful Colors
• Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Blue Away
• Blue Velvet Marc Jacobs (which works wonderfully as a stamping polish, FYI)

Pinky Finger:

I wish I knew the name of this blue holo polish by Orly, because it is so dang pretty and sparkly and sparkly and did I mention sparkly? Spaaaaaarrrrkly. Let’s pretend it’s made from the blood of really fabulous smurfs.