The Fishery - Hermit Werds - matte black nail art with a golden koi fish and glossy stamping
The Fishery

The Fishery

Today we’re journeying to the past and a fishy mani that I painted clear back in 2019. What a wonderful year (compared to this year). 😜

It kind of blows my mind that people can spend several thousand dollars to purchase one koi fish, but yes, they do. I think I shall stick to painting them on my nails or drawing them because that’s a pretty expensive fish to forget to feed…

Have I ever mentioned how glad I am that my cat has legs and will walk up to me and remind me to feed her? So convenient.

… *cough*

The Fishery - Hermit Werds - matte black nail art with a golden koi fish and glossy stamping
The Fishery

Nail art products used

Anyway, UberChic’s stamping plate had a single stamp of a fish and then a big image of that same fish mixed into a cool pattern. This design was my answer as to how to combine the two and a perfect fit for @liganailista’s Fish (or Peces) prompt.

Base Polish:
Reusable black gel base
Stamping Polishes:
clear polish, Essie’s “No Place Like Chrome”
Advanced Stamping Polishes:
KleanColor’s “Metallic Mango”, “Metallic Orange”, and “Metallic Yellow”
Stamping Plate:
UberChic The Far East-01

Note: clear polish is not the same thing as a fast drying top coat. Why does it feel like my needed tools list for nail art just keeps increasing? How many bottles of clear stuff with special properties do I need? 10-ish?

Before multichrome became so common, one could always fill in a decal with a gradient, as I did here with the main koi stamping decal.

The Fishery - Hermit Werds - matte black nail art with a golden koi fish and glossy stamping
The Fishery

Matte + Glossy = ❤

I love combining matte and glossy. It can look so sophisticated. If you haven’t tried it yet, I urge you to experiment. You don’t have to stamp with it either. You can just throw a matte top coat on your nails and then paint on a little bit of glossy on a few bits that you want to stick out. It’s possible to go from glossy to matte, but matte top coats tend to dry fast and get gummy so I’d stick to small areas or masking off things (or stamping, heh).

The Fishery - Hermit Werds - matte black nail art with a golden koi fish and glossy stamping
The Fishery

Dang I let my nails get ridiculously long last year. I already filed my nails down a bit today because they were getting annoying. How did I survive this? I’m sure the reality was that my cindy hand nails were much shorter, whereas right now they are the same length.

Have fun with your nails (or whatever hobby your are into), friends, and I’ll see you next time. 🙋‍♀️

Share it if you love it!

2 Comments Posted

  1. Oh how we remember 2019 fondly!

    This is a great manicure, really like it. Hmmm cats, yes interesting fellows aren’t they. I have 3 <3 <3 <3

    My ex used to keep fish and he always told me they were very theraputic. Though with cats, I think it would be unfair to keep fish.

    • Thanks! Yes. In retrospect there were things about 2019 that were superior to 2020. Can’t quite put my finger on it… 😆

      Yeah, I had a beta and it died when my cat knocked its home over. If you can find a setup where the cats can’t get to the fish, though, they’d probably enjoy each other’s company b/c they’d be something to watch for both sides. 🐟🐈💕

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