Ocean View- Tropical, Ocean Design

Hello everyone! If you have checked out my last few blog postings, I have stated that I recently just got back from a Caribbean cruise. I have been pondering a way that I could share the beauty and amazement of the Caribbean Sea with all of you, and of course what better way than having an ocean/ sea themed nail design!

If you have ever been on a tropical vacation to the Caribbean, Bahamas, Hawaii, etc. You know how beautiful the ocean is, from the different shades of blues and greens and just how clear the water is. 

Here is a photo of the Caribbean sea that I took while on the trip to Cozumel, Mexico. 

Also I thought I would show the final design at the top of the post, that way you don't have to scroll to the bottom to see the final design.

Here are the polishes that were used for this ocean view nail design: 
There are no nail tools required for this design.

Top coat and base coat- Revlon Extra Life No Chip top coat, Nicole OPI-  3in1- base, top, & strengthener.

Polishes- (starting with bottom row) Light copper/ light gold nail polish, Sinful Color- Gorgeous, Sinful Color- Midnight blue, NYC- Water street blue, NYC- Cashmere Creme, and Del Sol- Starry Night.
Optional polishes, for index and pinky nail (at the top)-  Zoya- Charla, Sally Hansen- Color Foil- Cobalt chrome, and Color Club-  Mini- Silver Glitter.

The Skill level for this ocean nail design is: 

Beginner to Intermediate

For this ocean view nail design it could be a little tricky to get all the colors to blend, but for the most part this design is simple. 

1. Start off with a base coat (I am now giving the Nicole OPI- 3 in1 a try.) If you choose to use a foil/ chrome polish, do not put a base coat on the pinky nail, this polish becomes streaky if you do use a base coat with that kind of polish.

2. For an optional look you can paint your index finger with a blue polish with green glitter in it (I used Zoya's Charla), and your pinky nail with a blue foil/ chrome polish and a silver glitter polish over that.

3. Next we will paint the sand part of the ocean. Paint one coat of a light copper/ light gold polish. Right now I know the sand color looks light, but we will be adding more coats to this later. 

4. For the Ocean nail design I will just be showing it on one nail. Due to fact that you kind of need to work fast on this nail design to make sure the colors blend together. For each color that we will be adding there is no need to let each color dry, it is best to work with the colors when they are still wet. For the first color of the water we will be painting a blueish green, almost all the way up the nail. When you paint this it does not need to be even, it actually looks better if it is not (as shown in the photo above.)

5. For the next part of the ocean we will create the dark part or the deepest part of the ocean. Take your dark blue polish and paint it up the nail just a little, this will cover part of the greenish blue part but that is okay. 

6. Next we will be sponging on light blue in the middle of the greenish blue polish and the dark blue polish. 

Take your makeup sponge that is cut into a small piece, paint the light blue polish on the sponge, and dab the sponge lightly between the greenish blue and dark blue part. 

Remember to paint each part when it is still kind of wet to get the colors to blend.    

 

7. Then for the shore line of the ocean, take your very light blue (it almost looks white) and with the flat part of the brush and dab all the way around the nail. Then, if needed, take your blueish green polish and blend the light blues together. Also you can take your dark blue polish and blend the light blue polish together. 

After your ocean water looks good, take your light cooper/light gold and add another coat for the sand. Then add a gold glitter to the sand to give a sparkle. 
The trick to this design is just to try to get the colors to blend, it doesn't need to look perfect. For each color that you add if needed you can keep adding the color above or under it to try and blend the colors, just try not to make the polish too thick. 

Once your beautiful ocean design has dried apply a top coat. 

For this look you can always paint all of your nails with the ocean design, or do something like I did with some accent nails. Also with nail designs I get my inspiration from the internet, and I want to give credit for this inspiration to blogen beaute. But of course when I do find inspiration I always try to make it my own, and use that as a base for my design. With any nail design you really can reinvent the wheel, most designs have been done over and over and just made different to make them their own. 

Hope everyone enjoyed this beautiful ocean design, and I am glad that in some way I was able to share the ocean/ sea with all of you through nail art. 
  

See you next time for my next design tutorial!