Aquarium Nails Are the Most Over-the-Top Beauty Trend of the Year

shiny mermaid nails — (Image credit: Instagram)

When Korean nail maven Unistella gifted the world her mosaic-style glass nails,we breathed a collective sigh of relief that the internet could now forget they ever tried to make bubble nails happen. (If only the art-deco designs weren't so hard to recreate at home, right?) But as movements go, there's a new infectious (and impractical) manicure trend that's sweeping Instagram: exquisite aquarium nails that allow land-dwellers to deck themselves out like mermaids.

First, salon artists set the nails by injecting baby oil and glitter between a double-paned acrylic nail. Then, the nails usually get bedazzled with rhinestones and even more glitter (because go glam, or go home).

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The result is a floating "aquarium" that swirls like a snow globe as you wiggle your fingers. And thankfully, designs don't involve actual dead fish. Behold some of the most extravagant aquarium nail designs, below: