Mermaid

Mermaids are fantasy creatures that are half human and half fish. They are prevalent in mythology and pop culture all over the world, the most popular modern depiction being of a beautiful woman with a fish tail. The male equivalent, a merman, are less common in media.

They are often associated with storms, shipwrecks, and drowning, however in other mythology they can be benelovent and give gifts or fall in love with humans.

Visuals[]

The visuals of the mermaid aesthetic are mostly a blue, green, purple, or pearl color scheme. Textures will be smooth, shiny and iridescent, like fish scales. The focus of the mermaid aesthetic is the tail, the shape of the fins often being closer to that of a whale than a fish. Art of mermaids may choose a specific fish to copy the tail from, like koi, or shark, or even chose another sea creature like a seal.

Fish scales
Shells
Pearls
Coral
Waves
Bubbles
Waves
Mermaids (especially their tails)

Pinterest Boards[]

–mermaidcore by °❀𝔸𝕝𝕝𝕪𝔹𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕖❀°

Fashion[]

Mermaid-themed accessories and clothing was very popular in 2016, alongside the unicorn aesthetic. This was synonymous with various brands using cool color palettes in their products. This showed up in drinks, food items, beauty products, accessories, and, of course, slime. Some examples of this style include:

Scale-patterned leggings, occasionally with a flared leg to mimic a tail
Tops made out of conch shells or to look like conch shells
Headdresses with shells, pearls, and/or crystals

Mermaid makeup was popular for festival or costume makeup, a technique using fishnet tights was developed by makeup artists that involved using the tights as a stencil to powder iridescent blue or green onto the side of the face. This would then be accentuated by glitter, sequins or pearlescent beads.

Subcategories[]

Siren[]

The siren aesthetic tends to be a darker version of the mermaid aesthetic, as sirens are more associated with the mythology that they lure sailors to drown. Visuals in this aesthetic may focus more on making the merfolk look inhuman or scary, with bigger scales, claws, shark teeth, fish eyes, or any characteristic associated with deep sea creatures, like translucent skin. The color scheme is dark blues, teals, black, and off-whites. There is overlap in the siren aesthetic with Nautical Fantasy, Dark Nautical and Selkiecore.