This One is for All the Marbles!


Day 1

This is my very first attempt at water marbling, an effect created by dropping and swirling nail polish on the surface of tepid water, and plunging your finger in.

This was done at around 1 am, so it's far from perfect! :-P

Still working on getting my cuticles not to suck... any tips would be great!



I used:

Zoya Charlize as a base (3 coats gave a sufficiently opaque look) with Zoya Dakota, Zoya Goldie, and MAC Rich, Dark & Delicious for the swirls.

15 comments

  1. about f**cking time!!!!

    No idea what to do about your cuticles. How do you get rid of the nail polish that pops up everywhere else but your nail when you dip your finger in?

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    Replies
    1. put tape around your fingers :)

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  2. well gNat, you just take a q-tip soaked in nail polish remover and wipe all the excess off. It's kind of a pain, but what can ya do.

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  3. Thanks CucumPear- I'm totally going to have to try that stuff! This project is going to kill my nails! lol

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  4. also, straight up petroleum jelly or aquaphor on your cuticles right before bed does wonders. If you're really trying not to use petroleum products, then try vitamin E oil or coconut oil. Be gentle with you cuticles and only push them back after soaking them in warm water (or right after taking a shower/bath).

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  5. you're freakin' awesome - I'm completely amazed.

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  6. i love the marbling. i tried doing them on my sister's nails. it turn out great (still not as good as yours) but it took so long that it's not even funny! maybe 2 hours? i didn't give up...

    every time we put the nail polish into the water, it would dry or not spread out. we figured out that we had to go faster, and the water had to be just right. but it took so many tries to get it right! do you have any tips or a different technique?

    thank you :)

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  7. to gNat, if you are talking about right after you stick your finger in... use a toothpick to gather up the excess nail polish. if you are talking about after you take your finger out, then melizard said it :)

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  8. how do you do the marble technique?

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  9. use a wide dish or container and make sure the water isn't so hot enough to burn you, but that its warm enough to thin out the nail polish; if you're using more than one colour, make the water hotter as it will cool down relatively quickly. drip the polish over the water in drops and use a toothpick to swirl it around a bit more if it doesnt spread out quickly on its own. dip your nail underneath the polish - it will feel like a thin sheet of glueyness. then you can either a toothpick to gather the excess polish, which may fold over on itself or get messy or you can just leave it alone and use a q-tip dipped on nail polish remover to clean it up after. make sure you use both a base and top coat and thats all there is to it.

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  10. Suzanne, thanks very much!! Should have read the comments before i tried it myself... made a big mess haha!

    Am loving the Daily Nail by the way, only recently found this site, but it's brilliant ^_^ slowly making my way through the designs!!

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  11. i dont know if you have heard this, but if you scotch tape around the nail, you just peel it off after marbling. no remover needed :)

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    Replies
    1. That's what I do. Not perfect (for me at least), but still way less cleanup!

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  12. omg this is sooooo hard!!! but i think ill get it. btw LOVIN the daily nail!!

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  13. And have you noticed that it says please verify that you're not a robot? lol ;P

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Go on, comment... you know you want to. ;-P