DIY Friday: Marble Watercolour Nails

Friday 6 June 2014

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Hello!  I hope everybody had a fantastic Friday!  Last night I decided to try my hand, for the very first time, at water marbling.  I have seen it on Instagram and had to give it a try!

You Will Need:

  • Several quality nail polishes
  • Topcoat
  • Base Coat
  • A disposable cup or bowl for water
  • Cold water
  • Toothpick
  • Vaseline/Hand cream/ lip gloss
  • Q-Tips
  • Nail polish remover
  • Quick Dry
I used:
  • Julep: Jules, Paulette, Jeanne, Freedom Top Coat
  • Essie: Bachelorette Bash
  • Butter London: Nail Foundation
  • Aveno Hand Cream
  • Orly Quick Dry

Left to right:
Essie Bachelorette Bash, Julep Jules, Julep Paulette, Julep Jeanne

Please forgive the weird orange-ness of these photos!  They were taken at night in the dining room with overhead lighting.

I used mainly pastel-ish colours with a pop of hot pink.  I recommend using colours in the same family (pink, blue, purple or red, orange, yellow, etc) or colours that contrast (think yellow and purple).  Really it is up to you, your colour preferences, and your style.  Have fun with it and be creative!  Use quality polish that isn't too watery.

Before you start with the fun stuff, apply your favourite base coat.  After it is dry take some Vaseline/lip balm/hand cream and apply it to the tips of your fingers and around your cuticle/side of your finger tips.  This will make polish removal easier later.


Add a drop from the brush of the polish to the room temp/cool water.  Don't force the polish off the brush.  Give it a moment and it will drop.  I found the first drop to spread quickly.  Inside that expanded drop add another drop of polish.  Keep going until there are about 5 layers of drops.


I finally found a use for my Julep Pilé Wand!  But a toothpick will suffice.  Swirl the colours as much or as little as you would like.  Have fun!  Make it as crazy or as simple as you would like.  I found Essie to be more watery than Julep, and that the Essie polish spread faster.


This is what my final swirled polish looked like!  The pale pink on the outside is hard to see.

There are two ways to go from here.  You can repeat this for every nail and have generally consistent nails, or you can do what I did which was to dip each nail onto of the same layer of polish creating a look that is different but consistent.  More like sisters than twins!

You will need to create a second swirl for your other hand.  Use your toothpick/wand to pick up the remaining polish, and then start again!


Attractive!  As you can see I dipped the top of each finger into the polish swirl.  Use some nail polish remover and Q-Tips to remove the extra.  I found the hand cream I used helped remove it faster.  Once you are done it will be tempting to wipe off the water.  Give it a few minutes and then spray some quick dry on there.  Keep waiting and apply your top coat, and then more quick dry.


In regular lighting!

Ta-da!  I love how unique this looks and had a blast doing it!  I will do this again :)  I love how the pale pink, blue and purple look with the hot pink!  Also, Paulette's golden shimmer is hard to pick up in a photo, but it is there, and it looks divine!


I am so happy with how this turned out!  I can't wait to give more nail art a try!  This could make a really cool accent nail.  

What do you think?  Would you give it a try?  Where would you wear it?

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