Nail Art #1- Water Marbled Nails

Water marbled nails look really cool and hard, but are actually really easy to do after you try it a few times, and don't try to do too much your first times. These pictures are from my first attempt at water marbled nails.  

So to do this, you'll need a few things. 

Vaseline, cuticle sticks or toothpicks, a small cup of water, various nail colors (I'd start with 3-4) and clear nail polish.

 

Start off by painting your nail one color. A light color is best, so the marbled effect will show up. Let it dry.

 

Cover your entire finger (excluding the nail) in Vaseline. You HAVE to do this so the nail polish doesn't get on your fingers, which is a total pain. Don't put it on your nail, or it won't stick. You can also use tape, which would be much harder.

 

Now the hard part for some people! Have your nail polishes ready to drip into the water (uncapped and easily accessible!) Start by dropping one color into a cup of water, and it should spread out into a large circle. If it doesn't, it isn't going to work! While it is spreading out, work quickly to drip another color into that circle, and keep going until it looks just like the above picture. The nail polish should spread out and make rings.

 

Working quickly so the nail polish doesn't completely dry, swirl and drag the nail polish around using a toothpick or cuticle stick. The design shown above is a safe bet that it will end up looking cool. You can't work with nail polish that is 100% dry, or it will fold up on itself and not work, but the nail polish will be dried enough that you can swirl.

 

 

I didn't include a picture of sticking your finger in the nail polish, but that is the next step. Bending your finger so that the nail is perpendicular to the floor, stick your entire finger nail at one time into the swirled nail polish. You can stick multiple nails in the cup at one time to save nail polish.   Clear the water of all extra nail polish and you're done!!!

 

This is another example of water marbling that I did with neutral colors from an old Essie spring collection.