NOTD - Marble Nails



Left Hand

 Today I finally got around to trying out marble nails! I had seen someone else try it out on their blog, and I thought that it was  something I would have to have a shot at. They used four different colours, however I kept it simple for my first time and only used two.

I was aware that it used up quite a bit of polish, so I used my cheap Ulta Nail polishes which are only three dollars each. It worked really well. The colours I used were Lily White and Plum Violet. The colours worked brilliantly together!

For those of you who haven't heard of marble nails, or who haven't given it a shot, I'll tell you how I did mine.
I had a paper towel lay out on the table, with a plastic cup placed on top. The cup was filled 3/4 full of warm water. I had a plastic knife and a couple of wooden skewers handy.

This isn't a necessary step but I seriously recommend it - using common household sticky tape, tape all around your nails about 2 centimetres down your finger from the base of your nail. It it so worth it, because it makes cleaning your fingers so much easier later on. Do it and it will save you so much time and effort!

I simply began by getting one of my polishes and holding the brush out above the water until a drop of polish fell into the water. As soon as it hit the water it spread out to the edges of the cup. I then dropped a drop of the other colour polish into the middle of the cup once again, and that polish spread out too. I did this a couple more times until I had about five rings of polish. It resembled the targets used for archery (or Target's logo!).

Using the pointy end of the skewer, gently swirl it around in the polish, creating the desired pattern. Play around with the different patterns you can create, but be careful because too much swirling leads to a muddied mess!

I then dipped my finger in, trying my best to get the specific part of the pattern onto my nail, and held my finger in the water. Using the plastic knife, I dipped the handle into the cup and gathered up the rest of the polish surrounding my finger. Don't worry too much about getting all of it, but try your best. Then gently lift your finger out of the water and blow any water droplets off the nail.

Carefully peel the sticky tape off of the finger, revealing a beautifully patterned nail.

Repeat the whole process once again.

I did have a couple of dilemmas that occurred whilst doing this. The main problem was that when I dropped the polish into the water, it just stayed there in a blob. I found that the most common reason this occurred was because my water was too dirty. I just changed the water (or, if too much polish had gathered around the edges I got a new cup) and then found it to be okay.

Another problem was that the polish wouldn't spread out, even with new water. My Rimmel London 60 second polishes would not respond to the water whatsoever - I think it might have something to do with the formula. You will quickly find which polishes work and which don't.

When I went to create a pattern with the skewer, sometimes it would all just curl up into a ball and stick to the end of the skewer. This occurred when I had taken too long to get around to making the pattern. You must be relatively quick or else the polish 'sets' on the water and won't work.

I really enjoyed doing this, and whilst it took a very long time for me to do, it wasn't actually that difficult.

So, I suppose after all that talking you would like to see some more photos! Here they are!



Left hand. You can see the areas that weren't covered with tape!
The polish on the skin was removed by nail polish remover
I'm sure it's not good for my skin!

Had to include the left thumb because it's my favourite nail!



Right Hand



Right hand.



Right thumb - you can see there is a water bubble