Today I wanted to show you my water marbled nails! Water marbling is one of those techniques that seems to frustrate so many people a) because it takes so long to do and b) because you never know if it's turned out OK until after you've spent half an hour taping up your fingers and dropping polish in a cup.
I've tried water marbling twice before and both times it was very hit and miss. I might get 1 nail that looked OK but the rest were varying degrees of fail! Also I struggled so much with finding suitable polishes that would spread in the water and polishes that wouldn't dry quickly on the water surface. All in all it was a very annoying, long process. I haven't tried water marbling in about a year and a half and have no idea why I was suddenly inspired to give it another go.
In all my previous attempts I used a small teacup and filled it with room temperature tap water as I'd read that cold water made the polish dry faster. However, I still found the polish didn't spread very far so this time I used an eggcup and room temperature tap water. Then I used NEW nail polish - the Nails Inc Picnic Perfect Collection (swatches here and here) in Ebury Square Gardens and Leonard Street for the water marbling Also these polishes had thin formulas so I thought they might be good for water marbling as gloopy polishes don't spread well. I used the polishes in my dupes post as bases except on my thumb where I used Barry M White.
Pictures are shown with Seche Vite top coat. Where the pink polish went over the blue base it's gone a lovely lilac colour! I also added some dots with a dotting tool and Leonard Street for all my nails except my thumb where I used Barry M Prickly Pear. I was so happy because I didn't have to re-do any of the nails and I think using an eggcup definitely helped because the polish spread much more easily and it didn't dry as quickly as there was less space for it to spread out.
Has anyone else tried using an eggcup for water marbling? Or does anyone have any other tips for successful water marbling? Let me know in the comments and I'll be back soon with some more nail-related stuff!
I've never tried water marble before - they seem so hard to get right! Yours have turned out perfect though! These look just like flowers and the dots are a nice touch! I love the colour combination too! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I wasn't sure whether to add the dots or not. You should definitely give it a go - when they turn out right they look so good! :D
DeleteThey have turned out lovely. I have never been able to do a successful water marble, haven't tried in so long as I just gave up so well done you! I'll have to try the egg cup :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you Caroline! :) I hadn't tried water marbling in a long time either but you should definitely try using an eggcup and let me know how it goes! :)
DeleteThey are fab!! I wish i could do water marbling like that it is one of the things that I just cant do no matter how much I try :( Love your design and the colours are stunning x
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! It is a very frustrating process - so much trial and error involved! But just keep trying and eventually you'll find a way that works for you! :)
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