Thursday, January 28, 2010

Water Marbling: Attempt #1

I've been seeing more and more water marbling manis show up, and they are SO awesome! You could use the ugliest colors from your stash if you wanted and it would still look pretty. So I had some spare time today, and after watching like 14 different tutorials on You Tube, I tried it out. It actually doesn't take that long, and it's SO much fun! I used China Glaze Grape Pop and Flyin' High and Sinful Soul Mate. Just did my left hand because I was afraid of taking on the huge challenge with my right! So here's what I learned:

1: Scotch tape around the cuticles works really well, but left little sticky bits on my skin when I peeled it off. I'm going to try something else next time, either oil, petroleum jelly or painters tape.

2: The first drop of color in the cup really isn't going to show up. It spreads all around the cup, loses it's opacity (check the green on my ring finger, it's kinda sheer), and if you try and swirl around the outside of it you break up the design. This makes it so you get a gap between swirls on your nail. I remedied this by putting in a drop or two of clear polish first.

3: If you put your nail flat into the cup and then pull it out flat, water droplets stick to the nail and leave a mark on the swirls (really obvious on my index finger and tip of my thumb). I got some advice on MUA to try dipping at a 45 degree angle, I'm going to try that next time.


Have you tried water marbling? Do you have any advice for me? I really like doing this but those little water bubble marks are driving me nuts!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks great for your first attempt! I've never done it but have seen other peoples and they look great, so I really wanna try this. Thanks for the tips!

Paige said...

Great job, that looks awesome!

Lucy said...

I really like this, especially the middle finger, remindsmeof Pucci!

Colette said...

I usually dip my nail flat but pull it out straight ... also tap it off on a paper towel. I still get bubbles occasionally but they're not usually too bad.

Bubbles can also show up in the polish in the cup sometimes, from the swirling ... you can break them by basically just poking at them.

nihrida said...

You did a great job. Especially snce it was your first time doing it. Well done!

Unknown said...

Job well done!
I love marbling!

laquermanic said...

That is reaaly beautiful. I have tried it several times, and for me it works really well using a really oily cream around cuticles before you dip the fingers. Also, 45 degree angle works best. Isn't it fun??! :D

Single in Cincinnati said...

what did you search on YouTube for the tutorials? Any video you can recommend is better than others??

Anonymous said...

omg this is so hard! it keeps drying or something. or it sticks to my toothpick or when I put my finger in the water it comes out all gross. what am I doing wrong?

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