Lovelyish

I never really tried water marble nails. 

in my mind its not pretty but your picture is really pretty! 

I’ve always wanted to try this but it’s looked like one of those things that seem a lot easier to do, and then you try them, and fail badly. Maybe it takes practice/certain types of polish?

I’ve never actually tried this, but where I was reading about how to do it, they mentioned warm or room-temperature water. So maybe try warmer water? Maybe also try a smaller glass?

I really want to try it out too – later tonight I’ll watch that tutorial

I’ve done it a bunch of times with mixed results.  There are certain brands that work better than others for marbling.  So far, I’ve noticed OPI and Sally Hansen marble well while Hard Candy and Rimmel are hit-and-miss.  I also use a toothpick instead of a pencil since it’s thinner.  Make sure you don’t let the polish dry on the surface of the water either, it makes it harder to marble.

Here‘s one of my attempts.

o_o what kind of nail polish are you using? LOL

My friend has done this before. Her’s looked pretty cool! I still have to try it out.

I’ve done this before
You have to be super careful when you put your finger in – do it kinda quick and straight down so you don;t get more than one layer of nail polish. Also remove the excess nail polish by using a q-tip and swirling around the top of the water before you bring your finger back out. Use clean water every time.

Hello!! In order to do this, fill a cup to the top with cold water.

For this, the nail polishes I prefer are surprisingly the cheaper ones. I bought a bunch of bottles from Walmart (the $0.99) and they worked better than any brand I’ve ever tried!

Also, if you cannot keep the nail polish from dropping straight down into the cup, put in a little bit of acetone, just a few drops.

After forming your pattern, bend your finger into a backwards C and dip it down so that the NAIL is the first thing to touch the water.

Lift STRAIGHT up. Try not to tilt your finger too much.

Then, tap your finger on a hard surface for a few seconds. This will get rid of excess water droplets.

I don’t really bother with the tape because it is kind of awkward. Usually I don’t get much on the rest of my finger but if I do, a q-tip dipped in acetone should be sufficient to clean it up!

Make sure you get the leftover nail polish and film that develops after you dip a nail.

This takes some practice but you can do it!!

And now I totally want to do this.

Nail polish eats plastic??  What’s it doing to my nails???

Don’t worry…I’ve had many DIY fails with water marble nails >:O

Don’t use styrofoam either. I, unfortunately, made that mistake and had water everywhere!

It’s really a matter of practice. I failed so many times until I finally got it right and now it’s kinda fun. Time consuming, but fun. When I dip my nail in, I put my finger in nail-side down. Some people try to get their finger underneath the polish by dunking their nail in the water around the sides of the cup but that fails 80% of the time. Once your nail is in, clear the surface of the water as much as you can, then slowly pull it out.
Instead of wrapping your nail in tape, you can also put lotion around your nails and covering the skin. I find it a lot easier and less messier.

My friend did this, I really want to do it myself._.

i’ve never done it but i read the comments on a youtube tutorial on how to do this.. only certain types of nail polish works.. u have to figure out which ones spreads easily and doesnt sink

I’ve done this a couple of times, having some successes and some big fails. OPI is amazing for this. I also had that problem of the cup being eaten away by the nail polish, so just remember to not throw away/recycle one of your moisturizer jars once you finish it

@nanashitenshi@xanga - China Glaze and OPI for Sephora are also kind of a big miss for this.

I love water marbling. ^.^

I actually JUST finished doing this on my nails and practice definitely helps. I’ve done it about 10 times now and it still takes me FOREVER to get it how I want. Thinner or newer polishes really help because thicker polishes don’t really drip well and you have to be quick when making the rings.

I don’t do it often because I feel like it’s a waste of nail polish, but I have done it a few times. My process is pretty much everything you followed. A toothpick really is the best way to get the marble look and you have to FAST. That’s the ultimate key. You don’t want the colors to clump up in the cup. Room temperature water is KEY. And NEW nail polish is also really important if you don’t want it to drop down to the bottom. You want to drop your finger into the design slowly so that no air bubbles or clumps go inside; leave your finger in there for 5-10 seconds to let it settle; while you do that, you want to take out the excess nail polish surrounding your finger, then bring it out slowly.

And this is just a personal thing for me, but I find using tape to be a waste, so I lotion up whatever may hit the nail polish instead. When you’re done, you just wipe it off with a paper towel.

Hope my tips are some sort of help.

Uh, you didn’t use a TOOTHPICK?

@pick_my_friggin_nose@xanga - I’ve never heard of using lotion before. Doesn’t it turn messy in the water and get into the polish?

Woah I never heard of this technique. I thought you just threw the polish on your finger and used a toothpick or something…?

i dont like wearing polish

your nails look awesome!

http://youtu.be/MH1PdSs-dQk

^ AndreasChoice (beauty guru on YouTube) posted a video a little while ago about this….hopefully this helps!

@deemure@xanga - vaseline is better. I agree that the lotion can dissolve into water, possibly creating a bigger mess!

@Cinderella_Syndrome@xanga - I saw it on a youtube video a couple years back.. Instead of the girl using tape to cover the skin that could possibly touch the nail polish, she used lotion. Thing is, you don’t want to rub it into your skin. You want to place the lotion ON your skin and when you’re done, you just wipe it off.It doesn’t get messy, but it can be just as time consuming as tape. No shortcuts, just a different method

i would say dip FAKE NAILS in it,then let them dry and apply. or do it in a shallow dish, not a cup.

Hey Lovelyish! Thanks for the add/sub I’m definitely going to give these marble nails a go!
Keep up the good work, this blog is awesome
x

looks really good im going to try this.

i’ve done this before and never had such problems.   probably just takes practice

i think that looks sort of trashy, sorry. maybe it’d look better with navy blue and black, but those nails look like a porn star’s.

I’ve never heard of this but it sounds way complicated for someone who hasn’t painted her nails in years.

1) #5 sounds dumb
2) less water, like a ceramic dish, with very little water. Think peterpan, when Robin goes to the forest and they have this yummy looking paint food that they throw at each other.
3) it sounds cool, so I would say, onto attempt #2 with paper towels under your setup.

I know this is a kind of old post, but since no one mentioned something that’s very important, I thought I would: you cannot use tap water. It has to be distilled because any other water has too many chemicals/minerals in it. Also, not all polish will work (obviously). You just have to test it and see. When you’re dropping the polish in, get very close to the water because if you drop it from too high up it will just clump and sink. Obviously don’t use plastic or styrofoam (as other people mentioned). Also, someone else mentioned this but it’s worth emphasizing, dip your nails in at an angle so that they are the first thing to touch the water, and pull them out at the same angle you put them in, otherwise you will end up with globs of polish. Good luck with your next attempt!

@Cinderella_Syndrome@xanga - nope. it’ll make your finger greasy and the nail polish won’t stick to it. just make sure when you put it on you DON’T get any on your nail or you won’t get a design on that part of the nail. you can also use an old chapstick that you don’t use anymore.