Marble Nail Art

There are a lot of marbling nail art instructional videos on Youtube and I suggest watching a few before attempting this project. It was Colette’s video that finally made me confident enough to give it a try. Even though most nails seem to be really long I felt positive enough to do it with my short nails and still get good results. What I like about her video is that she gets right to business, providing tips all along the way. Watch it a few times.

If you are going to try the marble process I cannot stress enough the importance of being well rested and in a calm state of mind. I can only imagine how bad this experience could have been had I been in a bad mood. I also think it is important to test the waters (oh, yes I did) with the nail colors you are going to use beforehand to get a feel for how they spread and to play with the drawing process.

Here is a look at my work station. I worked standing up by the counter sink. I laid down some paper towel to catch spills and set up everything I needed on two pieces. Tools I used: Vaseline gelly, plastic mug with water, LOTS of toothpicks (sitting off towel), Q-tips, and my polishes.

For nail polish colors, I started with Revlon’s basecoat for protection. This was followed by two coats of Julep’s white Bunny (see previous Bunny post). For my actual marbling colors I chose a red (Nan), baby blue (Bess),and navy (Char), all by Julep. I was thinking nautical.

Instead of tape to protect the skin around each nail I decided to use Vasoline; mostly because I have not had much success with tape in nail art in the past (this is a personal thing). Tape is not exactly a cheap application method either. Vasoline provides a barrier and moisturizes. I applied it with a Q-tip for more accuracy and to keep from gumming up my working hand. It turned out to be a good option for me — the excess polish slid off when I wiped it with a clean Q-tip. There were only a couple spots I had to go over with nail polish remover.

I wanted to do the three finger dunk like in Colette’s video instead of the individual finger ones I have seen in most videos but I could not get my target big enough for three fingers hence the practicing I mentioned earlier. To me there is less nail polish waste and the whole process is quicker if you can do more than one at a time. But if you are really picky about the pattern layout you are best going one at a time.

Here is my final look, overall, I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt:

The whole process is a fun crafty project that requires some thought and planning ahead. It took me awhile to finally commit to trying it but I am glad I did and would probably try this one again with the same and new colors. I would not change anything in my process other than practicing with my color choices the day before; seeing how they react to water and drawing in the targets.

Have you tried this nail art technique yet? Are you planning on it?