Hi there beautiful people. Hope you guys are doing well?
We’ve got mixed weather in Cape Town today, quite chilly but the sun is shining. I probably look like an Eskimo with all my layers of clothing. Okay; I might be over exaggerating a little bit ;0)
Be warned – this is a lengthy & pic filled post.
As promised, I will be showing you guys how to do mess and fuss free water marbling. If you hate the clean-up of your fingers or the taping beforehand; stay right here as this post is definitely meant for you.
You will need the following:
· Polishes of your choice
· Old cup filled with water
· Clothing pin or a small dotting tool
· Cuticle pusher
· Paper towel
· Tweezer
· Clean up brush
· Nail Polish Remover
Start of by filling your cup with room temperature water. I always use cooled off boiled kettle water as this works a lot better than water straight from the tap. You might find that water straight from the tap might be “hard” due to the chemicals in it. This causes the nail polish to not spread well; and believe me, you don’t want that.
Drip your polish onto the water to start making your different colour circles. Remember; don’t hold the brush to high otherwise this might happen:
This is real Drama – nail polish sank straight to the bottom 😦
Not to worry though; you can continue using this water. Hold your brush about 1 – 2 cm’s away from the water and start dripping your polish into the cup.
Keep going until you are happy with the amount of circles. I generally don’t use the first outer circle as this one is quite thin and dries quickly. I always draw from the 2nd circle inwards towards the bulls-eye.
After you have completed your design, you will leave it to dry. Whatever you do; DO NOT remove your design from the water yet; it needs to dry completely.
While you design is drying; paint your nails with a base coat and let them dry. I’ve seen some people skipping the base coat and jumping straight into the colour but I wouldn’t recommend this as your colour will more than likely stain your nails.
After your nails have dried make yourself a “lekka cuppa” Milo and get an episode of your favourite series in. Your design should be dry within an hour and a half. I always check my design with my finger before I do the transplant from the cup to a piece of paper towel. The design shouldn’t stick to your finger. If it does and still feels tacky; leave it for a while longer. This is almost similar to the toothpick test in baking 🙂
Moving on; use a tweezer and a dotting tool to remove your design from the cup. Carefully place the “tools” on the opposite sides of the design. I always use my tweezer and dotting tool to prevent the design from shrivelling up. Once the design has been lifted out; place it on a piece of paper towel to soak up the water droplets on the design. Start cutting your design into pieces as shown below:
Your nails need to be tacky when putting/sticking the design on. Your nails must not be wet – as this will ruin the design completely. Start painting your nails with your primary colour. I normally use white as my primary colour as this makes any colour pop!
Gently press your new marble decal onto your tacky nail and make sure you get out all the air bubbles. Use your Cuticle pusher to shape your decal. Cut the excess decal away from the edge of your nail. File the rest of the excess away – only file downwards. You will ruin your decal if you file from side to side and up. Filing down will cause the excess to come off. Use a clean-up brush with nail polish remover to clean up around your cuticles.
ll that’s left for you to do – seal your amazing water marble manicure with a top coat.
Hope you guys enjoyed the tips and tricks 🙂
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Have you guys tried this method and does it work for you or do you prefer the messy version?
Xxx
LZ
The Polish Diaries
This is amazing! I never thought about letting the water marble dry and making decals. But I so need to try that now. Awesome tip, thank you for sharing!
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Thank you 🙂 I’m so happy that you liked the post and took the time to read it, I know it was long. Let me know how it goes x
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I don’t mind long posts. I think it’s actually very helpful that you took the time to explain everything so well. If I finally master the art of water marbling (= your way), I’ll let you know. 🙂
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Thanks hun 🙂 Good luck 🙂 Can’t wait for your update
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Great tutorial & I love how it turned out! I tried dry marble decals for the first time this weekend… What a disaster that was! Clean up is a nightmare! I’ll try again with your instructions & see how it goes.
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You definitely have to give it another go! Keep me posted 🙂 Would love to hear how it went. I prefer this method. Less mess and fuss for me 🙂
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Sure sounds easier! I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for this!
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