Marvelous Marbles

Holy Guacamole! (I don't doubt that was dorky, leave me alone) I'm going to have a brother in two days! Well, technically I already do but he's going to be born in two days! Crazy thought. I can't wait, it's so exciting but it never seems real until I'm actually seeing the adorable little baby. Everything before seems more like a distant reality to me. I'm going to try and schedule posts so you don't think I've gone MIA or anything but unfortunately I don't have any photographed tutorials or posts at the moment :( . I'll try to do some but I can't promise anything. I would say please don't be sad if you don't hear from me for a while but then I'd be lying. I hope you guys miss me! So, here's my last post I have scheduled, and it's pretty exciting. MY FIRST WATER MARBLE! Yayyyyyyyyy! Whenever I see water marbles I kind of just have to stare in awe for a moment. They're so pretty! Usually. In my mind they seem really difficult and sort of impossible but I am here to tell you, they are absolutely not. Oh my goodness, they were so much easier to do then I thought! If you're scared about doing one or you have no nail art/intermediate nail design knowledge thus far, you can still do this! I don't have a real tutorial for you guys because there are so many out there probably much better than I could make but I'd be happy to walk you through the general steps. Here's a great youtube water marbeling tutorial. Really all of her videos are wonderful though so check em' out.

 

all pictures taken by myself

Read after the jump for the full tutorial and tips!

Okay, so the hardest part, I think, is creating your design; keep that in mind. Also, cleanup is a bish (excuse my language) if you don't use tape. Believe me from experience.

1. Make sure you have a plastic or paper cup (one you don't need to use again), an orangestick (there's many alternatives, just search it on google), a paper towel, tape, acetone, q-tips or brush, polish, and duh (I seriously almost forgot this), water!
2. Paint your base coat and base color, let dry.
* You can apply tape around each nail now or before step 2 *
3. Fill your cup with lukewarm water.
4. Open your bottles of polish so you can easily access them.
5. Drop one drop of polish in wait just a second for it to spread (I get my next polish ready while the other one's spreading) then drop in your next color. I found that if you hold the brush too high above the water the drop with just sink to the bottom so hold it fairly close. Remember you want to work fast.
6. Keep creating  your bulls eye until you have your desired amount of layer. I've seen people do like millions of layers but I did only a few. It depends how "complex" you want your design to look.
7. To me, this was the hardest part; creating your design. Get your desired tool (I used an orangestick) and drag it very lightly from one end of your design to either the other end or just the middle. There's really so many different designs that you could make. I just made random little pull :) .
8. *This depends on your preference: dip in one to three fingers depending on your cup width. Hmm, that sounds strange.* At an angle (watch the video! It really helps) place your finger into the water all at once. KEEP IT UNDER while you get your orangestick and swirl it around the top of the water to remove the excess polish. If you take your finger out before you do this it will most likely smudge your design or the excess polish will cling to you marble design.
9. Repeat steps 5-8 until all of your nails are finido! Wait a few minutes and top with a topcoat I used SV. I actually applied a sheer glitter topcoat after (then another coat of SV) but that's totally optional.
10. Yay gorg nails! Enjoy!

I hope this helped you! If you still don't understand something try watching a video tutorial. If you still have questions ask me in the comment or email, I just may be able to help you.

Colors Used: (basecoat to topcoat) Nicole by OPI - Basecoat Plus 1 coat, OPI - Suzi and the Lifeguard 3 coats for full opacity, OPI - Happy Anniversary and Essie - Merino Cool for the marble design, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Strobe Light 1 thin coat, OPI - Top Coat (my SV's running low!) 2 thick coats, OPI - Drip Dry 2 drops each nail.

I hope you guys enjoyed this semi-tutorial! Please send me your water marbles, I'd love to see them!
Have a lovely week my lovelies :)!

- xoxo Alexis Leigh