Wednesday 26 January 2011

Water Marbling

Last night, after we ploughed our way through our homemade apple sauce, black pudding and spinach baguettes (the weirdest tea you’ve ever heard of? Perhaps. But we like it. That’s what my partner is trying to demonstrate, by the way) I decided to try water marbling my nails again.




Now, I am writing about this not because I am so egotistical I think you all give a flying flock of flamingos what I wear on my nails, but because I want to know your experiences, if there are any, of doing this.

I tried it quite a while ago, and to no avail. But I was recently inspired by this lovely lady who makes it look so easy!


So, filled to the brim with newfound confidence in my abilities and with a few of her handy tips on board I thought “Bugger it! Let’s have another go!”

The confidence, I fear, was wildly overrated.

I used room temperature bottled water (don’t die; we buy them from Costco. They’re only around 10p a bottle. It wasn’t san pellegrino.) I dropped the varnish in close to the water so it didn’t sink and I let it dry a little before plunging my finger in. I cleared up while my finger was still in, and it still isn’t pretty rubbish.

Mainly, I think, the polish doesn’t spread properly. The first few drops do, and then it’s just a beautifully coloured, gooey puddle in the water I’m supposed to be marbling.

But hey, here are the pictures! If you are good at this then advice would not be pooh-poohed!





These were the polishes I used, but in the end I only used the 4 on the right. And I can’t remember their names! So I’ll edit this or comment later with them :]





So I did my base coat, and then a coat of the OPI white (Alpine snow?) and wrapped my fingers in tape, like the lovely lady I mentioned earlier, suggested. (It was a very good way of keeping clean!)




This was them in the water. Crap :[
















(Don’t look at the bubbles and flaws!)




So there we are. Some worked out OK-ish. They looked a bit better after I cleaned them up more this morning (after my shower. I’m too lazy to get it all off with cotton buds!)

Please share any pictures or experiences :] x

PS. Check her out! mysimplelittlepleasures.blogspot.com/ because she is amazing at this!

5 comments:

  1. LOL, thanks for sharing that - made me laugh. Perhaps you just need more practice? why not ask the lady concerned?

    No tips I'm afraid, with 5 large dogs to walk each day be a total waste of time doing anything with my nails, been about 10 years since I wore any sort of varnish.

    Good Luck with your next attempt.

    Lynda x

    PS Hubby looked over my shoulder in horror at your tea!

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  2. In horror at such an odd combination, or because it's black pudding? Either way, it's actually a lot nicer than it looks :]

    Yes I suppose dogs don't really appreciate the effort you can put in to neatly done nails, do they?

    Yes I may drop her an email (and practise more!) :] xx

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  3. Those baguettes look delish........ No tips from me on the nails I'm afraid, I'm a Calgel girl - every 3 weeks without fail,fingers and toes. Love the marbling effect, I've never seen it before. Would never be brave enough to try it, I banned myself from keeping nailpolish in the house after an expensive incident involving a new bath and a bottle of Chanel Vert Sacrilege. Hx

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  4. OOhh not an easy colour to hide, either :[ (Unless you had an forest green bath set?)

    I think, even if I had three week manicures all the time (which I don't because it would bankrupt me!) I would still paint over them in the end :D

    (you could have the odd sneaky one, and just keep it away from all expensive pieces ;] I threw one all over my partner's bed. It as a beautiful colour and I got him lovely new bedding from john lewis, and he was the pissy one!)

    Kat x

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  5. Ooh - I was a bit scared to mention I had black pudding for my lunch today - seems I shouldn't have been! I think your dinner looks lush, and certainly very iron-rich!

    As for your nails, not bad for a first attempt I think! Well done you!

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