Summer Water Marble

So, friends, I thought I'd give doing a nail art tutorial a shot. I've had a lot of people ask me 'how do you do that?'

You'll want to gather the following items

Base coat, a light polish for your base color, 2-3 polishes with which to create your water marble, top coat, tape, toothpicks or dotting tool, small cup with room temperature water, paper towels, and whatever items you use to clean up the polish around your nail. I use a small glass cup, cotton swabs, and a cheap cosmetic brush to get close to the nail bed. My favorite is the E.L.F. Professional Concealer Brush. You can get one of these brushes at Target for $1!

Apply your base coat, and then apply your color. I chose white, as it would make the colors I chose for my water marble really pop. I chose three polishes from China Glaze- That's Shore Bright, Too Yacht to Handle, and Sun of a Peach.

Apply tape surrounding your nail, to help with clean up in the end. There are lots of other methods other than tape, however this is my favorite.

When you're ready to begin, line up your polishes near your cup of room temperature water, on the paper towel. The water needs to be room temperature so the drops of water spread the way you want them to.

Alternating polishes, create your bulls-eye.

Using your toothpick or dotting tool, lightly drag the tip across the bulls-eye, creating the effect you're looking for. Quickly clean off the polish off your toothpick or dotting tool in between each drag. You'll want to keep the end sharp and gunk-free. Make sure you don't play with the polish too much...I've found that if you play around with the design too much, the colors tend to get muddy. Here, less is more!

When you've gotten a design you like, position your nail over the section you want. Dip your nail into the water, making sure to completely submerge your nail. Keeping your nail in the water, lightly blow on the remaining polish that's on top of the water. Spin your toothpick between your fingers while in the water to pick up the leftover polish. When the surface of the water is mostly clear, pull your finger out of the water.

There it is! The image is on my nail and the tape. You can see the polish swirled around the toothpick and barely any polish is left on the water.

Here's my water marble. You want to let it dry a bit before you take the tape off, to avoid any boo-boos.

See how much the tape helped? Barely any clean up left to do. Since there wasn't much of a mess, I just used my ELF brush and cleaned up.

Add your super shiny, quick dry topcoat, and you're good to go! (If you have questions about top coats and base coats, leave a comment and I'll tell you my preferences.)

Isn't this great? I just love water marbles. Each nail is different. And I think these colors go great together. It's a perfect way to end the summer.

I hope you enjoyed my first nail art tutorial! Any requests? 

Until next time,

Becks