I didn't do any do-overs because I wanted you to see how they looked at a first attempt, so you could see what I did wrong (or right). That way, it might be easier for you to do it your first time.
I really wanted to do a red white and blue one for queensday, but my blues did NOT work with this little trick, so I decided to do a dark green and bright lemon, which didn't work either. *sigh*. So finally I went for 3 colours by Essence that did work. Might be a bit Christmassy(thats a word!), but get over it ;)
Okay, so this is going to be a LONG post, but the pics explain it a lot better, trust me :)
What do you need:
- a basecoat
- 2 colours of your choosing(later on you could try more)
- a plastic cup with water
- tape(preferably on a dispenser)
- wooden sticks, you know the ones you use to make sate with, or use on the bbq(see pic off the cleanup)
- scissors
I choose the light colour for a base, because its very neutral and if it would seep through, no harm was done.
The other ones I choose because these were the ones that worked, hahaha. So if you want to try this for a first time, you should try this brand. They are cheap and usefull.
After applying the basecoat, it's time to tape your finger. One piece of tape below your nail(across your finger), and one piece of tape that goes along the side, along the back(underneath your nail) of the nail, and along the other side. This is needed, because otherwise your fingers would get really sticky with all the polish. Mine did anyway, because I put my fingers in too deep. I can recommend taping your entire hand before dipping, because tape can get stuck to your nails/polish and it would ruin your marble art.
Then you drop a little polish into the water, just ONE drop.(yeah unfortunately this colour didn't work) And you do this colour after colour(drop the colours inside eachother!), until you get this:
(You get the best result with at least 4 drops of each colour, but that doesn't always work) Then you take the wooden stick and you stick it in the middle and pull it towards the side. You do this as many times as you want. You can then do it the otherway around: pull the sides towards the middle. Like they do with coffee with foam on top, coffee-art? A very simple version is this (I would try more pulls, because the effect is way better):
Then you find a piece of the artwork you like and put your nail exactly there and STAY in the water with your nail. You take the stick again and now twirl this around your finger to take away all the excess polish. (Otherwise It will stick to your nail when you take it out). When everything is gone, you can take out your finger.
Your nail will look something like this:
To remove the tape, you cut it underneath your nail, where it goes around your finger, which will stick out a bit. The polish will dry very quickly and then you can remove any excess polish.
I haven't found a way to get rid of the waterdrops yet, but maybe it was just because I dind't really take my time to do this.
And this is what I had to clean up:
As you can see on my nails, you have to tape them next to your nails, otherwise you can see your basecoat on the side. Also, my nails didn NOT like a topcoat, so beware before you use one, I ruined my pinky with it.
Every nail will look unique, and some will have intenser colours. It gets easier when you go through your nails, that's why my right hand looks better than my left, haha.
My nails after this first attempt:
Left hand
Right hand
I like the right hand, and now I know what to do and what NOT to do. So I can post some better marble nail art soon. But I really have to make time to do this, and most of the time I'm hasty when I do my nails :)
Hopefully, I explained it right, if you have any questions just ask :)
How do you like the effect, and would you try this out yourself?
---
Coming up:
Queensday EOTD and Queensday NOTD, tomorrow and the day after!