Water Marbling: A Tutorial + New Nail Shape

Today I am going to be giving a tutorial on something that has taken me two years to figure out. The technique is called "water marbling", and it's a giant pain in the ass. It involves swirling together polishes in a cup of water before dipping your finger into the pattern to transfer the design onto your nail. 

Why put so much effort into something that will last maybe a week? Because the effect is truly beautiful, if executed successfully. 

I have read lots of water marble tutorials. I have also attempted this type of nail art several times. Just this past month, I have had 3 very successful water marbling sessions. This has lead me to believe I am now qualified to give my tips and tricks to others in need, from those of you who have never quite been able to get water marbling down, to those of you who are looking to shake up your nail designs. 

In the spirit of switching things up, I decided to try out a new nail shape. I've seen the almond shape on a lot of ladies lately, and it is something I have been thinking about trying. What was holding me back was the fact my nails aren't ever really very long, and I figured going almond would make them look stubby and stupid. However, I love the short almond look, and it turns out it has been very beneficial so far in terms of nail growth! Usually when my square shaped nails broke, it was one of the corners I lost. Without corners, I don't have this problem anymore. 

Without further ado, here is the water marbling tutorial! The finished product will look like this: 

You will need:

1 plastic cup 

Water (filtered, room temperature; more on this later)

At least 2, but no more than 4, colors of nail polish

White nail polish 

Several toothpicks or orange sticks

Nail polish remover

Tape (optional)

Step 1: Prepare Your Water

I cannot stress this enough: the condition of your water is the key to water marbling success. If your water is unfiltered/un-distilled, it won't work. If your water is too hot or too cold, it won't work. 

For best results, take a plastic cup and fill it with filtered or bottled water (I learned from first hand experience, never use a styrofoam cup. The nail polish will eat through it). 

If neither of these are available, use tap water and let it sit out for a day. Either way, you will need to let your water sit until it reaches room temperature (I told you, this is a high maintenance manicure). If you are the impatient type, it's a good idea to set up your water a day or two before you actually plan on painting your nails. 

I took this photo the day before my actual water marble. This water didn't work out. But you get the idea. 

Step 2: Paint Your Base Coat

Get your nails all prepped like you would any manicure. Then paint a white base coat on all the nails you'll be water marbling. Water marbling causes polish to spread out thin and lose opacity, so the white base will help make those colors pop. 

OPTIONAL: use scotch tape on the skin around your nail. This isn't necessary, and it's a bit time consuming, but it does make clean up a bit easier, as the excess polish will cling to the tape and not to your skin. I didn't do this in this pictorial. 

Step 3: Start Dropping the <s>Bass</s> Polish

Open up all your polishes so that they are ready to go. Pick your first color, and let a drop of polish fall on the surface of the water. If your water is in good condition, it should spread out, like so:

Continue by dropping the next color in the center of the first, and so on and so fourth until you have this bullseye effect going:

The above photo is a primo water marble set up. If your polish looks like this, you're in good shape. 

Step 4: Make Your Design

There are lots of water marble designs you can make, but I like to do a traditional zig-zag, which also happens to be the easiest. To do this, take your toothpick or orange stick and make a line from the center of your bullseye to the third or fourth ring from the outside. You don't want to drag the line to the outermost ring; this ring of polish is likely already dry, forming a sort of skin on the top of the water. Disturbing it may cause your entire design to collapse. More on this later. 

Draw another line from the center downward, like so: 

 

Finally, draw individual horizontal lines, alternating going from left to right, then right to left, so that the surface of your polish looks like this:

Trippy

Step 4 is the second trickiest part. There's a lot that can go wrong in the polish dropping phase. If everything was smooth sailing for you though, proceed. 

Step 5: When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip

Now it is time to dunk your nail. Experts can dunk 2 or more nails at the same time into a single design, but if you are a beginner I recommend doing this one at a time. 

Take your finger and place it at about a 45 degree angle to the water, nail side down (obvi) over the part of the design you like best. The angle will prevent bubbles from forming and give you a clean angle of entry into the water. 

Dip your finger in, keeping it at an angle, and hold it underneath the water. At this time, using your other hand, take another orange stick or toothpick and dip it in the water. Gently swirl the orange stick in little circles through the polish being careful not to hit the nail you have submerged. What *should* happen, is that the excess polish on the surface of the water should cling to the orange stick, allowing you to "clean" the surface of the water before you pull your nail out of it. 

Unfortunately, it's really hard to take pictures and clean the surface of your water with only one hand, so I was not able to capture this part on camera. 

Step 6: Pulling Out

Once the surface of your water is free of polish, remove your finger from the water, keeping it at an angle to avoid bubbles. If all went well, your nail should look something like this:

Step 7: Clean Up Time

With your favorite polish remover, clean up your hippy skin. I find it easiest to use a cotton ball or q-tips around the knuckles first, and then use a cuticle/angled brush to clean up real nice and close to your cuticles. 

Step 8: If Ya Liked It, You Shoulda Put a Top Coat On It

Finish it with a coat of quick-drying top coat and let it dry, and you're set!

Featuring Cirque's "Electric Circus" on accent nails. 

You can see a bit of the white polish by my cuticles. This was from some of the water marble design "folding" over a bit either when I dunked or removed my finger from the water. It happens, and will hopefully happen less often with time. 

Did your water marble not turn out as good? Are you cursing me and getting ready to chuck your phone in frustration? Wait! Hold that toss. Here's some tips that may help you next time...

TROUBLESHOOTING:

1. My polish didn't spread: Is your water in perfect condition? I'm serious, this is the most important step to water marbling success! If you're sure your water has been filtered/distilled and is room temperature, try using polishes all from the same brand. Different ingredients in different brands may cause them to not play nice together in water marbling. Once you get it down, you can experiment with mixing brands. 

Also, creme polishes are easiest to use. I don't recommend water marbling with metallic or glitter polishes off the bat. The consecutive polishes then have to push through not only the surface of the water, but the particles of glitter, which may halt spreading. 

2. My polish was picked up by my orange stick when I tried to make a design: Your water was likely too cold, or you worked too slow. You also may have dragged your orange stick too far to the edge of the bullseye. 

3. When I pulled out, my "water marble" looked like a warped mushy mess: It happens. I don't know why, but I think it has to do with removing your finger from the water. Clean your nail up and try again, practice makes perfect. 

4. My water marble has bubbles in it: Keep that nail at a 45 degree angle upon entry and pull-out! This prevents bubbles from forming. But a good top coat will also help smooth some of that out. 

5. My water marble smeared: You top coated it too soon. Wait about 5 minutes before top coating. 

Water marbling is an awesome technique to play with once you finally master it. Hopefully these tips will help you on your way to better water marbles! Sometimes, you need to read a bunch of tutorials before something "clicks" for you, but the best way to learn is to practice, practice, practice, and try not to get discouraged. 

Any more questions? Comment below! 

Battle of the Cuticle Butters: Lush vs. Burt's Bee's

Guys, you probably haven't noticed, but my cuticles are usually in pretty bad shape. 

Just kidding, you probably most definitely have noticed, especially in my close up shots of my manicures. 

I'm not a cuticle biter, and I do my best to cut only the minimum. However, I find that even in the humid summer months, my cuticles are dry and scraggly, catching on my clothes and making my otherwise beautiful nails unsightly. 

Some of you may be wondering why good-looking cuticles are important to begin with, but the truth is that beautiful, healthy, strong nails start with healthy cuticles. 

I've had Burt's Bee's Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream for quite some time, but haven't really used it much. And recently, I decided to pick up some items from Lush Cosmetics, including the cult-favorite, Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter. 

I figured, what better way to test these guys out and get my nails in better shape than to do a bit of an experiment? So that's exactly what I did. 

First, some information on the products.

Burt's Bee's Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream (noted henceforth as BB) Pros:

- it's a bargain at $6 for .60 oz of product. 

- it's readily available: BB can be easily found at drugstores and beauty supply shops alike. 

- it's packaged in a metal tin, making it easy to throw in your purse and carry it with you on the go. 

- it smells nice!

- the formula is thick and waxy, so it clings to your cuticles and stays there. 

- made with 94.91% natural ingredients!

Cons:

- leaves fingers greasy 

- small amount of product 

Lush's Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter (henceforth referred to as LF) Pros:

- giant tub of product

- a little goes a long way

- it smells INCREDIBLE. Seriously, I couldn't stop smelling my nails which got a little weird. 

- all Lush's products, including LF, are made with 100% natural ingredients and are vegan friendly. 

- light, non-greasy formula

Cons:

- it's expensive: $16.95 for 1.5 oz. 

- not easily portable. You could throw it in a tote if you wanted, but definitely not a clutch. 

- you can't go just anywhere to buy it; you have to either visit a Lush storefront, or order it from their website or via amazon. 

The Experiment:

For about a week or two, I used LF on my left hand and BB on my right. It is worth noting that around this time I have also been eating GNC's Hair, Skin, and Nail Chews, which may have had a *hand* (ha!) in improving my nail/cuticle health. But as the saying goes, a picture is worth 1,000 words...

Left hand before LF

Left hand after LF

Left middle finger before LF

Left middle finger after LF

Left index finger before LF

Left index finger after LF

Right hand before BB

Right hand after BB

Right middle finger before BB

Right middle finger after BB

Right index finger before BB

Right index finger after BB

Verdict:

I had amazing results with both of these products. You can clearly see that both hands experienced vast improvement in nail and cuticle health. It could be that my hands were just happy to be receiving any sort of treatment, but I 100% stand behind both of these products. 

With that being said, I personally preferred Lemony Flutter to Burt's Bee's. When I broke down the price per ounce to compare the two, LF is only $0.13 more than BB per .10 oz, so while the cost may seem way more, it is fairly comparable. I also feel as though I have to use less of LF to cover my cuticles than BB, since LF is so light and spreadable. I also preferred the scent of LF; BB smells lemon-y as well, but you can definitely smell the waxiness of the product. 

The important lesson here is, take care of your cuticles! A little bit of cuticle TLC goes a long way when it comes to the health of your nails. 

Which product do you prefer: Lemony Flutter, or Burt's Bees, or something else entirely? Leave your comments below! 

Color of the Month: Diamond

"A kiss on the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a girl's best friend"-Carol Channing

When I was a little kid, my mom had me trained to say this phrase whenever we passed by a jewelry store window in the mall. Diamonds are the most valued gemstone of them all. Why? Let's dive into the history first. 

According to about-birthstones.com:

"No more notable it its uncut state than a plain pebble upon the beach, the true beauty of the Diamond was not revealed until the 16th century, when gemstone cutting and polishing techniques were perfected.  Prior to this time, it was considered taboo to modify the original state of a Diamond.  Today, the value and appeal of this stone depends largely upon how skillfully it is cut and faceted."

DeBeers was the first diamond company in existence to drive the concept of an "engagement ring", which significantly increased the demand on an already valuable gem; however, the first known recipient of a diamond ring happened in 1477, well before the DeBeers company took off. 

But what do most people care about diamonds? They're valuable, and they're pretty. They also happen to be April's gemstone (lucky April babies!). 

I sort of came up with this manicure idea last minute. Since diamonds are clear, I had to get creative with my polish choices.

L to R: OPI "Solitaire", Zoya "Purity", Essie "Set in Stones", Julep "Coretta"

Luckily, I went to some polish names for inspiration. "Solitaire" and "Set in Stones"... See what I did there? Eh?? 

Here's what I came up with. 

I used nail tape to make diamond designs at the bottom of my two middle fingers before painting "Solitaire", a white textured polish with micro silver shimmer, on top. I then did a glitter gradient on the rest of my nails using "Purity" for the base  and layering on Julep's April Birthstone color, "Coretta", and topped it off with "Set in Stones". 

Looking at it, I probably should have used "Purity" as a base so that "Solitaire" would pop more on top of it, but now I know better for next time. Homegurl didn't have the patience to re-do that ish tonight. 

Had to feature my beautiful diamond ;) the camera could NOT focus on all the sparkle at once, though. 

Keep an eye out for some brand features and new color swatches that I'll be posting in the next couple weeks!

My First ILNP Polishes!

Last week, as you know, was my birthday; however, with my tendency to spend gift cards faster than I can acquire them, I still have birthday gifts rolling in. My friends Jessie and Mike got me a $25 gift card and wrote that they "hoped I got lots of nail polishes".

All right, twist my arm ;)

So I used the gift card to get a couple of polishes from a brand that I have been lemming after for a while now: I Love Nail Polish, or ILNP for short. 

I first heard of ILNP on Instagram, naturally. The woman who makes the polishes creates everything from glitters to holographics to cremes, but the most unique polishes she makes have to be her Ultra Chromes. 

A Multi Chrome polish is one that shifts between two different colors. An Ultra Chrome can shift between three or more colors. Some of ILNP's polishes have five or more colors packed into one bottle! They're amazing. 

I decided to buy Cygnus Loop, one of the first polishes I saw from her Ultra Chrome collection, and Reminisce, which is a newer one. 

L to R: Reminisce, Cygnus Loop

Conveniently enough, they both arrived just as I was finished prepping my nails for a manicure, so naturally I used one of these guys immediately. 

I chose to do my manicure with Reminisce. My polish collection is somewhat lacking in greens, and what I do have I don't wear very often. 

The thing about color shifting polishes is that the color looks completely different depending on the lighting you are in and the angle of your hand, so I took LOTS of pictures to get the point across. 

Bottle shot

Are you not entertained? Wait. 

Watch as Reminisce shifts from a Kelly green...

...to a chartreuse...

...to jungle green, all in three movements of my hand. 

Hey, is that blue? Why, yes, it is!

And like I said before, lighting makes a difference, too. Here are some shots in direct sunlight:

Green!

Blue!

I am completely in love with these polishes. I can't stop staring at my fingers. The one downside to these types of polishes is that they are pretty unforgiving in terms of hiding imperfections on the nail bed. Currently my nails are in terrible condition and you can definitely see the indentations where my nails are peeling/splitting through the polish in the pictures. 

Polishes are $12.50 sold on ILNP.com. 

I also got a paraffin treatment tub from my parents, and new polish racks coming my way soon, so look for that stuff to be featured on an upcoming post!  I wanted to do a paraffin treatment in time for this post, but I still have some cuts on my hands that need to heal. 

Birthday Nails, ABC Party, and a New Kitty!

This past Saturday was my 24th birthday!  I was blessed with awesome company, and some awesome gifts, too. 

Remember that time I went to Brooklyn and shopped in search of Cirque Color's cult favorite, "XX"? Well, my friend Katie mailed me a bottle for my birthday, along with another color called "Ophelia"

L to R: "Ophelia" and "XX"

I had lots of ideas for my nails for my birthday. I volleyed between hand painted balloons and using actual colored sugar (I thought for my Anything But Clothes party it would be clever to do Anything But Polish on my nails). But as soon as this came in the mail, I knew I'd have to use "XX". 

I did a French mani with a twist; I used paper reinforcers to get the clean lines. I did rush it a bit since I was painting as guests arrived for the ABC party, but overall I think it looked great. 

Colors used: Zoya "Hudson", Cirque "XX"

I wish I had more pictures from my ABC party, but unfortunately the power went out. My costume was birthday themed, with a gift bow top, and a balloon skirt. 

Finally, on Sunday, Bob, Mike and I went out to get me my final birthday present: a cat! We went to the Atlantic City Humane Society and rescued a sweet 2 1/2 year old kitty named Moe. He's a total sweetheart, but he is still getting used to his new environment. 

Note the bow tie collar

All in all it was a fantastic birthday! And my awesome hubby, who was anti-pet for quite a while, confessed to being late to work because he was playing with the cat ;)