I’ve been pretty much avoiding water marbling like the plague lately. Not because I don’t like it. I LOVE the look! But cleanup can be a bit of a challenge and for my blog, I do take closeups! I have noticed a popular method for prepping messy manis such as water marbling and sponge gradients, using liquid latex type protectants. In the past, I’ve used school glue, tape (yuck) and petroleum jelly. All have their merits, but not enough to make me want to pursue these designs on a regular basis. I am not personally allergic to latex, so no problemo. But if you are, there are some online liquid rubber “type” protectants that are now latex-free! So, on with the tutorial and the finished project. Here is the collection I used for this mani.
The Prague Collection (11.14) by Square Hue. On the left is the base color I used for the accent nail that I marbleized. It’s called Parizska. It’s a pinky concrete grey with silver glitter flecks. The top raisin shaded shimmer is called Vaclavske Namesti. The glossy sage green creme is called Na Prikope.
Each photo explains the steps so I shall just dispense with each photo in succession.
1. PREPARE & PROTECT: You can use any number of latex protectants that are widely available for general body art use. There are also tinted options on the specifically for nail art cleanup. This one I picked up at a party supply store dries clear. They all dry quickly, smell funky, and peel off easily. For watermarbling and sponging manis, I have also used petroleum jelly, Elmer’s Glue and tape. Liquid latex seems to be the easiest. 2. Base color. You can see that the liquid latex has dried to a clear finish on the skin. Using an eye defining brush you can get really close to the cuticle making cleanup a breeze. I used Parizska from the SquareHue Prague (11.14) collection. 3. Open bottles of the polishes you’ve chosen to marble with, 2 or more colors. Have a cup of cool water at the ready. 4. Starting in the center (no exact science here as you can see how offset mine ended up!), drip one drop of alternating polishes as directly over the middle of the previous drop as many layers as you wish. 5. Pull from the center ring out to the sides in any direction of your choice, gently with a toothpick. Do not roll, if you do, see the result (UPPER RIGHT CORNER) it can pull too much of the polish layers. Oh well, it’s modern art anyway! 😉 6. Bend fingernail facing straight level of the water and dip slowly. With the other hand take cotton swabs and gently roll around the perimeter of the unused polish rings pulling up remaining polish. Set aside and lift finger up. 7. After releasing the finger from the cleaned up water, you’ll see the design on the nail. Let dry about a minute. No fear, that messy finger will be cleaned up easily. 8. I know this looks hopeless if you’ve not tried this. And I am still practicing. But when you’re confident the nail is dry enough, start peeling! 9. No, that’s not skin! LOL that’s the liquid latex I’m pulling away with tweezers. SO easy! 10. Topcoat with your choice of clear, glitter, even 18k gold! I used the one by Sephora by OPI. The colors in this collection by Square Hue were so earthy and “old world” I thought the gold would really set it off.
So although there are a kazillion water marble techniques out there and a kazillion more tutorials, I wanted to share my experience with you. You know how it is. You watch a bunch of Youtube videos and read that many more blogs, then come up with what works best for you. The look of this one is subtle and using these muted shades, I think it has a certain antiquey European charm. Here is the finished project!
The finished look!
For 2015 SquareHue will be featuring their Decades Collections beginning in January. Shipments have already begun and are landing in mailboxes as we speak. January’s collection is called 1900 (01.15). I haven’t received mine yet but the colors look beautiful from images I’ve spied on Instagram! So Victorian 🙂
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Lacquered Lori 