How to Marbleize Your Fingernails
Marbleized fingernails contain multiple colors of polish that swirl over their surfaces in random patterns. This style of nail painting has a tie-dye-like look. You cannot paint the marble designs on your nails with a brush. Instead, it involves dipping your nail through layers of swirled polish. Although it is an easy process, it is time consuming and uses up a lot of nail polish. The resulting brightly colored nails each sport a different pattern and combination of colors. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- White nail polish
- Plastic cup
- Room temperature water
- 2 to 4 nail polish colors
- Cuticle oil
- Pointed stick
- Cotton balls
- Clear topcoat polish
Instructions
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1
Paint your fingernails with white nail polish to create a base coat for the marble design. Use long, even brush strokes to ensure a smooth coat. Allow the polish to dry completely.
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2
Fill a plastic cup three-fourths full with room-temperature water. Choose two to four coordinating colors of nail polish that you would like to use in your design. Unscrew the lid of each bottle. Leave the loose lids on the bottles and set them on a work surface next to your cup of water.
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3
Start with a finger on your left hand. Apply cuticle oil on the cuticle and skin surrounding your nail. Rub the oil around on your skin to your top knuckle, over your finger tip and the underside of the nail.
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4
Add drops off nail polish to the surface of the water, alternating colors to create a pattern. Allow each drop to spread across the surface of the water before adding the next drop of polish on top of it. Add five to seven drops of polish. Do not let the polish brushes touch the water. Hold the brush over the surface of water and allow the polish drop to fall off the brush to the water.
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5
Use a pointed stick to carefully swirl the colors into a design. Insert the stick into the center color and drag it outward toward the side of the cup. Pull the stick out, reinsert it in the center of the polish and drag it outward again in a different direction. Repeat this until the colors are swirled as desired.
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6
Hold your finger nail-side down over the desired portion of swirled polish. Lower your nail through the surface of the polish, keeping it horizontal. Push your fingernail deeper into the water and hold in place.
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7
Insert the pointed stick into the nail polish floating around your finger. Swirl the stick in the water to catch the nail polish and pull it from the cup. Remove your finger from the water once all excess polish has been pulled from the water.
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8
Use a cotton ball to wipe the excess polish from the cuticle and skin surrounding your nail. Do this carefully so as not to disturb the polish on your nails. Allow the polish on your nails to dry.
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9
Repeat Steps 3 through 8 on the remaining nails of your left hand and the nails of your right hand. Paint over the marbleized nails with a clear topcoat nail polish. Allow the topcoat to dry completely.
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Tips & Warnings
Empty the water from the plastic cup and refill it with fresh water for each nail.
Test each type of polish on the water separately before preparing your nails to ensure that it will spread over the water's surface.
References
- Photo Credit Polka Dot Images/Polka Dot/Getty Images
