Barry M Ombre Watermarble

 Hello and Happy Monday! :) I got some freakin' awesome nail mail from Rachel at Phoenix Nails!! She is so stinkin' sweet and has been putting out some really cute Christmas nail art so go check her out! :)

 

Part of her amazing mail was three gorgeous Barry Ms that were on my wish list and once I had them all together, they just screamed, "MARBLE ME!" So who was I to ignore that? The three polishes were Mint Green, Berry Ice Cream and Indigo.

 

If you look closely you may notice that, starting with my thumb, each finger gets progressively lighter. What is this sorcery?? Well, I usually use white undies under my marbles so I wanted to know what would happen if I used some other polishes and this is it! For my thumb I used Sally Hansen Hard As Nails - Black Heart. The index finger is the  Barry M - Indigo, the middle finger is Berry Ice Cream, the ring finger is the Mint Green and my pinky is OPI Alpine Snow! I thought it was pretty cool how it turned out, what do you think?  

 

 

I thought these Barry Ms were great for marbling and I had no issues with spreading. I'm still trying to perfect drawing the designs in the polish but that's just practice! sorry for the tip wear, I didn't get my tips wrapped all that well! :)

The Lazy 15 Mani #6 - Favorite Color

Oy - I really have to stop leaving these challenge manis for the night before they need to be posted! I really wish I would have had more time to play with this one because I love the colors but I'm not 100% jazzed about how the patterns all turned out - oh well, life and challenges go on!

 

Today's challenge was favorite color. My two favorite colors are really kind of at odds with each other. Most people either prefer pinks and purples or browns and greens. I like pink and brown! Not only are they fabulous together but I happen to really love them separately. I have far more pink polish than any other but I truly love a good brown - I'm just a lot pickier about them!

 

The base coat for this water marble is OPI Alpine Snow. I'm really torn about using white as a base. For a lot of marbles it's a must but I think I could and should have use a pink as the base on this one. The reason I have issue with white is because whenever it comes time to clean up, there is always the tiniest line of white around the edges that is nearly impossible to get rid of and it drives me nuts!

 

I used three polishes to marble with and they are China Glaze Strawberry Fields, Sally Hansen Fuschia Bling Bling and Julep Olivia. I know some of you are thinking, "she water marbled with Julep? What a waste!!!" Not to worry! Someone shared with me the awesome tip of using a shot glass to marble in and it was a fantastic idea! Each finger only took two drops of each polish as opposed to the usual 3 or even 4! Some people dip multiple fingers at once but I really like to try for a different design on each finger.

I really love the way the thumb and pinkie (pinky? I never know how to spell that!) turned out. I think the middle finger would have been my fave if I had more time to play with the swirl design.

 

Make sure to check out everyone else's favorite color mani! :)

The Lazy 15 Mani #4 - Water Marble

This was easily one of my favorite challenges on the list, I really love water marbles! I'm not an expert by any means, I think this is only the third one I've done but I think they are so fun! For this one I wanted to try to do something that I've never done before and I started by painting each nail a different color of glitter and then I marbled over the top with black and clear polish.

 

I do NOT recommend this if you're just starting out marbling as it was quite frustrating! I had to try out about 6 different top coats before I found one that worked well in the water and didn't dry too fast but I managed it! I actually had to dip my index finger twice because the first time there was only a tiny bit of the black on the nail.

 

I think it turned out pretty sweet, don't you?

 

The polishes I used were:

Sally Hansen Hard As Nails - Black Heart

Wet 'n Wild Wild Shine - Clear Nail Protector

Finger Paints - Purple Palette

Finger Paints - Laugh My Art Off

China Glaze - Glistening Snow

Sephora by OPI - G-listen To Your Heart

Orly - Royal Navy

 

I was pretty proud that I used 4 untrieds on this mani, woo-hoo! Please be sure to check out the other wonderful artist in the Lazy 15 and have a fabulous weekend!!!

 



Polish Us Pink Watermarble!

Hello beautiful and lovely readers!! Today is Monday and that means another Breast Cancer Awareness mani! I initially tried to do a fanbrush mani but it ended up looking like bloody mummy fingers! If you're on Instagram you can take a look, I go by Nails4Dummies! So I decided to go with another watermarble since they're so freakin' cool! I started with a base coat of OPI If You Moust You Moust then marbled with China Glaze Strawberry Fields, Under The Boardwalk and Traffic Jam.

 

This marble actually turned out subtler than I was aiming for but I still really like it!

And here is something that you've NEVER seen before and may never see again - my LEFT hand!!! The reason I'm showing so much more skin is that I actually prefer the way that this hand turned out. That never happens, especially since I did this one first! So here it is -

I feel so exposed! Alright, enough weirdness from me, I'll see you crazy cats later!

My First Watermarble!

So, I've been wanting to do a water marble for a long time but to be honest, it's managed to intimidate me up until now! It was this big pink elephant in the room that nobody talked about but it still loomed! Okay, so I'm being dramatic! Just so I didn't disappoint myself, I started this project expecting this to be a learning experience but a complete fail as well. Imagine my surprise when it tuned out!! I did still make mistakes and had a few redos but if I can do this then you shouldn't be afraid to give it a try!

I used all China Glaze polishes and I highly recommend them for water marbling!! I painted a base coat of Traffic Jam which is quickly becoming one of my favorite polishes - its great for stamping too! Then for the marble I also used Man Hunt and Custom Kicks which has a gorgeous shimmer to it! One of the coolest things was that where Man Hunt and Traffic Jam met I ended up with purple!! Here are the pics!

What do you think? My thumb is my favorite! I also have a couple of tips for you that I learned the hard way:

* Marble your dominant hand first because once you marble your non-dominant hand you won't want to chance screwing it up marbling the other!

* Be patient and let the first hand dry COMPLETELY before starting on the second hand. It may take a little longer but it's still faster than redoing the nails you messed up by being impatient!

*Use very light strokes when drawing the designs in the polish! Just barely touch the surface of the polish or you will drag it all over and make a mess!

*Don't be afraid to redo a finger if it didn't turn out the way you want it!

Okay, I'm done for now! Have you done a water marble? What was your experience? Do you have any tips to share? If you haven't done one what's stopping you?