Step by Step Water Marbling Tutorial & Video

Water Marbling is a fun creative way to use your nail polish, I'm not gonna lie though. I was very intimidated by the whole process at first. It actually took me a while to get the hang of it. Once you practice enough & get the technique down its very easy. If I can do it, believe me anyone can do it.

I have been so excited to do my first video tutorial and a little nervous too..lol. As well as the video I included a step by step tutorial in this post. You can watch the video first or read the tutorial first, it doesn't matter. Just make sure to read all the helpful hints I included at the bottom of this page :)





WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• A medium sized cup that you wont mind getting dirty.

• Room temperature water

• -Toothpicks, an orange stick, a sharpened pencil. Anything pointy

• A base color, I used white for this but you can use any color you want

• Scotch tape to protect the skin around your nails.

• (Optional) Scissors to cut the tape of afterwards

• Nail polishes of your choice. I used 3 for this tutorial but you can use as many as you want

• Nail Polish Remover and Q-tips for clean up.

WATER MARBLE TUTORIAL

1. Start with a bowl of Room Temp Water

2. Add a drop of polish from a low height

3. Keep adding drops, alternating colors.

4. Pull lightly from the center using a toothpick, DON'T touch the outer edge bc it is already dry. Draw the design of your choice.

Then with your nail taped shown in the picture below, place your nail directly above the design you like and submerge it and don't remove your nail from the water until you pull all of the excess polish (in the bowl) by wrapping it around your toothpick.

(Sorry, it was hard for me to get a picture of that)



5. Then quickly remove your finger from the water and lightly blow on it to remove any droplets of water. 

6. Wait a few seconds and remove the tape. I find it easy to use a scissor to cut most of the tape off. Plus, if your other hand is already done you wont mess it up. 

Let it dry for about 5 minutes and clean any nail residue with a Q-tip. Then apply top coat. 

I used 3 colors for this tutorial:

- Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow

- Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue

- Revlon's Colorstay in Amethyst

tips & tricks:

• If your having trouble with the polish spreading out, make sure that the water is ROOM TEMPERATURE, and if you're still having problems try using bottled or filtered water

• Make sure your base color (I usually use white) but whatever color you choose, apply 2 coats & make sure it's smooth and not streaky. It will show through after you dip your finger. 

• Most polishes will work, even glitter. But as you experiment you will find some colors/brands work better than others. 

• Make sure to cover most of your finger with tape, otherwise half of your finger will be covered with polish. Plus, it makes it much easier to clean up.

• Always open the lids to your polishes before, you want to move quickly

• If you're polish isn't spreading out as much as you'd like, lightly tilt the cup.

• Wipe the polish off your toothpick between each (or every other) swirl to ensure clean lines

• If your doing all of your nails, do one nail at a time. I've tried doing 2 fingers at once to save time but it never came out well.

• Pull your finger straight out of the water (not on an angle) that can sometimes cause water bubbles. If that does happen, you can fix it by either trying to blow on your nail or covering it with some sort of nail gem or rhinestone. 

• Don't drop the polish too high from the water or it will fall to the bottom of the bowl. 

My very first attempt at water marbling

 


Like I mentioned before this was my first ever video tutorial so I hope you enjoyed it and the step by step tutorial, even if you are not interested in water marbling.

I would really appreciate your honest feedback on the video, being it my first time and all I need to know what you thought.Don't worry I can take constructive criticism lol :)

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