i demo'd these marble nails on TV last week so i figured i'd do a video for you all as well because i think it's such a fun technique! i chose to demo one hand with regular nail polish and the other hand with gel polish, because that's what i usually use on my nails these days.
Marble Nail Art with Regular or Gel Polish
Prep It:
- room temp, filtered water
- new or not-too-thick nail polish (or gel polish if you're doing gel) in at least two colors
- small bowl
- cotton swabs
- toothpicks
- nail polish remover
- clear tape
- top coat
- *UV/LED light if you're using gel plus gel cleanser and top coat
- **optional gold studs for embellishment. i got mine at bornprettystore.com
- tweezers to place studs
- fill your small bowl with your room temperature, filtered water **must be room temp!
- tape off your nails with your clear tape around your cuticle to cover the skin around your nail but leave your nails exposed.
- prep your nail polish colors you want next to your bowl by unscrewing the caps so you can move quickly once you start dropping them into the water.
- quickly and carefully drop a droplet of nail polish (or gel polish) into the water one at a time. place each drop at the center of the previous drop. the polish should spread out, if it stays clumpy your polish is too thick or your water is too warm or cold. continue dropping in your polish quickly until you like the layers of color. i recommend 3 or more droplets.
- quickly take a toothpick and starting from the outside edge, drag in towards the center, creating spikes and marbling. do this quickly before the polish dries.
- once you like the look of the marble design, pick an area and lay your exposed nail down on the design and into the water.
- leave your finger paused in the water and blow on the surface to dry the excess polish (**if using gel, turn your UV light on and hold it above the water to thicken the polish) use your toothpick to twist and gather the rest of the polish so when you remove your finger, it stays clean everywhere else.
- carefully remove the tape from around your nail and use a cotton swab with nail polish remover to clean off any excess polish from your skin or cuticles.
- repeat step 4 through 8 on all of your fingers.
- let dry and apply a clear topcoat to seal in your designs.
- **if you want to add studs, use your tweezers to place some studs onto your topcoat before it dries. let dry and seal in the studs with another coat of clear topcoat.
