Water Marble Nails

November 18, 2012

I decided to try water marbling again after a long time. I did my first water marbling almost half a year ago, and I thought I did well, but I actually sucked at it lol, I just didn't know that then. It was just when I started to be interested in nail polish, while having less than 10 bottles of dry nail polish in my collection. I'm so ashamed of this haha
Actually it's pretty amazing how fast my collection grew (over 200 now) and my skills and techniques have improved. I would have posted my first lame water marbling but I'm too ashamed of it...

To be honest - I didn't do lots of water marbling, I think this is my fourth try with this on both hands.
I just found it pretty much frustrating and time consuming, and most of the times the result wasn't worth it. I thought to give this another try after watching some tutorials that refreshed my memory and gave me some tips (check out My Simple Little Pleasures and her awesome water marbling tutorials, they include simple instructions and tips for a great results).

I thought to make it a bit different so I started with an ombre base, and then added the water marbling on top. For the base I used one coat of GADE Marshmallow, then used a sponge to create the omber - I used 3 colors: light pink, hot pink and purple. The colors are GADE Marshmallow, GADE Fashion Fuchsia and GADE Purple Empire.
For the water marble I used Catherine Arley 805 which is a black holo, and GADE Luxe Nude which is a light milky color. I wanted the ombre to show underneath the water marble so I picked this semi transparent color, and it did a pretty good job. You can a transparent polish instead to create this affect. I think it's an awesome idea and an nice twist to the water marbling effect, so thank you to who ever came up with this first ;)

It didn't turn out as I imagined it, but hey - I'll take that! Much better than my previous attempts. It looks pretty nice, even though it's not symmetric as I wished it would be and it had some bubbles (which were popped once I applied my Poshe top coat). I think the design on my other hand came out nicer but I didn't take pictures of it since it was late and dark when I did the mani on this hand (yeah I do this sometimes lol).
When I was imagining the design in my head, I was planning to add a glittery top coat, as I did with my James Bond mani, but then I decided that the holo glitter of Catherine Arley 805 was pretty enough.
So what do you think of my water marble mani? Have you tried this yet? Feel free to share it with me :)
 
pink and purple water marble nails holographic catherine arley 805

pink and purple water marble nails holographic catherine arley 805

pink and purple water marble nails holographic catherine arley 805

pink and purple water marble nails holographic catherine arley 805

pink and purple water marble nails holographic catherine arley 805

pink and purple water marble nails holographic catherine arley 805

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48 Comments

  1. I love it, I am so trying a lot of different nail art this week, since I will be on vacation and broke LOL!

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    1. You should totally try this! It's kinda fun ;)

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  2. Well this is absolutely gorgeous!!! Great job!

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  3. This is gorgeous!! <3 I half attempted a water marble last month, and it didn't work out so well. I will be trying again, though :)

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    1. I had the same problem. It gets easy once you find polishes that get along together :) Good luck!

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  4. So beautiful, I always love your mani's but this is one of my faves. I love the colour choice and your marbling skills are to die for!

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  5. This is beautiful! I have never heard of using a sheer polish over a colorful base. I've always just used a color that is in the marble.

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    1. Thank you! I think you should try this version, it's really cool and you can do all sorts of things underneath it :)

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  6. This is so beautiful! I have tried the sheer polish-to-show-off-your-base marble, but it didn't turn out correctly at all. LOVE your nails!

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  7. Water marble awesomeness! I wish i could master this technique like you! Gorgeous nails!

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  8. This is so so gorgeous! I love the colours!

    Jazz x

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  9. Amazing design. I couldn't even get my polish to spread.

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    1. Thanks!
      Try using slightly warm water and try different polishes. Sometimes they don't work well together. Good luck!

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  10. This is soooo gorgeous!! I love the colors you used for the gradient it looks so pretty!!
    That's inspiring <3

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  11. Wow this is beautiful. Thanks for sharing! Come by and check out my blog, if you like it I would love it if you followed me.

    xo Andrea
    http://uskar-vor-inspire.blogspot.ca/

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  12. This nail was extremely beautiful!!
    I love that and I will try water marble like this (with ombre base).
    :)

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  13. Hi! I'm from PLOP and just had to stop by to tell you this mani is LEGEN -wait for it- DARY. Seriously, it's too awesome for words! I think I tried -failed- water marbling last year when I was just getting into nail polish, but this one is making me one to try one again :D

    Beautiful work, thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thank you so much! I really appreciate this! <3

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  14. So gorgeous! Great job on the water marbling! :-)

    ~ Yun

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  15. That turned out so good :) I always manage to mess up!

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  16. Looks pretty cool :) I am not such a great fan of all kind of designs, but I def. like yours a lot.

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  17. WOOHOO!!! Congratulations!!! You won!!! ;-D

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  18. I absolutely love the gradient underneath the marble! Wow! :)

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  19. I LOVE this! I have so much trouble doing watermarble with a clear polish, this came out so well(:

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  20. Hi Natalie,
    I really like this water marble, I would love to do the same type of shape using a black and a "transparent" nail polish, but I can't find any that is spreading well in the water. Is GA-DE a brand that you can only find in Israel? Do you know if it is available in London?
    Thank you.

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    1. Hi Pauline
      GADE is sold mostly in Israel. I don't know where else it's available. But you don't have to have this exact one. Try using sheer or milky polishes you have until you get the best result. You will also need to see which polishes work together, so it doesn't only depends on a specific brand or polish. Good luck!

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  21. Very beautiful..can you put up a video on how to do that type of water marble nail art design! Please i want to do it the way you did it..so that since i have to go somewhere if i know how to do it then i can do it before i leave...i leave in 3 days..please i beg of you

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    1. Thanks. I did this mani by this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB_t5x2KK8U

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