yikes...I should have worked on my cuticles before I took this pic...
As I may have mentioned once or twice (more like one million times), I check out Pinterest at least once a day. (I justify that I check-in several times but only for a few minutes each time.) I ran into this pin and knew that I had to keep it in mind for the near future, as my nails have been looking pretty shabby lately. I'm not really explaining the how-to, myself - I've included the step-by-step pic and links to the blog in this post. So more accurately, this is my review of the "Dry water marbling" method (as explained by Enamel Girl).
*Background story warning!*
(I'm only warning you because I know this part could get slightly long and a little off-topic, I might even hop up on my soapbox....)
I've had my Massachusetts State Manicuring License for five years now. I'd love to be able to say "I'm a licensed Nail Technician," like I used to, but sadly, I haven't worked on clients for several years now.
(Here's where I might start to go astray...) I LOVE nails. When I started going to cosmetology school it was to become a cosmetologist - hair, nails, facials... the whole deal. After we hit the nail chapter in our textbook, I knew I wasn't as interested in hair so much, and I switched to the Manicuring program.
Luckily, I got a job in a salon immediately after graduating and getting my license. My goal was to be professional and educational to clients in an industry where there's a horrendous amount of smoke and mirrors. I worked in four different salons in the span of one year. In an effort to stay concise, I'll say that my experiences working in salons was incredibly disheartening - issues with pay and licensing, and competition within the industry made it really difficult for me.
A quick (soapbox) side-note: If you love getting your nails done, you owe it to yourself to find a good, licensed Nail Technician who practices proper sanitation procedures.
(Wooo-sahhh. I'm literally about to explode having only said that tiny bit - maybe I'll write a horrendously long and unnecessary scathing review of what I encountered some day.)
During my time as a practicing Nail Technician, I joined an online community of Nail Techs that was tremendously helpful and educational. I frequented those boards then as much as I do Pinterest now. I also subscribed to Nails Magazine (and had my artwork featured in it a few times...just a little toot of my own horn) and I learned SO many helpful tips and techniques.
*End background story*
I did my own gel nail enhancements for several years, and while I still have all the supplies to do it, I never have the uninterrupted block of time that I need to do them. So now I stick strictly to polish. The trade-off is that it doesn't take as long each time I do my nails, but the polish doesn't have the staying power of gel (I think the tricky word that salons are using now is shellac), so I have to do them more often.
this is the pinned image that I found via imgfave.com
check out the original Enamel Girl blog post here
Once I saw the pin, I couldn't believe that I had forgotten about this method! Using a zip-lock bag to create your own custom decals is great if you're doing someone else's nails - you can do them ahead of time - or if you're doing your own - I can do certain things with both hands, but not draw details. I never thought about doing marbling with it!!
I've done water marbling before, but it creates too much of a mess. (If you're not familiar with it, basically you drop droplets of nail polish onto water; the drops spread out; you use a toothpick to create the marble effect; you dip your nail into the water and the polish transfers to your nail, beautifully marbled, with water and extra polish everywhere. Enamel Girl's experience is a great example.)
Here's why I love this method so much:
Time. Truthfully, this probably is not the best way to do it if you need your nails painted right now. There's a bunch of drying time that needs to be taken into consideration. I did my marbling on the bag and didn't get around to applying it until the next day, which ensured that it was dry. At the same time, the polish is "drier" faster than if you applied polish normally.
Be choosy. With the whole strip of marbling at your disposal you can choose which swirls you want centered on the nail. I second Enamel Girl's recommendation to cut small sections instead of trying to use the whole strip at once.
No mess! Water marbling can get pretty messy. You could put Vaseline around the perimeter of your nails, but you're still left cleaning Vaseline off your hands afterwards - and some polish would probably still get on your skin. This technique eliminates the mess.
Leftovers! Shortly after finishing my mini-mani, I ruined the polish on one of my nails, but it was no problem since I had some marbling left! It was a super quick and convenient fix. Also, you can make several strips of marbling and save what you don't use for your next polish change! (Enamel Girl also does this in her Take Two post.)
More than just marbling... As I mentioned before, this is a method that's often used to make your own nail decals, too. Have a fairly translucent polish that needs several coats for total coverage? While I haven't tried it, I think putting down your layers of polish on the bag (until it's opaque) would be more convenient than doing it directly on your nail.
There are possible drawbacks to this method:
Time. More accurately, patience. Make sure to wait for the base coat on the zip-lock bag to dry before you do the stripes for marbling - if it's too wet/tacky and you scratch down all the way to the bag it'll come off in pieces and have gouges that you'll have to fix later.
Leftovers. You have to get rid of the excess that you trim away from your nail (unless you wanted to save it for a weird Frankenstein kind of look...) and that's technically wasted polish.
My recommendations when using this method:
(this might be repetitive if you've waded through the whole post - sorry, but thanks!)
Don't try to use plastic wrap - just trust me on this one. I don't think a regular fold-over sandwich bag would work, either, but I didn't try it with one.
Wait for the base coat on the zip-lock bag to dry before you do the marbling step.
When applying the strips of marbled polish, brush only one thin base coat on your nail - just enough to make the surface of your nail tacky so the marbling adheres.
Wait several hours before applying your top coat. This gives the base coat on your nail time to set.
Enamel Girl's picture from her post Dry Marble - Take Two - she takes great nail pics
an example of water marbling from Enamel Girl's Blue Ice Water Marble
A note to other lovers of polish/nails - I'm aware that Enamel Girl didn't invent this, but her tutorial (and blog) is the one that I happened to come across - and she posts great nail pictures!
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