Before starting any watermarble design, no matter what colors you are using, its best to start with a good white basecoat. It makes the colors pop more than just the colors alone. My favorite white polish has always been Wet N Wild Megalast Whipped Topping. It applies opaque in one coat.
The next, and I think the most important, thing is the water you use. I watched and read so many tutorials and it seemed no one really went into any great detail about what type of water to use. Some say that simple tap water will work but, think about this....all tap water is different. It all has different chemical makeups therefore it won't work for everyone. In the video I watched, that was right, you need to use bottled water. It can be any brand, I use store brands, but it can't be refrigerated first then warmed. It must be kept in the room where you normally do your nails. This is the only thing I have found that works. You can try your tap water, if it works great but if not, try this.
Next thing you will need is tape. I always use scotch tape, like pictured, but just for the purpose of visibility, I will be using narrow masking tape.
Wrap one piece of tape around finger under nail then another piece up one side of the nail, under nail edge, and down the other side. It should cover essentially everything around the nail.
Now to the fun part! You can use any number of polishes you wish but I like using 2 or 3 at most. Loosen the lids of all colors and place them close to the side of your water bowl. Speed is the biggest factor in getting this to work. Holding the brush just barely above the surface of the water, drop in your first color, just one drop.it should start to spread as soon as it hits the water.
Immediately drop your next color in, trying to keep all drops centered in the one before it.
Continue until you have the number of rings you want. Just remember, work fast!
On to the design!! Using a toothpick or needle, start at the second circle from the outside and barely drag across the surface of the water.
Drag toward the center, working from opposite sides with each drag. Be sure to wipe the tip of your toothpick off each time you pull it out of the water.
Continue until you have the design you want to put on your nails.
Position your finger over the part of the design you want on your nail. Ever so slowly, dip your finger in on a slight angle. Dont dip it straight in or straight down. This will cause poor transfer of the design.
Dip your nail all the way under the surface and hold it there. Take a qtip and remove the rest of the polish from the water's surface.
Make sure the surface is clean before removing your finger. Anything left on the water will end up on your design.
Gently pull your finger back out of the water on an angle so your design stays put.
Cut the strip of tape on the back of your finger
Peel the tape off slowly. Sometimes the design may stick to edge of tape so go slow.
All done except for cleanup!
Use acetone and a cleanup brush to clean up the small amountofpolish that may have found its way around the tape.
I usually do all my nails before removing the tape. Gives it a few minutes to dry before adding topcoat.
And heres my finished design. Occasionally you may have some white polish show through the color, as it did here on a couple of nails. Notice the silver? Its a coverup. You can add a few stripes of another color or even dots or rhinestones to hide the "oops".
I really hope this helps some of you out there that may be struggling to get it right. I tried to do this for two years before finally getting it to work. Don't give up. Feel free to contact me (see contact tab) if you have any questions or suggestions for future posts or tutorials. Thank you so much if you actually read all the way through this. I didnt want to leave anything out.
No comments:
Post a Comment