Marble Nails Walkthrough

So.. I know I'm not an expert on marble nails yet (a.k.a. I've tried in twice in total now) but I just thought it would be fun to try and make a kind of walkthrough/tutorial. This is the first time I've ever done something like this, so bear with me ok?  Before we begin, my nails look horrible, rather short and.. just ugly, so just ignore that ok? Thanks ;-)

Let's begin! Here's a list of items you will need before you can start.
- nail polish remover
- a small, preferably wide bowl, which will become dirty, so make sure you have a cup you can use for only nailpolish
- toothpicks
- water, for in the cup, which I forgot to mention earlier, but I'm too lazy to change that now :)
- the three colors nailpolish you want to use
- tape (I will explain later on)
- cotton pads / q tips, preferably both
- basecoat and topcoat, those are optional but the endresult will be better
- paper towels (LOTS of them)

In this tutorial I will use:
- Hema Basecoat 01
- Paris Memories 260
- Essence 26 Break Through
- Essence 36 Enchanted Fairy
- Kruidvat Topcoat

Ok, once you have all this, here we go!
Remove your old nailpolish, and even if you didn't wear any polish before you started, it might be better to sweep a little bit of nailpolish remover over your nails, so the natural oil layer the nails have will be removed, thus making sure the polish will stay on your nails longer and it won't chip so fast.

Then apply basecoat and let it dry.

Next, apply the basecolor (on which you are going to do the nailart). Not everyone does this, but I like to do this because in that case if I miss a spot on the nail, it isn't just 'naked' but there's a color underneath.
Let this dry as well. When that is done, you have to use the tape. take a piece that's big enough to surround the upper part of your finger. This will protect it for getting nailpolish all over it.

Now the fun begins! Take your bowl of water, and put a drop of nailpolish in the water, from not too high or it will sink. When done right, the nailpolish will spread over the watersurface. Then put in a drop of the other nailpolish. Alternate with these colors untill you have some sort of a 'bullseye'.

Now take your toothpick and draw a like from the edge of the bullseye inwards, to create a flower effect (that's how I like to do it at least, but you can draw many different patterns once you have practiced some more, or of course just leave it the way is is).

Now, dip your nail carefully into this flower. Choose a point you like, and make sure your whole nail touches it. No problem if your nail goes into the water, that's normal.

After this, use a toothpick to remove the remaining nailpolish from the watersurface. You have to do this after every one or two nails, because the effect will become lighter and sheerer if you keep using one 'bullseye' for more than one nail.
This is what you have on your nail if everything went right:

Remove the tape and the nailpolish that is not on your nails from your finger, and repeat this whole process for all of your nails. Then let it dry, and apply topcoat
This is the effect once you are done:

right hand

left hand

And that's how it's done! It takes some practice, this is my second time and as you can see, there is a lot of room for improvement, but now you at least have an idea of how it could look.
I might post another nail tutorial sometime, because I recently got an idea, but I first have to see if it works.
Vague, I know, but that's because I haven't worked out the thought yet, but I wanted to promise you guys another post, so you would come back to visit my blog haha ^^

And if you don't succeed the first time.. just Start Again - Sam Tsui!  Love that song ;-)

xx Eva