I just got back from a little vacation with my mom, two sisters and our children and we had a chance to try these water marble nails. Every year (sometimes 2-3 times) we go on a vacation together without our husbands and take the kids to play and hang out with their cousins. It can get a bit crazy, but we always have a great time hanging out, hiking and swimming together. We just got back this past Sunday. So that might explain my lengthy absence around here. While we were there my sister taught us how water marble nails with nail polish using this really fun and unique marbling pattern. My girls and I really enjoyed it and all the girls were able to get it done.
The process is actually pretty amazing and easy, but there are a few steps involved. Since there were already some great video tutorials out there, I won’t bother writing up a tutorial and will show you the video we used to learn how to marble our nails.
We followed the tutorial pretty closely, not only did we put scotch tape at the base of our fingernail and around the finger…we also rubbed some Vaseline around our fingertips and fingernails to make the clean up process a bit easier and faster as it can get pretty messy.
Make sure to have some nail polish remover on hand and to do this in a well ventilated room. The possibilities are endless! Have fun and get creative. Wouldn’t this be fun for a girls birthday, slumber party or Girls Night Out? Have you ever seen this or had this done for yourself?
Video from My Simple Little Pleasures
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
Would you like more Recipes, DIY, Printables and Organization Ideas?
Subscribing to the newsletter will enable us to periodically send you creative content exclusively for Idea Room subscribers.
*View our Privacy Policy here.
Tiffany Harvey says
That is crazy! I’ll definitely have to try that some time.
I just got a great crackling polish from OPI called “Black Shatter”. You paint it over another color and it breaks all apart as it dries into fun shapes. Black may be a bit too dramatic for your girls, but they also make it in other colors like white, silver, and I think pink too? It works way better than the crackle polishes I remember trying when I was little.
martha says
I’m going to try this again with dd. but the last time, it didn’t work. don’t know if it was the polish or what.
Haley K says
that looks awesome! loved your fun color choices for you sweet little girl :) My sister in-law Katie has told me about these…and we tried them, but didn’t quite get it right. The video tutorial was great!! I’m excited to show her :)
Marti says
That is so neat! Without having girls at home anymore, I miss out on all these new things.
Jamie @ Eighteen25 says
my girls will LOVE this. thanks for sharing!!
Dasiy says
Yeah! AND EVERYONE will be like: Whoa, i want those nails! And like this: How did u do it?i would be like: HAHA! lol! ha i am not telling u!
Katie says
I loovvee water marble nails, it always comes out so unique and great!
Kristen Duke Photography says
My daughter will LOVE this!!!
dramaqueensmum says
I love that. I’ve never seen it before.
Rachel says
WOW. i see things on stumbleupon all the time that i think are cool and i wish id try but i never actually go do it. i just did this and it was so easy and looks professionally done! that was so awesome! im in college and now i have something fun to do with my friends that i can show them during the school year!
Stephanie says
I remember learning this technique in Mrs. Potter’s 6th grade class, waaaay back in the 80’s, but we used it to make fancy easter eggs, not fancy fingernails (we poked the holes at the ends of the egg, blew the egg out and then dipped and hung our eggshells to dry). I still remember doing mine in blue and gold. I love this new application for the idea!
papang says
ok so i saw this website and i thought it was adorable! so i grabbed all the equipment needed and went to work and the only thing that i accomplished was to create a giant mess in my house and have my fingers covered in nail polish. i think ill leave this one to the professionals …
Sunshine says
I love this idea! My friend and I used to do swirl design with a toothpick, but it was hard and we could only use 2 colors. This way is so much simpler and comes out better too!
Amy says
I have done this several times. I have found that it works better if you dont use tap water. Try brita water or bottled water. Also if its not turning out correctly try different polishes. I use two colors and then in the center do a drop of a third. Currently I have pink, orange and did a drop of silver.
Laurie says
BUSTED!! It looked like such a great idea. I tired it two times, followed the directions each time and both times it didn’t turn out. I tried tap water, bottled water, warm water, coolish water, styrofoam cup, glass cup, different brands of nail polish and still the polish didn’t form into circles. It dried really quickly and didn’t form into the rings like it showed on the tutorials. Actually it didn’t do anything like the tutorial. I am disappointed because that looked like such a fun summer activities to do with my young girls. Please let me know how I can do it differently.
Danzkin says
I haven’t had a chance to do this yet, but I’ve read to use room temp filtered or bottled water. Before you add your nail polish, add 7 or 8 drops of nail polish remover. This is supposed to make all polishes work. I will be trying it tomorrow. I hope this helps (and works)!
Try using nail polish that is not the fast drying or speed dry polish. We used that at first and did not have any success. When we switched to the “regular” nail polish it worked! Hope this helps
Great tips. Thanks Jenn!
I didnt read on but u have to use room temp water
it doesnt really matter what u use to do it in. i have use plastic, glass, and styrofoam. it does matter what type of polish u use though. sometimes you have to lightly shake the bowl/cup some also drop the polish close to the water or touch it to it if you have to. i have done this marbling many times. its beautiful you never know what design your going to get unless you been doing it a while and you master creating designs thank god i have. i love doing this.
I just did it, and if you add acetone between each nail, it works. I tried it with and without acetone, but it got clumpy without acetone. It looks great. Thanks for the site!
how do u get the tape off
Hi,
What kind of nailpolish do you use. I tried several types but I won’t succeed in getting this beautiful nails.
Can you tell me.
Greetings Malou
Don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t work at first. I didn’t try the acetone trick when I did it, but I did learn that you have to work very quickly. If you don’t get the polish in quickly and swirl it how you want it, it will dry before you cna mix it and it’ll all attach to the stick and come out of the water.
Try to put the polish in and swirl it within about five seconds. I know it sounds like a short time, but you can do it! After that, you can take your time putting your finger in the polish.
hi im madison coffey im 9 yrs old and me and my little sisters faith ,and natalie coffey are going to try marble painting. im going to do a orangeish purple swril kiss,and we are going to use your trick for the nails.have fun makeing more marble videos.and our faveroite one is the St. Patrick’s day one.bye!
sinceiry,
madison ,natalie ,and faith coffey =)
Love the video nice and easy to understand Its a really cool I will have to try it out
I tried this after watching the video! I must say the process is very time consuming and hard. Also, it is very messy! I had to redo each nail a couple of times. In the end, they sort of came out but not really. They looked really bad and nothing like they were supposed to! A little advice: only try this if you have lots of time and a lot of patience! Good luck!
i try it but it hasnt worked im going to try it agian this time i will use bottle water and hopefully it will work for me. it looks sooo cool but isnt working so im going to redo it thanks
Hello, what nail varnish brand should i use for this? The nail varnish never spreads in the water! what am i doing wrong and what nail varnish brand do i need?
PLEASE HELP!
OPI is a good one to use and the brand shown in the photographs worked well for us.
I just wanted to know something about the tape. The tape goes around the finger but not the nail right?
Yes. Around the finger.
Excellent web site you’ve got here.. It’s difficult to find high quality writing like yours these days.
I honestly appreciate individuals like you!
Take care!!
My kids will love this! THANKS!!
ok thank u