OPI Spotted

I’ve been wanting OPI Spotted since it came out. Reading different posts about how it was difficult to apply and sometimes gave disappointing results made me feel a little better about not being able to get my hands on it since it’s not available here in the United States.CutePolish’s recent water marble video eliminated OPI Spotted from my wish list.  I would love to know how she figured this out.  It’s genius I tell you.  If you haven’t figured it out, this is not OPI Spotted (the fact that it’s grey may have clued some of you in).

I love this look. It looks like the top layer of your polish got eaten away by acid and this is what’s left. Such a cool look that really would be difficult to achieve any other way.

For this look I used Sinful Colors Timbleberry, Zoya Robyn and Arizona and Color Club Edie for my base colors. I just randomly painted them on in blocks (as is demonstrated in CutePolish’s video tutorial). I used CND Ashphalt for the top marbling color on most of my nails and just out of curiosity, I used China Glaze Liquid Leather for my pinkie. I can’t decide if I like the grey or black better. I think I like them equally and for different reasons.

What do you think of this technique? Do you like this look?

Zebra Water Marble

If I told you this water marble was done with out any tape or polish remover of any kind, would you believe me?  Well, believe it people!

I did a Zebra water marble many months ago and have been wanting to try something like this ever since.  I felt like black and white was a little too predictable and stark.  I went with Jordana Chiffon and Zoya Petra.  Petra is actually a dark, dusty purple, but looks brown on top of the tan Chiffon.  I like the way it looks, but definitely think purple would look better.  Does this look like a zebra to you?  I see a zebra’s back.  They have a “spine” of stripes that runs up their back that other stripes come off of.  I love this design.  I find myself looking at it a lot.  It looks very sophisticated to me.  I think it’s the color combo.

Back to the no tape thing, have you heard of using tape in conjunction with Vaseline to make clean up easier?  Well how about using Vaseline instead of tape?  I actually used Aquaphor ointment rather than Vaseline.  I slathered my finger in it.  I got it as close to my nail as I could without actually touching my nail.  That way when I dipped my finger in the polish water, the polish didn’t stick to my skin and I could just wipe it away with a cotton swab.

Around my cuticle, while the polish was still wet, I ran my shish kabob skewer (as opposed to a toothpick) all around the edge pulling the excess polish out as I went.  I know, that probably doesn’t make much sense.  I did a video here that shows the technique.  And there you go, you’re fingers will be greasy, but there’s a tape free, polish remover free water marble.

Try it and let me know what you think!

Water Marble Wednesday

Water marbling is fun to do. It’s a challenge that I like to take on now and again, then admire my handy work.  While I probably won’t be making Water Marble Wednesday a weekly occurrence,  I’ll throw one on here every now and again.

My daughter has a super cute pair of jammies that was the inspiration for this mani.  I’ve always loved the colors and finally decided to turn them in to a work of art. 🙂  Some of them got a little muddy during the process, but that’s bound to happy from time to time with this technique.

My index finger is my favorite.  I went a little simpler with the design while I was dragging the polish around and I wished I’d done that with all the rest.  Next time.

My color palate for this manicure was: China Glaze White on White, Sinful Colors Nirvana, OPI Pink Friday, Orly Green Apple and China Glaze For Audrey.  I topped it off with Poshé, which is quickly becoming my favorite top coat.  I love that I don’t have to worry about shrinkage with it!  I loath polish shrinkage!  Have you tried water marbling yet?  It’s really nothing to be scared of.

Twinsie Tuesday: Water Marble Skittles

Hey all! This week we are doing skittles. Other than my feather skittles, I don’t think I’ve done any “taste the rainbow” manicures. Oh, I guess there was the cloud skittles that went along with the feathers. I didn’t want to do plain old skittles. BTW, Skittles sound sooo good right now! Dieting and thinking about candy do not do well together! Anyway, I was just thinking the other day that I hadn’t done a water marble in a really long time; since my Christmas peppermint candy nails. It was time to bust out my carton of distilled water and get to work!

Don’t these look like they should taste or smell fruity? Mmmm… I can taste the tropical Skittles now. I love this mani. I paired each color with Julep’s Annette, a soft grey cream. I love how it softens the colors a bit. Contrasted with white they would’ve popped a lot more and been a lot more vivid. The grey cools things down a bit.

If you’re thinking the green looks a bit blurry, it’s because it actually is. I dipped my finger in a little too close to the center of my bulls eye (after I dragged in the design of course) so the lines aren’t quite as crisp. So the grey on all of my fingers is Julep Annette. The blue on my thumb is China Glaze For Audrey, the yellow on my index finger is Julep Blake, the purple on my middle finger is OPI Do You Lilac It, the coral on my ring finger is Julep Alicia and the green on my pinkie is Orly Green Apple. The three Julep polishes I used for this manicure all came in my Maven Boxes. I love being a Maven and getting that little black box in the mail each month. You should sign up for the program if you’re not already a member.

Which finger is your favorite? I love them all! I think I’m leaning towards either the yellow or purple as the front runner though.

Be sure the check out all the skittles today:

Amanda of Amandalandish
Anna of Going to the Showing
Anne of Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley of Art Evolve
Brandi of The Collegiate Nail
Chelsea of Nailed Blog
ChiChi of I’m Just Me…ChiChi
Jenn of All That is Gorgeous
Jenna of I’m Still Thinking
Katherine of Haul of Fame
Marisa of Polish Obsession
Meredith of Polish and Charms
Nory of Fierce Make Up and Nails
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch

On the 5th Day of Christmas…Peppermint

My true love gave to me some sweet peppermint candies, four Christmas trees, three snowflakes, two snowmen and a house all lit up with bright lights. Did you read it to the tune of the song? I wrote it that way. 🙂

This is my take on a peppermint candy.  I water marbled this and it took a lot of trial and error to figure out how to do it.  I’m thrilled with the result though!  I’m in love with how my middle finger came out.If you look closely at the tip of my middle finger and on my pinkie, you can see a bit of swirl action.  I actually did a full swirl on my thumb and it looked bad, so I didn’t even take a picture.

I can almost taste peppermint in my mouth looking at these pictures.  Nevermind the fact that I just ate a peppermint candy.  What do you think?