Tuesday, June 11, 2013

(Updated!) Before & After: Never Say Never

Hello!

You've heard me say on this blog that I don't think I'll ever do a water marble manicure. They're incredibly pretty but...Messy. And time consuming. And messy. And tricksey. And messy.

Well...this is why you should never say never. I've recently seen several manicures done using an alcohol water-marble technique, where you only put one drop of polish in the water at a time, and it doesn't matter if it goes in a wonky shape, cause you're gonna spray it with alcohol and make it go all splotchy anyway. I figured that any technique that looks better the more you FAIL is a technique I have to try.

Because my Nail Challenge Collaborative theme this month is neon, and I also have a neon prompt for my Hobby Polish Bloggers group, I decided to do a neon alcohol mani. I started with a base of China Glaze Sun-Kissed, a green-tinged yellow neon:

China Glaze Sun-Kissed

China Glaze Sun-Kissed

Then for my 'marble' colors, I chose three no-name neons I found at Rite-Aid clearance after Halloween--they came in a set and have no name or brand:



For each color, I dropped a couple of drops into the water, tried to get it to spread out, and then sprayed it with alcohol to get a spotted/degraded effect. There was a learning curve, and I got better as I went along...Here is the final result:

Spotted Alcohol mani

It's kind of like someone gagged the 80s with a spoon, and they blew chunks on my nails...but in a good way!





I tried to get my camera to capture the full...glory?...of these colors, but they freaked it out, lol. Still, you get the idea, and you see how the technique works. Isn't it cool? So much easier to execute than a regular water marble, although still messy to clean up. But, no more messy than a splatter mani...in fact, I think it was honestly a little bit less messy to clean up that the dreaded splatter mani, lol.

UPDATE: In fact, one of my polish buddies (Michelle of the AMAZING Break Rules Not Nails--seriously, you have got to check out her freehand work, it is beyond superb) just shared with me a trick for easy clean-up with this technique. What she does is put chapstick on her skin and cuticles before dunking! She says clean-up this way is a breeze. I have to try this!

So what do you think? Do you like this technique? It's sort of like OPI spotted on crack...Would you like to see it again with different colors? I could see some really cool stuff with red on a nude color for a halloween mani, or gold and silver over red or green for Christmas...

Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to check out the other manicures linked below!

Peace, love and marbled manis,
M.


20 comments:

  1. It looks good! I'll have to try this out but I'm afraid of the mess I'll have to clean up afterwards, lol.

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    1. I understand that fear, lol. It wasn't as bad as I thought, but no way am I gonna say it ain't messy. But if you put tape around your nails first, that helps a lot. :)

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  2. Totally GRODIE...me likey! Me likey da 80's reboot too. <3

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    1. Thank you! I was torn because I have an 80s manicure coming up, and I was tempted to save it for that. But I couldn't wait, I had to share it right away, lol! :)

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  3. This looks so cool! Almost like tie-dye...I will definitely have to try this when I have more time on my hands!

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    1. Thank you. :) I want to see it when you do!!! :)

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  4. This looks awesome!! I love this!!

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  5. This is awesome! Hahah... "It's kind of like someone gagged the 80s with a spoon, and they blew chunks on my nails...but in a good way!" is such a spot-on physical description of this look and I love it.

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    1. Hee hee hee...It always makes me happy when someone notices my little ninja captions, lol! Glad you enjoyed it. :)

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  6. (woops, sorry!! ignore my last comment ;) )

    LOVE this color! Will have to pick this one up next!

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    1. Glad you like it! It's definitely bright and sunny. :)

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  7. Love this! :) It looks soooo good. Funny story - my husband actually saw a video tutorial for water-marbling nails and tried it out on our two kids. It actually worked! LOL

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    1. Wow! A husband who plays with the kids AND can water-marble? I'd say he's a keeper...:)

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  8. Woah. gotta love your: "It's kind of like someone gagged the 80s with a spoon, and they blew chunks on my nails...but in a good way!"
    <3
    Epic nail art.
    Chapstick, or petrolium jelly, a rich handcream, all works great for easing the cleanup. :)

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    1. Hee hee...I like to sneak in sassy stuff like that when nobody's looking. :)

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