Waterless Marbling-- Hearts and Swirls

Just playing around tonight and did two sets of marbled nails.  No water.  No mess!  Just a wet 2nd coat of base color, dots in complimentary colors, and quick swishes of a small nail art brush before the polishes started to set.

Metallic Gradient Nails

I do love a bit of shiny polish plus I've be enamored with Orly's Space Cadet since I bought it a few months ago so these nails just sort of happened from playing around with metallic polishes and a small nail art brush!

 After painting two coats of Space Cadet, I painted thick Metallic Aqua lines at different points across each nail.  I used a small nail art brush to smear the Aqua lines and make them whispy.  I then added Ivanka on both sides of the Aqua lines with a nail art brush and blended them in. 

Abalone Shell Nails

The colors of an abalone a.k.a. paua shell are so spectacular that they are meant to worn on nails.  I've owned jewelry made out of this shell but in order to get the right effect, I found the following picture as a reference:

I have also seen abalone or paua shell nail art by For Your Nails Only.


I first tried out this design on an index card and was satisfied that it looked close enough.

Test Run:

So after testing, I did these nails tonight and I think they look great!

To do these nails, I applied a clear base coat and then painted all my nails with one coat of Metallic Aqua.  I then sponged on Metallic Fuchsia and Metallic Green in random spots on each nail.  To add a bit more sparkle I applied a thin coat of iridescent glitter.  I then used Raven to draw in the lines and black detail.  Last, I applied Julep's Fast Drying Top Coat.  These Abalone Shell Nails turned out even better than I had hoped!

The only thing I might do differently is to try and find a smaller brush to do the black lines and detail.  I am very happy with the way these nails look!

Tarnished Copper Nails

I was inspired by last night's successful Purple Copper Gradient Nails.  I loved how Warm & Fozzie's copper tones played well with the iridescent glitter and thought "tarnished copper."  I've always loved seeing oxidized copper roofs of old buildings and the occasional tarnished penny.

I found the image below online to help me get the texture of the oxidation just right:

The picture below was take with a flash. Most of the time my flash pics do not turn out well, especially with shimmery or glittery nails but I like out the flash worked in this one!

So the base color I was going for was that of an old penny however, while Warm & Fozzie has great copper tones it doesn't have solid coverage being a micro glitter polish.  One of my most recent polish purchases was Coco-a-go-go which is a shimmery brown with copper undertones.  I swatched it and it worked perfectly with Warm & Fozzie to create the old penny color.  After prepping my nails with a protective base coat, I applied one coat of Coco-a-go-go to each nail.  After the polished dried, I applied a thin coat of Warm & Fozzie to each nail.  Using a cosmetic sponge, I sponged on the tarnished spots with For Audrey and layered more with Savage and the unnamed Bon Bons shimmery blue.  I also added Treasure Island's teal glitter and some iridescent glitter to add some sparkle.  One final coat of Julep's Fast Drying Top Coat and taadaa! Tarnished Copper Nails!