NOTD: Spring Pastel Rainbow Water Marble + Tutorial

So, Nail Art April started off with a marble that didn't quite fit into March =)  I used Orly Au Champagne for my base, then Marbling was done with 6 Revlon pastels - Sunshine Sparkle, Peach Smoothie, Pink Again, Gum Drop, Blue Lagoon & Minted.

I actually started out this design with a big fail that turned out kind of cool in hindsight; I wish I'd taken more pictures.  I wanted each nail to have just an arc of color, but it turned out too pale - I tried an overlay-marble of black that turned out looking grey ... and so after I did one hand I took it off & stared over again.  Here's a look at the fail that maybe wasn't quite such a fail:

Either way, this is what replaced it - due to the way I dipped my nails, they almost all turned out just a little different.  Very pale, especially in certain lights, but it was well suited for the Easter season it happened to be at the time:

I didn't have any nails that I didn't like, which as you know is pretty rare - so I took close-ups for all of them:

And of course here is the tutorial:



Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Purple & White Water Marble + Tutorial

How fast a week goes - since the last post was a Tuesday, can I pretend it was just yesterday?

I started this water marble with a base color of Orly Fantasea, then marbling is done with Fantasea & Orly Au Champagne from the Holiday Soiree collection:

Here's the tutorial:



Lots more water marbles to come, then some other stuff & more water marbles =)

ALSO - if you don't follow me on Facebook yet, please do so!  I will be having a contest over there in short order.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Candy Cane Water Marble + Tutorial

Finally!  I made it to my holiday nails before Christmas Day =)  Due to being so pleased with this one that I wore it a whole week, I am very close to being caught up for the first time since October LOL.

 

For my base color I used 2 coats of Ulta Professional Angel Baby, marbling done with AB & Ulta Salon Ruby Slipper:

 

The hard part for this, is keeping the stripes the same size throughout.  I managed to keep them pretty even per hand, but my hands next to each other you can see the difference.  I actually had one that came out thickly striped & looked really good, but I took it off & changed it to match with the thinner stripes.  Here are my favorite nails:

 

 

And here is the tutorial:

 

 

Another couple of Christmas tutorials coming, and going to try & get my first cooking tutorial up in the morning before work so stay tuned =)  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Orange with Spider Web Tips Drag Marble + Tutorial

Those of you who've been following my blog for a while will remember the original version of this manicure, which I did in 2009 & you can see HERE.  I'm still working on my side project of making monthly slideshows back to the beginning of my blog, & when I posted this one I got a ton of requests for a tutorial on this look.

 

For this year's version, for my base color I started out with Milani Brisk Orange:

 

And then for the drag marbling on the tips I used Wet n Wild Black Creme & French White:

 

I actually like my first version a little better LOL - one of the reasons I don't always like revisiting old looks, I swear that's been the case in several instances.

 

Here's the tutorial (which you may already have seen, considering it's been up for 2 weeks!):

 

 

Just a few more NOTDs to post & I'll be fully caught up.  Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

NOTD: Halloween Mummy Water Marble + Tutorial

I feel like Halloween is a holiday that I'm almost obligated to do extra-crazy nail art =)  & so what better excuse to bust out the googly-eyes?  My base for this marble was 2 coats of OPI Calling All Goddesses!, marbling done with CaG, OPI Ti-Tan Your Toga & China Glaze Ingrid:

 

The black I used for the "mask" section was just Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme.  I'm sure there are other places you can run across googly-eyes than where I got them too, you just have to keep an eye out =)  I did manage to smudge a few nails on my right hand but I corrected them as best I could.

 

Here's the tutorial:

 

 

Only about week until Halloween!  Except I don't know if that's enough time to fit in all my ideas ... probably not LOL, a few of the ones I've already done this year have been waiting since last year =)

 

Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Halloween Candy Corn + Tutorial

It's almost the middle of the month & this is only my 2nd Halloween look!  I'm going to run out of time for everything rattling around in my head LOL.

 

Candy corn is such a traditional part of Halloween, but I did a candy corn inspired water marble last year & so I wanted to do something in a different direction.  I started with a base of Wet n Wild French White & Orly Twilight, then did the yellow & orange with L'Oreal Yellow Seahorse & Coral Starfish, and the outline with Wet n Wild Black Creme:

 

Overall I'm pretty happy, although I have a tendency to pick apart my freehand art.  This one, the biggest mystery is that my right hand seems to have turned out better than my left somehow!  Maybe because I am even more careful when I'm painting with my off-hand?

 

Tutorial:

 

 

I know I said last post I wasn't going to tease about what I had coming tomorrow but I can't help it ... I went & got the Nails Inc magnetic polish at Sephora!  & I am very excited to try it =)

 

Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette