Marble Tile

17:39

Hi everyone!

So finally here is the tutorial for the Marble tile nails. I am hoping to do a video for these soon but as always this mani is very simple. (DISCLAIMER: ‘soon’ subject to availability, more accurately means ‘at some point in the future’).

INGREDIENTS.

Urban Outfitters Provocateur

Barry M Matte White 337

Top Shop Rainy Day

Top Shop Silhouette

Born Pretty Diamond Pattern Nail Vinyls

EQUIPMENT.

Small brush or orange stick

Tweezers

RECIPE. 45 mins (excluding drying time)

1- Once your nails are filed and ready to go, paint two coats of Provocateur on all the nails. This will be the base colour that shows between the marble tiles.

Because we are using vinyls, you want this to be 100% DRY before sticking on the vinyl and moving to step 2. Provocateur is a beautiful colour all on its own, I painted the base colour on the day before the full mani. It’s a technique I almost always use with more complex manis, as I’ve said before I feel like I get more wear out of it and it avoids waiting around for things to dry all evening.

Let’s face it, we all have better things to do than watch our nails dry before risking sticking a vinyl on it. God forbid we stick the vinyl on, create a beautiful marble only to have the base colour peel off with the vinyl once it is removed….I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

2 - Now we have established the base colour is dry it’s time to stick on your vinlys. Cut them to size using any scissors and stick them on the nail.

I find the best way to stick vinyls on to the nail is to start in the middle and press your way out to the edges. Take extra care to stick the vinyl round the tops of your nail as this is where it is most prone to lifting.

3 - The fun part.

After the vinyls are stuck on all the nails (yes all of them) pick your first one and paint a thick coat of white. After a few seconds, paint another thick coat of white.

You are sticking all the nails but only painting one at this point. This is because sticking vinyls on nails is fiddly at the best of times but impossible with wet nails.

4 - While the white is still wet take Rainy Day (or the lighter of the greys you are working with) and using the brush or orange stick drag lines of colour across the nail through the white. This creates the marble effect.

Don’t worry about being neat or about it looking to perfect, a lot of this will be removed by the vinyl so you can be as messy as you like. The key is just to have streaks of colour going through the white.

5 - Once you are happy. Do the same thing with the darker grey, you will want to do a little less with the darker colour so that you can still see the lighter grey underneath.

6 - When you have completed one nail, peel of the vinyl while the polish is still wet. Use the tweezers as this can be fiddly.

The reason you do one nail at a time here is that if you peel the vinly off when the polish is dry the lines will not be as clean. The wetter the better.

7 - Repeat steps 3-6 on all the nails and leave to dry before applying top coat.

PROS.

It is just beautiful. It is also a much easier way to get that marble effect than trying to create it on the whole nail. Like I mentioned a lot of the design is taken away by the vinyl which means it is a lot more forgiving.

That is actually the reason I opted to use a vinyl rather than creating the marble as a base and stamping the tile on top. It always seems to turn out better this way round for me!

CONS.

The prep time with vinyls is longer and a little fiddly. You do have to wait for the base colour to be completely dry before sticking them on and the sticking and removing process can be a bit of a faff. That being said it is a really great way of creating these kind of designs. The tricky part for me is always the top of the nail, my nails are very curved and it can be tricky to get the vinyl to stick properly round the edges without distorting it.

Also it may be worth investing in a liquid latex to make the clean-up operation a little smoother!

As I said I am hoping to start doing some videos soon for you guys so let me know below if that’s something you might be interested in!