Acid Wash

I decided that I wanted to try creating an acid wash design on my nails.  When I searched acid wash nails, I found that most people used the same strategy.  They applied different coloured layers of nail polish and used nail polish remover to remove the top layer.  This just wasn't something that I was interested in doing.  For a while I've been wanting to give sprayed water marble a try (see tutorial by Nail Pop here).  Basically you place a drop of nail polish into a cup of water, let it spread out, spray it with rubbing alcohol, and stick your finger through the dispersed polish.  It's obviously messy but acetone easily cleans up your skin and nail edges when you're done.  I thought that if I used the white and two shades of blue, I could get an acid wash effect.  Spoiler alert...it worked!

So for this design I used "Blanc" by Essie, "West Coast Cool" by Morgan Taylor, and "Midnight Blue" by Rimmel.  I started with a white base then applied each blue one at a time using the sprayed water marble strategy.  I found that the blues were just a little too bright so I added a layer of sprayed white over top.  It gave it the perfect washed out/faded effect.  Check it out!

EEEK! I just love how these turned out and can't wait to try other colours.  Black, white, and orange for Halloween?  Maybe!

Happy Painting!

Love, Kate xo

Psychedelic Water Marble

It's been quite a while since I've done water marble nails.  The main reason I haven't done it in a while is because it's a little time consuming and messy.  I've been wanting to do one for a while now and finally got the time.  There is a great tutorial by Pack a Punch Polish.  For this design, I used White On by Sally Hansen, Fuchsia by Pupa, Orange by Pupa, Green With Envy by Sally Hansen, and Blue Me Away by Sally Hansen.  

This is one of my favourite colour combinations

 I started with a base of white.  When doing water marble, starting with a white base makes the colours much brighter.

 When choosing my polishes, I tried several different colours.  Some polishes just don't spread out when you drip them into the water.  To increase your success, use filtered water that is at room temperature.  Some people tape around their nails to keep their skin from getting polish all over it but I just find this time consuming.  Nail polish remover and a shower cleans up your fingers just fine.  When it came to dripping my polishes into the water I went "pink, orange, green, blue" 3 times. Here's the final product!

 My ring finger being more orange than blue was a happy accident (an unintentional accent nail).  I am so excited about how these turned out!

 Happy Painting!

Love Kate, xo