How To: Marble Christmas Nails

One of my friends texted me asking how to do marble nails because she wanted to do them with her nieces over the holidays. I told her to head to the blog for a tutorial, but there wasn't one! Um, whoops! I can't believe in over 4 years I've never shared this classic nail art, so I'm sharing it now. If you're looking for some fun nails (they remind me of peppermints and candy canes) Check out my Marble Christmas Nails:

Supplies:

red, green, white polishes
base and top coats
plastic cup (this will be discarded or kept for other marble nail adventures)
water
toothpicks
paper towel
masking tape or vaseline
nail polish remover and/or q-tips

Directions:

To avoid paint all over your fingers, I suggest applying tape around the nail or use vaseline.
Fill your plastic cup with water--I prefer room temp.
Line up your polishes in the order you'd like. Shake your polishes and loosen the caps. Have your toothpicks and paper towel ready.

There are lots of ways to do this, but all of them require you to work quickly since the polish will dry while sitting on the water.
Place a drop of your first color. It should spread out (like the red pictured above). Follow with your next color and then your third. Repeat the process two or more times until it resembles a bullseye.

To make a pattern, take your toothpick and drag it from one of the outer rings (not your first one) and drag it towards the center. Wipe off your toothpick.
Repeat in other spots. Try from near the center and drag the toothpick towards the outer ring. Or swirl it all together, like I did (aka the lazy/in-a-hurry-way).
Now find a pattern that you like and dip your finger in. I kind of go in at an angle. If you are a beginner, I suggest doing one finger at a time.
Use a toothpick to pull away the unused pattern of paint from around your finger and remover your finger from the water.
Gently peel away the tape and allow to dry.
Use polish remover to clean up any areas that need it.
Add a clear top coat (I've used a glitter one too).
Repeat on all nails.

I'm happy to do a more in-depth marble tutorial for beginners if you'd like!

More nail tutorials:

elle sees

How To: Marble Christmas Nails