Nailed It

I first saw the marbled nail technique on The Cheese Thief, but it was a while between seeing it and actually trying it.

My first attempt, without checking the tutorial, had some good results...

...and some hot messes.

After looking at a couple of different tutorials I realised where I went wrong.

When I put my nail in the water to get the polish I pulled it straight out again, bringing the rest of the polish with it. What you're meant to do is keep the nail under the water, clear the surface of the water, then bring it out.

I did remember about Vaseline-ing around my fingernails though. That is an important step.

This was my set up for attempt #2.

I thought a bigger receptacle might be a good idea, since the first time I was just using a Petit Filous yoghurt pot.

Red solo cup, you really are my friend.

This attempt went better.

But because I didn't want to re-do the nail polish in the water ten times, I put four nails in at once which resulted in only a subtle pattern.

This brings me to attempt #3.

I still haven't got it totally right, but I'm learning from my mistakes.

Look at that pinkie finger. Beautiful.

The fourth finger is cropped because I smudged it while it was drying. Argh!

But the one next to it is a beaut!

Have any of you tried this nail technique? With good or bad results?

Any more tips for getting it right?