Marbling: Black & Dusty Mint-Sage

Marbling with Black and Dusty Mint-Sage with top coat

Today's mani is very simple and easy to do! I found this mani quite a while ago, but finally got around to doing it today. The sky is very gloomy today and has been wanting to rain, yet it's very humid and HOT. (I'm thinking a thunderstorm will arrive soon...) I wanted to do a fun mani to cheer me up! :) The polishes I used were Sally Girl TTFN and Sally Hansen Black Out. I used an orange stick (but a toothpick will work too; perhaps even better) to marble the two colors and applied a top coat to make the mani look more polished.

I followed Love, Blair's instructions, but not to a T. Since I decided to use my lighter color as the base and my darker one for the tips, I had to improvise a little. Below are some tips to do this awesome mani.

Tips:

1. Do one nail at a time and work quickly.
2. Use opaque polishes! You will not be able to go back and fix the opacity. However, if still you want to use a polish that's not very opaque, then make sure to paint 1 coat of that polish before doing this mani.
3. Use slow-drying polishes!  If the polish dries too quickly, then you cannot marble well (or at all). This mani already requires you to work quickly and one nail at a time.
4. (When using your lighter color as the base) Paint 1 coat of your lighter color on your entire nail first. It is definitely easier to do it this way!
5. Dab the colors onto your finger. This ensures there's enough polish to marble with and prevents it from drying too quickly before you even have a chance to marble. Don't dab too much, though, or you will get cuticle pooling.
6. When the end of the orange stick/toothpick gets gunky with polish, switch to the other end. If not, the polish will get stringy and hard to control.
7. Dab some more of the color you used for your tips after the mani has dried for a more refined look. (Just make sure not to cover your awesome marbling look! :) )

Please don't let the list of tips intimidate you! This mani is really easy to do; it just takes a learning curve. :) Have fun!

P.S. I love the pattern on my pillow and my Rilakkuma pencil bag. OuO

See you guys on the other side of the day!

- M