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Alchemical — Turquoise

Published: 2013-05-04 01:23:17 +0000 UTC; Views: 3522; Favourites: 211; Downloads: 0
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Description An idea I've been meaning to try. Love how this came out! I never want to take it off! I'll be doing different stones, this is only the first in a series I have planned.

This was a multiple step process... But I'll try to explain it quickly. I might make a tutorial for this if there's enough interest.

Materials I used-
Polishes: Teal, mint green, sky blue, black, and a clear top coat.
Other stuff: A dish of room temperature water, gold powered pigment, hair spray in a pump bottle (no aerosol), cotton swabs, tape, makeup sponge, acetone

1. Paint nails a suitable shade of teal. You want good coverage so you may need more than one coat. Allow to dry.

2. Using a makeup sponge, lightly sponge on other shades similar to your base color to add some variation. Turquoise is rather irregular so flat color won't look as realistic. I used a baby blue and a light mint green for this step. Again, allow to dry.

3. Apply a clear coat. While it is still wet sprinkle gold powered pigment onto your nails. You can also use loose eyeshadow for this. Allow to dry before rinsing your nails under cool running water to remove the excess pigment. Let your hands dry.

4. Tape off the skin around your nails, we're going to be water marbling! Seriously. Do this. You'll save yourself a lot of time with the cleanup.

5. Drop one drip of your black polish onto the surface of your water and allow it to spread a bit. Squirt the polish with about two pumps of hairspray at a distance of about two inches. It should break apart into little web like patterns and veins. This is what you want.

6. Dip your fingers into your now spotty, veiny floating polish. Gather up the excess with a cotton swab before removing your fingers from the water. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until all your fingers are done.

7. Clean up!



Trouble shooting:

1. If your polish isn't floating and spreading on the surface of the water there are a few possible reasons why. First of all, the polish might be old. Secondly, the water may not be room temperature. Third, and often overlooked, you may have hard water. If you suspect this to be the case, use distilled water.

2. The hairspray may mess with the surface tension of your water, making it difficult for your polish to spread properly. If this happens, dip a cotton swab into your water near to where the polish is floating. It should result in the polish spreading out a bit and allowing you to continue.

3. Don't sponge wet nails. You risk taking up some of your base color and you'll have a mess. If you want to do a second application with the sponge, allow the first to dry.


Questions? Need help? Ask away!
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Comments: 23

JRollendz [2013-11-03 02:32:48 +0000 UTC]

OH WOW!

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AnidHarker [2013-08-04 15:16:28 +0000 UTC]

This has been featured here

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Alchemical In reply to AnidHarker [2013-08-05 01:25:49 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much! I love the formatting you used for the feature.  ^___^

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AnidHarker In reply to Alchemical [2013-08-05 09:46:55 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome, and thank you!

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Cowboy-Slightly [2013-06-02 18:27:50 +0000 UTC]

These are beautiful. ^_^

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DarkRose1997 [2013-05-10 19:07:26 +0000 UTC]

a tutorial were greate

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VixenTheWolf [2013-05-05 12:13:59 +0000 UTC]

These turned out really gorgeous!
Loving this!

Hey! Theres this contest on that this would be a great entry for!

[link]

Contest to share bad ass nail art Not sure what the prizes are yet, but all you have to do is upload your pic and share it with your friends

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Alchemical In reply to VixenTheWolf [2013-05-05 13:00:34 +0000 UTC]

Sounds fun. I'll check it out. :3

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DreamWalker412 [2013-05-04 13:52:29 +0000 UTC]

this is reaaaally amazing!!

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Zomergras [2013-05-04 12:05:02 +0000 UTC]

Very pretty indeed!

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Jessica078 [2013-05-04 09:59:10 +0000 UTC]

wow i love it

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1000yearseternalmaze [2013-05-04 09:30:01 +0000 UTC]

Very beautiful!

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Felina-Luciana [2013-05-04 09:26:34 +0000 UTC]

nice idea!

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Zora-the-Jaguar [2013-05-04 09:25:18 +0000 UTC]

Awesome nails!

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MichelleMunoz [2013-05-04 04:54:26 +0000 UTC]

gorrgeeoouus

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Alchemical In reply to MichelleMunoz [2013-05-04 05:25:28 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! <3

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lettym [2013-05-04 04:49:17 +0000 UTC]

This is sooooooo amazing!! I absolutely love it! I may try this myself.

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Alchemical In reply to lettym [2013-05-04 05:25:21 +0000 UTC]

If you do try it I'd love to see!

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lettym In reply to Alchemical [2013-05-05 04:37:10 +0000 UTC]

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KookylmhNails [2013-05-04 03:31:09 +0000 UTC]

love this design! thank-you so much for explaining how you did this. I would love to try this one day....for water marbling, i never thought about using distilled water (maybe that has been my problem all along)

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Alchemical In reply to KookylmhNails [2013-05-04 05:25:05 +0000 UTC]

I can't remember where I first read about hard water causing issues with water marbling, but it's something I'm always happy to pass on because so many people don't know. When I was living in the Midwest I could never get water marbling to work. My polish just balled up on the surface and sank. It turned out it was because the water was hard and contained a lot of chemicals from treatment. Distilled water completely solved it, though!

And now that I'm living in rural New England I can just use tap water. Yey!

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taiama [2013-05-04 02:19:59 +0000 UTC]

Gorgeous! It looks just like the turquoise stone. And I really like the gold accent.

Can't wait to see the rest when you finish them.

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Alchemical In reply to taiama [2013-05-04 05:20:01 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

I think next will be Lapis lazuli or Malachite. ^___^

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