Essie Silk Watercolor Water Marble Nail Art

essie watercolor watermarble swatches

essie silk watercolor watermarble swatches

I hate watermarbling, hate it.  I love the look but the time it takes, the polishes that do not spread, the unknown look you will get if you dunk your finger at a slightly different angle.  But I was inspired by Simply Nailogical’s video.  She knows that watermarbles are a pain and often don’t work but her boyfriend, he is a water marble warlock and way better than her (and me for that matter).  Plus he watermarbles with beer! Go watch it!

I bought this set of Essie Silk Watercolors ages ago and used the red in my halloween bloody nails.  They are sheer, but not too sheer and I wondered how they would work for watermarbles.

essie silk watercolor watermarble bottles

Essie Silk Watercolor Water Marble Nail Art – Polishes & Tools

  • Essie Blanc
  • Essie White Page
  • Essie Highest Bidder (red silk watercolor)
  • Essie Point of Blue (blue silk watercolor)
  • Essie Pen & Inky (green silk watercolor)
  • Essie Gel Setter top coat
  • Glisten & Glow Ctrl-Alt-Del latex barrier for easy cleanup
  • Smallest dotting tool or orange stick
  • Lots of Q-Tips & acetone soaked cotton pads for cleanup
  • Cup of room temperature water

White two white polishes?  I used blanc for a base since the brush is bigger.  My set of Essie Silk Watercolors are minis so while the white is great for dropping into the cup of water, the regular brush on blanc is better for a full nail.

Drop white page, highest bidder, point of blue and pen & inky gently onto the surface of the water in random order.  Using the smallest dotting tool or an orange stick, make shapes in your watermarble.  Make sure to wipe your design tool between each swipe or the polish builds up and pulls the polish from the watermarble.  I keep an acetone soaked pad beside my cup for easy cleanup.

Dip your finger in the cup, use a q-tip to remove the rest while keeping your finger in the water.  Then remove your latex barrier and clean up and extra.  Once finished, you will probably need to go around your cuticles with some remover/acetone too as watermarbles stick to everything!  Top with a generous coat of Essie Gel Setter top coat and you are done.

The Essie Silk Watercolors are actually decent for watermarbling.  They spread easily unlike so many polishes so are great if you have never tried watermarbling or none of your polishes spread across the cup.  While Pen & Inky is fairly similar in colour, although lighter, Point of Blue is a beautiful lilac and Highest Bidder is more pink when used in a watermarble.  The Silk Watercolors are slower to dry than many other polishes, so wait before removing your finger/the remaining watermarble.

Have you tried watermarbling? Love it or hate it?

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8 Replies to “Essie Silk Watercolor Water Marble Nail Art”

  1. This is so gorgeous! I can never get watermarbling to work. The polish always either glops on my nail, or it all slides off when I take my finger out of the water. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. So I’ll just admire this instead.

    1. This is probably the best I have ever managed watermarbling. I usually get a pile of polishes that won’t spread and get bored before I try

  2. I need to practice marbling more.

  3. That turned out perfect!

  4. You were so good at this wm! I don’t think I’ve ever succeded one and stopped trying.

    1. Most of mine fail too! This is the best I have ever managed EVER

  5. This is amazing!!!!!!

  6. […] the debate on watermarbles.  They are some kind of witchery that I just suck at.  I have made one decent watermarble in my life, the only one that I would wear out of the house.  But Day 20 of the #31DC2016 nail art […]

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