01 September 2014

The 31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2.0, Day One: Red

Hi everyone! Today's the day that myself, Kelli of The Nail Polish Challenge, and Lindsey from Wondrously Polished start our challenge. In case you missed it, I introduced it in this post. All of us have done the original 31 Day Challenge, and we felt like we wanted to do something a bit different this year, so we modified it to make it more interesting, and more challenging!

Red marble nail art
Red marble nail art


For Day One we had the choice of red nails or orange nails, so I chose red. Orange just doesn't inspire  many ideas, so the choice was an obvious one. And while I could have done so many things with the colour red, I decided to revisit one of my favourite nail art techniques, but this time with a twist.

Red marble nail art
Red marble nail art

About this design:

I call this technique a disrupted water marble - it's very similar to the water spotted method, except I never really get spots, just interesting veins of colours. You can see previous versions here, here, and here. I remember on one of my more recent versions, several people commented that it looked like actual marble, so I decided to run with it. Although black/grey veins would make it look more realistic, that's not the point! I combined it with a marble 3D embellishment I got from The Nail Room.

Red marble nail art
Red marble nail art

To get this look:

The technique is quite simple, start off like you would with a regular water marble. But before dipping your nail in the water, you disrupt it with a few spritz of hairspray. For the accent nail I started with a white base, and used a dry brush technique and dragged the red on top. Make sure to seal the white with top coat first, so it doesn't drag in with the red.

Red marble nail art
Red marble nail art

  • Base: Sally Hansen White On
  • Watermarble: OPI OPI Red, Cult Nails Nevermore (black)
  • Accent nail: OPI OPI Red, 3D marble stone and frame from The Nail Room (this size is no longer available, but you can find a smaller size here)
  • Nail Glue (for the marble embellishment): Winstonia Store
  • Top Coat: KBShimmer Clearly On Top

Red marble nail art
Red marble nail art

Final Thoughts: 

If you follow this blog much, you know that I like to use studs every now and then. But larger 3D charms and embellishments just don't happen here... until today. So the marble stone feels a bit odd, like I need to ease the viewer into it with some other studs or something. Don't get me wrong, I've been wanting to use the marble stone with frame, and I like how I tied it in with the disrupted water marble.

Red marble nail art (detail)
Red marble nail art (detail)

I also included some close ups of the water marble. One of the cool things about this technique is the unexpected results that you get!

Red marble nail art (detail)
Red marble nail art (detail)

So what do you think of Day One? How would you tackle the "Red" prompt?

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20 comments:

  1. These look great! There very scary and vampy to me.

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    1. Thank you Lisa! I also get a bit of a vampy vibe too. :)

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  2. I love it Meghan. I decided to take part on the original 31DC2014 and fill its purpose this year, because last year I did it in 31 weeks instead.
    A friend Brazilian blogger told me about your challenge on Instagram, but I had already settled for the other challenge. I'll certainly join it next year if you guys do it again. :-D

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    1. Thanks Giovanna! And yes, we are very tentatively planning on doing the challenge again next year in some form (it's much too early to make plans though), so it would be great if you joined in. :)

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  3. This is just gorgeous! The first time I tried water marbling, it came out looking just like that and I thought I had failed so I never posted it on my blog or Instagram. Now I'm seeing it in a whole new light.

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    1. Thank you Nadia! I actually enjoy water marbles that don't turn out perfect. I much prefer the unexpectedness that you get from the technique, rather than trying to control it. I hope you'll post future attempts. :)

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  4. Wow this is so gorgeous!!! I love the mix of red, white and a bit of black! It's almost patriotic for us Canadians :p

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    1. Thanks Hetal! That's my kind of patriotism! :D

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  5. i LOVE this :) Gonna join in on a weekly/two times a week base since i dont have much time and strong nails right now but i will try :)

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    1. Thank you! And I'd love to see what you come up with. :)

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  6. I love this technique and how you paired it with the black/grey nail decoration :)

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  7. Meghan, how did you feel about stepping out of your comfort zone and using the large 3D embellishment? I really like the look because it's still classy (not raunchy/scary biker babe, although that's a "look," too!). The coordination of the colors, technique, and charm really "make" this mani!

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  8. ohgod *-* i love it! It's really cool

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  9. I love the look. I almost can see painting an eye iris on one of the nails for Halloween, making it look like a bloodshot eye.

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  10. This is stunning! I've actually never heard of this technique, but I do live under a rock, so maybe that explains it? I'm going to need to try it very soon!

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  11. Absolutely stunning! I couldn't get it to work with my hairspray though, can you please please tell me what kind you used???

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    1. Thank you! And I use L'Oreal Elnett Satin, it's in an aerosol type can - not a pump. It's actually the only hairspray I own and I got it as a free sample, so maybe it was fortuitous that it worked. :)

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  12. Thanks girl! I will definitely be trying that soon. I'm totally in love with the look it creates, it's just so random & wispy and different than the regular water marble look :)))

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    1. Thank you! And I hope it works out for you. There's definitely lots of disrupted/water spotted water marbles out there, but for some reason the effect I get tends to look a bit different.

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