Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Peppermint Swirls

I apologize for the too-bright pictures...my room lighting is just too low tonight. I think you get the idea though - fun red & white peppermint-y swirls! I had a ton of fun doing these, but I was up until 3am because, well, things have to dry, and clean-up, while much easier this time still takes...time. But I ramble.

I started things off with a base of China Glaze base coat topped with two coats of CG "White Out".
 You'll notice that my fingers are a little shiny. I was going to use cuticle oil to block the excess polish this time, but in light of our fruit fly problem (which has since been controlled, thank goodness), I decided to use petroleum jelly instead (no scent). For the record, it worked great. 

Then I had the brilliant idea to use glitter polish for swirling. I'll save you the whole sordid story, but just FYI - CG Ruby Pumps and Tinsel do *not* work for water marbling. I started over with Pure Ice "Platinum" and Sinful Colors "Ruby Ruby". Much nicer. 
I should have taken photos of the swirls - I used an orange stick and started in the center, just swirling the colors together. The first one came out a bit too wide:
The rest of my right hand went pretty well though - these fingers were done using red as the first color dropped (first photo above). Are you ready? I told you this was a messy job (ie, really fun!)...
Then I switched it up for my left hand, and dropped the white color first (2nd photo above). I also did the middle three fingers at the same time - worked great!
I look like a sick zebra. LOL After I got done dipping, I put on two coats of Zoya topcoat, and used Qtica half-time drops to dry everything quickly. After it was dry, I used a paper towel to just wipe away the excess polish along with the pet. jelly. The cuticles still needed a little clean-up in the shower this morning, but not much at all.

And voila! Peppermint swirls, all cleaned up.
I've got some Christmas decals for next week, appropriately enough. Until then, happy polishing!

14 comments:

Heidi Sutherlin said...

That is the coolest thing I've seen all week!

Jamie D. said...

Thanks Heidi! :-) Too much fun...

Cel said...

That's so pretty! You make it seem so easy to do this!

Jamie D. said...

Thanks Cel. :-) It is pretty easy once you get the hang of it, though messy and time-consuming. I'd highly recommend putting enough polish in the bowl to cover the surface of the water - it goes a lot faster when you do several fingers at once...

Unknown said...

Is this difficult? I really wanna try it looks so beautiful x

Lois said...

pretty! maybe a stupid question, but how do you cleanup? In your post you say 'in the shower' but what do you mean by that? Haha! :)

Unknown said...

I need to try this. So cool looking :)

Suzan Petersen said...

Great idea! I hope you don't mind but I shared this on my blog and facebook all directing back to your site. Thanks for sharing all your work!

Jamie D. said...

Not at all, Suzan - thanks! :-)

Princess_jjc said...

I have tried this a few times. you should try putting type around your fingers it makes clean up so much easier.

Ire said...

really pretty nails, i wish i could be as good with watermarble, i never get it right!

Anonymous said...

Looks so funny where your fingers are covered in it too!

Laura @ Atlanta Events said...

Love these nails I would like to see it done w/ other colors. Stupid question. What does CG stand for and I am assuming that White Out is the name of a nail polish.?? We use this technique to color easter eggs at easter but with food coloring of course.

Jamie D. said...

Laura - CG is "China Glaze" (I think I mentioned that near the beginning of the post). "White Out" is the name of the polish made by China Glaze. :-)