Be prepared!! Make sure everything is near you.

Pre-peel tape, have a napkin available to wipe off your toothpick/orange stick, have several toothpicks/orange sticks available, have nail polish remover and Q-tips ready to go, have your base coat ready in case you mess up and need to try again, have a garbage or somewhere to put your used tape.


If you're just starting out, do not use expensive, discontinued, or rare polishes.

I highly suggest taping off your finger.

Make sure you tape off AROUND your cuticle, not onto your nail.

Use a cup, not a bowl.

If the design is not going the direction you like after multiple attempts to save it, you might just have to give up.

Don't start your design at the outer most ring.

Warm water is not better.

If you have short nails and/or you're new to water marbling, don't do a lot of colors.

Seriously make sure your water surface is clear of polish.

Be aware of large drops of polish.

Make sure your workspace is disposable or you're ok with it getting ruined.

Be conscious of your other nails when you're dipping.

Paint your ENTIRE nail with your base color.

Not all polish works.

This is a trial and error process. Just like quality varies from polish to polish, good water marbling polishes vary as well. Generally, the thicker the polish, the worse it'll be in the water. So if it's a gummy kinda polish, it probably won't spread well. However, you can get sheer colors that sink right to the bottom and don't even spread at all. You just have to experiment.


Do NOT blow on your nails, do NOT shake them.


Take your time and be patient.

Posted by Sam,