Marble/Stone Nail Art

Today I have more submissions for the Nail It! Magazine, on the theme of Marble/Stone.

The purple is my favorite, of course. I started with a lavendar base of "Sugar Plum Fairy" from Funky Fingers. I used the Sharpie technique with dark purple, Next, I grabbed some more purples and some black polish, and began sponging it on in various spots. It didn't look "soft" enough for me, so I grabbed a small paint brush and some acetone to gently brush the sponging, making it look more like watercolor. Finally, I added just a little bit of ivory polish (sponged) and the tiniest amount of glitter. A coat of matte polish completes this look. :)

I love opals, and I just received the film to create the shattered nail look, so I decided to see if I could combine these two ideas. I started with an ivory base of "Lil Miss Sunshine" by Funky Fingers. I then cut small slivers of the shatter film (I got from Born Pretty Store) and attached them to the nail with a little top coat. I sponged on pink, orange, purple and blue from the OPI Sheer Tints, and sealed everything in with a top coat. This was super easy to do - the most time consuming part was cutting the little slivers into the perfect lengths (and not losing them!)

My final design is modeled after Ammolite, which is actually an iridescent material found on extinct ammonite fossils. The variety of color found in this substance is stunning. I painted my nail with a green base, and began sponging on colors - orange, red, black, grey, green - and then softened up the lines with some acetone (this is the watercolor technique again). With a fine brush I painted on the black lines, finishing my design with a little glitter and a matte top coat.

Which one is your favorite?!?