31 DAY CHALLENGE, DAY 20: water marble

Last night, I bid sleepy-time adieu to my husband, and announced I was headed off to the "nail room" (ie., Liz's old bedroom) to tackle this week's challenge:  water marbled nails.

You gotta know that John is an attentive guy.  He actually listens to what I say.

He looked at me quizzically and asked, "Didn't you just DO water marbled nails a couple of weeks ago?"

My better half can be forgiven for this little misunderstanding.  See, I've been bitching about this challenge for upwards of a month, and in that time, John's been on the receiving end of my lacquer insanity.  As in the time I cornered him in the kitchen, with fingertips extended, beneath his nose.

"What do you think of these?" I asked.  Desperately.

He was kind.  He said that my first attempt at nail marbling "looked a little abstract."

In truth, that manicure looked like enameled baked ziti.  It was then back into the "nail room" for further experimentation.

Candidly, each subsequent effort was as bad as the one before it.  Eventually I went into Deep Nail Art Denial, refusing to think about the challenge again.

Until yesterday.

Yeah, that's when the deadline for this challenge post was looming large, and an idea popped into my head....

"How about a holiday-inspired water marble?" I asked myself.

"Sure," I told same self.  "Yeah...white poinsettias!  That's the ticket!"

The ubiquitous white poinsettias that decorate these parts every December?  Well, they're not really "white".  They're actually pale yellow.  And it's the local tacky custom that florists jazz things up by sprinkling glitter on those buttery leaves and green foliage.  This concept could easily translate into water marbling! 

Given as how there were no other ideas, brilliant or otherwise, percolating in this brain, I went with the white poinsettia idea.

First I applied Palladio moisturizing base coat, and followed that up with one coat of NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel in French White Tip (134).

With my blank canvas established, I then reached for two China Glaze untrieds:  Agro, from the Hunger Games Collection is a rich olive green, sporting some seriously beautiful gold microshimmer; and Champagne Bubbles, from their 2011 Holiday Collection, is a yellow gold metallic with bits of silver glitter tossed in for good measure.  Not a ton of glitter, but evident, nonetheless.

Now, here's the important part for those who might be thinking about taking a stab at water marble nails themselves...

For the next several hours, I proceeded to curse like a drunken sailor, spill polish Every Freaking Where, and waste an environmentally tragic number of bathroom Dixie Cups.

Yes.  It was THAT bad.

In the end, I'm afraid mine look more like Spinach Nails than Poinsettia Nails.

Buttered Spinach Nails

How about Halloween Mildew Nails?

So, have I completely given up on water marbled nails?
 
Bite your tongue, girlfriend!  I'm going to nail this challenge - no pun intended - one day soon.

Just now now.

Right now...see, I've had my fill of water-logged fingertips and non-stop Tourette-style pronouncements.  It's time for me to breathe deeply, relax, and see what my nail challenge friends have been up to.

I hope you'll join me....

Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Mari at Nailista
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints 
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance 
-Me, Myself, and Polish 

Thanks for stopping by!