I decided to try nail marbling again! I wanted to use my favorite color combination, black, white, & gold. Unlike my first black, white, & gold marble manicure, I wanted to make this a negative space manicure to give my nails a lighter look because we’re having some spring weather (that won’t last much longer, thanks mid-west winters 😓). In my original idea I had planned on making gold marbled streaks on top of the black, but once I had the black done, I couldn’t bear to risk messing my nails up.
To do these nails, I first used tape to block off the negative space along with what will become the gold stripe, then painted on a white base.
Once that was dry, I put tape up to the edge of the white and on the negative space to create the gold stripe.
Then I used a small amount of crinkled up plastic wrap to blot on black polish onto paper.
Once I had a lighter amount of polish on my plastic wrap, I (tried to) lightly blot it onto my nails, including the negative space. I tried to smudge each nail right after by flicking my finger across the nail to help give it the marbled effect.
Some of my nails had too much black blotted on, so I used a q-tip soaked in nail polish remover to lightly lift some excess polish. Then I used the q-tip to smudge more of my nails because it was working so well. Note: Try not to get too carried away because then you’ll hit bare nail!
Lastly, I used a top coat to smudge even more of the black polish. I suggest making sure the negative space gets completely covered first before dragging the brush all the way down to the ends. I also suggest wiping the brush off with remover after every single nail. Note: Using top coat also helps to make the negative space section look intentional.
A Trace of Lace 