How To: Spring Faux-Marble Nails

Inspiration for my beauty tutorials comes in the most random of places. A snippet of something will inspire me with the end result being nothing related to the original idea. Today's nail tutorial inspiration comes from my dad who just passed away. Seriously--hear me out. My dad was a jack of all trades: a scuba diver, he hunted arrowheads, he played the blues harmonica, and he painted rooms and houses.

When I was back home to see him and my family a few weeks ago, I was reminded of his talent as I walked through the rooms at my Grandmother's. There's one room he painted that looks like faux marble. I've done plenty of marble nails before (see my Christmas Marble Nails for a recent example)  and traditional water marble nails can be a very tedious process. Inspired by that faux-marble wall and the spring flowers I saw back home, I wanted to share an easy version. I'm serious--this is FOOL-PROOF! And you have everything you need to recreate this.

You'll Need:

• base/top coat
• at least 2 polishes from the same color family (one dark and one light)
• bit of saran wrap or tissue paper or plastic grocery bag
• scrap piece of cardboard, thick paper, or paper plate
• polish remover (for clean up)

Paint a base coat to protect the natural nail. Once dry, paint your darkest shade of polish and allow to dry.

Pour a little of the light polish onto your paper plate (or scrap cardboard). Scrunch up a little piece of saran wrap (cling film), or tissue paper or a plastic grocery bag. The more scrunched up the better! I like to keep my piece similar to the size of my nail so there's less clean up. Dab the section into the polish and blot off the extra polish. Then, just dab onto your nail. That's it!

Don't like the design you got? Take another piece of saran wrap and paint the original color on it. Then dab over the light color. You can also use a plain scrunched up piece to take away color. Don't over think it. Just have fun! I also like doing an accent nail in reverse colors. Sometimes I'll add 3 colors of polish for the "marble."

Extra Elle:

• I tried the Starbucks Birthday Cake frapp--way too sweet for my sweet tooth, but I used the cream in my coffee. Win!
• I watched the Justin Bieber Roast. I can't believe I just admitted that. It was hilarious. And completely nsfw. Did I ever tell you about the time I randomly met him on the street 5 yrs ago in Atl? 
• Don't forget this awesome giveaway!