NAIL ART: Abstract Rainbow Marble Gel Nails

by - May 26, 2023


Sometimes when I sit down to do a mani, I have a completely different idea in mind than what I ultimately end up with and this is definitely one of those times. I had actually intended this mani to be much more of a watercolor design with some high contrast stamping, but in the end I'm actually pretty glad that I had the stumbles that I did along the way because being forced to rethink mid mani definitely changed things up and led to a mani I think is really cute. 

Keep reading for more!


As always, when using gel, I started by applying a peel off base coat to all of my nails and let that dry down completely. Next, because I wanted this  mani to be pretty sheer overall, I went in with my new favorite milky gel polish - the Born Pretty Rubber Base Gel in RBG01*. It's quite thick and distinctly different to apply than other gel polishes, but it levels so beautifully and gives me a perfect sheer white base every time I use it. I cured for 60 seconds and then moved onto the nail art - which is when everything went a little sideways. 


So initially my plan was to use a blooming gel to get a sort of watercolor look to this mani, but my blooming gel apparently cured in the bottle and is now just a lump so this is where I had to adjust. I decided to still apply the marbled look that I was planning on, but without the spread of the blooming gel. I started by applying dots of three different polishes to a palette and then swirling them together with a dotting tool. Next I went in with a gradient brush and dragged some of the marbled polish over my nails, focusing more polish at the base and then dragging it in a thinning line towards the tip. I really liked how this looked, but then I had these bare spots on the nail, so I decided to grab a dotting tool and add three dots of the same marbled polishes to each nail and I absolutely obsessed with those marbled dots. 

Once I was happy with the design and it was all cured, I finished with a matte top coat to give a really smooth, flat finish to the mani. And voila!


All Products Used
Unt Ready For Takeoff Peel Off Base Coat*
Born Pretty Rubber Base Gel - RBG01*
ABGel - B019, B020, B021, B022, B023, B024
Born Pretty Matte Top Coat*
NailStuff.ca Dotting Tool*
NailStuff.ca Nail Art Brush*
Gradient Nail Art Brush (Temu)

* = PR Sample/Affiliate


While I will admit that there are a couple of things I would do differently if I were putting this mani together again, I do really love how it turned out. I particularly love how the different combinations of the same 6 polishes worked to create distinctly different color stories for each marble. That was another one of those things that just sort of happened but I love it. 

Thanks for reading!


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