Tuesday, December 29, 2009

WATER MARBLE MANI UPDATE

Did you know that nail polish will eat through a Styrofoam cup?? In like a matter of minutes?? Well I didn't but I do now!!



I sat down last night to do my water marble mani and immediately ran into problems. I was all prepared with my 10 little cups for each finger, ready to start marbling my nails!!!
When I let the first drop of polish fall into my Styrofoam cup there were problems. The drop sunk right down to the bottom. It wasn't spreading out like I have seen it do for everyone else. So I thought it must be the kind of polish I was using. Nope, same thing with a different brand. SO after about 10 drops of nail polish in my cup I got up to go wash my hands and came back to my table over flowing with water.

I had no clue that nail polish and Styrofoam weren't friends.

The water marble mani saga continues . . .

13 comments:

  1. hahaha i've known this because once i got some polishes in the mail i had to swatch them and all i had was a few Styrofoam plates from a BBQ we had. i just wanted to see the pretty colors when it made the plate almost sizzle and look all weird. haha

    oh well

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  2. I didnt even know that, hmm. Now I want to go try it! lol

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  3. EXCITING! I love chemistry.

    Superglue + styrofoam is also pretty decent fun.

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  4. WOW! LOL that time-lapse is crazy. I didn't know that they were incompatible either, I usually just use a paper cup because that's what's around, only luck prevented me from finding this out the hard way!

    What polishes did you try to use? Even if polish + styrofoam = science experiment, that shouldn't effect the way the polish interacts with the water ... I think.

    One tip is to not drop the polish from too far above the water, drip it from pretty close. I have had colors I know work sink if they get up too much momentum.

    Good luck & I hope you try again soon because the results are so worth it! Let me know if you run into any other specific questions ... I'm no expert but sometimes I realize I know more than I think I do LOL =)

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  5. ANTONEA - Wow, really?? Sizzle sizzle, lol.

    ADORE - Glad to know I wasn't the only one who didn't know this.

    PIXIE - Hmmm, superglue you say? I might have to try that one out, lol.

    COLETTE - I dropped them pretty close to the water. I used an Orly and a Savvy brand polish. I thought maybe it was static electricity from the styrofoam cup that was making the polish sink. Either way, I will for sure give it another go, lol! Maybe third times a charm . . . . :)

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  6. Oh I knew that, but that's only because my dear told me so..
    He loves creating plane/boats models out of styropor and wood...
    And I offered him some of my nail polishes for some painting details, but he said that it would eat it up..

    Good luck with your marbling, next time use plastic or cheramic cups ^^

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  7. Does base polish do that also?
    If so, i'm starting to get worried about what he does to nails, no?
    Hmmm......

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  8. I also experienced the chemical magic of polish + styrofoam plate sometime in my childhood, though I can't recall the context for the life of me.

    I remember when I learned water marbling back in grade school, the guest art teacher put borax in the water and said the oil paints wouldn't reliably stay on top otherwise. I don't know whether it's quite the same with nail polish, but it may be worth a try?

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  9. just a heads up... it doesn't play nice with solo cups either. apparently all solo cups are good for is beer pong. i've got a NASTY polish stain on my pooldeck because the polish/solo cup debacle

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  10. FYI, this happens with plastic cups, too! I finished my marble mani, and I picked up the cup to go dump it and the cup was peeing from a hole the polish had tore into it at the bottom where it'd sunk!!!

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  11. Nice to know all of these things. I thought about using plastic cups. I guess it's a good idea to buy some cheap cups at a yard sale.

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  12. Yes, the same happens to plastic cups as well, the only disposable cups that work are paper dixie cups...I learned this lesson the hard way :)

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