Water Spotted Nail Art featuring Zoya Neely and Kristen

Hi everyone!

Today I have a subtle but stunning nail art look to share with you!

I just received my May Ipsy Glam Bag, which included Zoya "Neely" from the Lovely Spring 2013 collection!

Now I have yet to get my hands on the rest of the collection due to my broken car and broken washing machine, but now owning this one I know I must have them all!

First, let's take a look at this beauty.

Neely is a light seafoam green creme.

 The consistency is fantastic like all Zoyas usually are, but I didn't experience some minor dragging and streaking. 

This is really out of character for Zoya polishes, and I think it's only because the polish might have thickened a bit from waiting for me to come rescue it from the hot mailbox.

But not to worry! 

A second coat brought to the creamy opaque color you see in the photos, with no streaks in sight.

Now on to the nail art!

I realized I hadn't done a water marble in quite a while and had been itching to do a water spotted mani.
I wanted the second color to be subtle enough to allow Neely to be the star -- enter Zoya's "Kristen."

I forgot to individually swatch this color, but it's very true to what you see below. 

By now I'm sure you know how the water spotted method works. You drip a few drops of polish into a cup of  water, spritz some hairspray into the polish and dip your nail into the mixture.

I do have an interesting tip I thought I'd share. Now most people recommend using chapstick or vaseline around the finger to protect your skin being covered in excess polish, am I right?

Welp, I found something BETTER.

No, you eyes are fine. That really is cuticle remover. 

I used this and now I'll use nothing else. 

I picked this baby up on a whim when I discovered it on manager's special at Kroger one day. 

Not only is it a great cuticle remover, but it is a fantastic tool for water manis. Now don't get me wrong, chapstick and vaseline work great but they leave your fingers greasy. 

This is much thinner, but not thin enough that it washes away in the water. It's really moisturizing, so when you wipe away the excess polish you're not stripping away the natural oils from your hands.


In addition to that, the brush applicator allows you to reach the cuticle area, so you're actually creating a barrier along the inner edge of you design as well. This simplifies cleanup by one million percent. 

Chapstick and vaseline don't usually provide much protection for this area, leaving you with a messy, hard-to-reach cuticle area to clean. With the cuticle remover, you just wipe and go!

I like that the water spotted manis are less time-intensive than water marbles, and this combo totally worked. 

What do you think of this look?
Will you try cuticle remover for your next water spotted/marble manicure?

Share your thoughts in the comments below and don't forget to give this look some love on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest!

And make sure to check out Zoya on Facebook and Twitter!

Thanks for reading!

-Melody