My new favorite thing is nail polish marbling. Have you tried it? I’m always looking for new Easter egg DIYs, and this decorating technique might be one of the most fun ones yet!
The other day I decided to try nail polish marbling on Easter eggs—and then proceeded to work my way through two dozen eggs. It makes me seriously wish I had more colors of nail polish!
And then I had to take roughly a million pictures. Because aren’t they just the coolest?
How to nail polish marble eggs
To marble some eggs with nail polish here’s what you need:
– Eggs. A lot of them. Because once you start you’ll want keep dipping.
– Nail polish in all kinds of fun shades. My Essie polishes worked fine this time—I think it was because I wasn’t trying to make a specific design. And polish with a bit of shimmer looked amazing!
– A plastic cup or bowl filled with room temperature water. This is very important! If the water is too cold or too hot, the polish won’t work. (When I did this nail polish marbling, I learned that using a larger bowl makes dipping much easier!)
– Toothpicks or wooden skewers.
– Nail polish remover. You’ll need this to get the polish off your fingers when you’re done. Or you can do what I did and wear plastic gloves!
Once your water has reached room temperature, you can start the process of dropping lots of nail polish into the water. If it sinks, the temperature isn’t right.
Start with just a bit of polish at first and pour slowly—you want to give the polish time to form a film along the top of the water. This helps the additional polish colors float a bit better. Once you have your first few colors added, you’ll want to continue to add polish and spread it out over the top of the water.
Have fun playing with colors and mixing them up to create interesting color palettes! There are so many pretty and affordable nail polish lines in fun, modern colors that have come out this spring, and I had a good time creating color stories that I was excited to show off on Easter Sunday. (Let’s just say I took my time in the nail polish aisle!)
Then take some time to evaluate your work—if you’d like to create more of a swirled effect with the colors, use a toothpick or skewers to swirl the colors a bit. The nail polish I poured already had a nice swirling, marbled effect, so I didn’t have to do much additional swirling.
To dunk an egg, hold it between your fingers so that you cover the least amount of surface area on the egg. Then dunk straight down into the water, hold for a second underwater and then bring it up.
Expert tip: if you use a larger container, you’ll have more space to roll the egg around under the water and turn it over so you can bring it up on the blank side. This helps cover the entire egg with polish.
Place the egg in a carton or a paper plate and let it dry. (I liked the paper plate because it offered a no-mess solution where the eggs touched as little of the surface as possible when drying to reduce smudging.)
Yes, your fingers will get a bit messy. I tried dunking the eggs with skewers or spoons, and nothing worked as well as my hands. I ended up using some plastic gloves that worked like a charm!
Have you decorated any eggs for Easter yet? I dyed some with the kids last weekend and it was really hard to share with them while decorating because it was just so fun!
If black and white is more your style, check out these minimal black & white marbled eggs with polish. You can also make some DIY nail polish marbled planters to spruce up your patio using a similar method.
DIY Nail Polish Marbled Eggs FAQ
Can I use non-toxic nail polish for this DIY?
Yes and no. While I added some non-toxic polishes I already had at home to the mix, I found they didn’t work as well as some of the less expensive, traditional nail polishes you find in the beauty aisle.
So while I definitely recommend using nail polishes that are free of toxic ingredients for at-home manicures—check our guide to non-toxic nail polishes for some of our favorite brands—traditional polishes seem to work better for this DIY. I would encourage you to experiment and see which works best for you!
I can’t get my nail polish to float on top of the water. What am I doing wrong?
Try pouring the water into your cup or bowl ahead of time and letting it sit awhile on the counter to come to room temperature. If the water is too cold or too hot, the polish won’t float.
Though it’s important to note, some of my nail polish did sink or disperse slightly on my first few pours. This is why it’s important to pour slowly and just add a little bit of polish at once.
Once you start to create that initial film of polish along the surface of the water, it seems to create a thicker surface that helps “support” the rest of the polish you’re adding.
Won’t the fumes from the nail polish be strong when you’re decorating these eggs?
Yes, somewhat. While I didn’t find it bothersome or overwhelming, if you are sensitive to those kinds of scents, I would suggest doing this project outside on the patio with the kids on a nice, sunny day. This project can get messy, so that’s a great way to get better ventilation with easier options for cleaning up.
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DIY Nail Polish Marbled Eggs
Materials
- Eggs
- Plastic cup or bowl
- Nail polish in variety of shades
- Toothpicks or wooden skewers
- Nail polish remover (optional)
- Plastic gloves (optional)
Instructions
- Pour water into bowl or cup and let it come to room temperature.
- Drop lots of nail polish into the water, working slowly at first. If the polish sinks, the temperature isn't right. Add enough polish to ensure it spreads out over top of water.
- If you'd like to create more of a swirled effect with the polishes, use a toothpick or wooden skewer to swirl colors a bit.
- Dunk eggs one at a time, holding each between your fingers to cover the least amount of surface area on the egg. Dunk egg straight down into the water, hold for a second underwater and then bring it up. (Wearing gloves for this step helps to keep hands from getting too messy.)
- If you use a larger container, you can roll each egg around under the water to turn it over and bring it up on the blank side to cover all of the egg with polish.
- Place each egg in a carton or on a paper plate and let it dry fully. Enjoy!
Great way to make kids happy.
merci pour votre idée, belle passion
merci pour votre idée, belle passion
These eggs look magical.
Hope you are doing well.
Its really amazing content.By the way the eggs are so beautiful.And I loved the way that you’ve expressed here.
remember trying a marbling kit one Easter when I was a kid, mantap jiwa
It awesome .. i will do it
I really want try it at home
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That looks beautiful!!!!
I really like this post. You write it very well.
Good post.
So Inspiring, I’m now OMG when I saw the way you did that.
Those are fantastically cool!
Thanks….
Thanks
This is so cool- I would never think to do this
Thanks
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wow! These are really fantastic
good information with full and clear information
I’m over the top crushing on this….TQ
These nail polishes are extremely gorgeous. Nice .
Just use latex gloves! Voila!????
it looks less intimidating than doing it on nails !
So perfect for Easter.
Nice Information, Very useful
very good for the article. Thanks so much
Those are fantastically cool!!!!
Just in time before eastern. My kids will love them.
Cooooool. Nice article.
Wanna do it now, thanks for posting…
These are absolutely gorgeous, Steph! What an amazing idea…you come up with such lovely stuff.
Ronnie xo
I’ll try this stuff
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That look so fun, I will try at home
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Nice for sharing…TQ
These are so darn cute and they look super easy to make. We’re not one of those couples that celebrates Valentine’s Day either
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That looks beautiful!!!! I’ve seen that on Pinterest for doing your fingernails, but never thought about it on eggs before!, If you use blown eggs, with a long craft needle, you could thread a knotted piece of thread or fishing line through both ends and dip it. That would prevent getting polish on your hands AND you could hang them to dry
as trying a marbling kit one Easter. its awesome thanks for sharing
as trying a marbling kit one Easter when I was a kid and those eggs did NOT turn out well. but its awesome thanks
Those are fantastically cool, Very festive and fun!
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That looks beautiful!!!! I’ve seen that on Pinterest for doing your fingernails, but never thought about it on eggs before! Gorgeous!!
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That looks beautiful!!!! I’ve seen that on Pinterest for doing your fingernails, but never thought about it on eggs before! Gorgeous!!
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Love the result ! And somehow, it looks less intimidating than doing it on nails !
No doubt!! It’s great share @STEPHANIE GERBER. but one thing need to know. This tricks can be more hard egg?
Thank’s again :)
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Nice Thanx I would never think to do this!
If you want to do this but are concerned about using the nail polish on hard boiled eggs, just do it with hollow egg shells instead. Blow the eggs out, wash the shells, leave them to dry and then scramble the eggs up for breakfast. After breakfast, have fun dipping the shells in nail polish or anything else you want to dip them in.
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DO NOT EAT THEM!! We tried this with a few of our eggs. They certainly did not look like the pictures above. but when we went to peel them the next day they REEKED!. The chemical reaction with the inside of the egg was pretty unpleasant. (Like very, VERY rotten onions and eggs!) I think the only way to decorate with nail polish is on an empty (blown) eggshell.
Eat,Don’t do it nail polish is poison,that’s why food colors are used. Should be wearing gloves,of latex if not allergic,line bowls disposable ones in waxed paper you’ve greased. Our Daughter and Grand did this Glorious Easter morn,they are off to the hardware store for Acetone,1 bottle fingernail polish won’t get it.
Can u eat them
Are you using hard boiled eggs? Can you eat them after?
Would the wire holder that comes in Easter egg coloring kits work for holding the eggs while dipping them ?
I have tried that and the egg slips around too much. A wider bowl definitely helps with the mess factor though!
Egg shells are permeable, so I wouldn’t want to eat a hard boiled egg that was colored with nail polish. They’re pretty for blown out eggs, though.
very riveting
it works better if you get the egg yolk and whites out first so it doesn’t go of so quickly and lasts for ever
BEWARE! Tried this. Eggs turned out ok, but after storing in frig, the smell contaminated everything! Still trying to get smell and taste of polish out of foods. Had to toss perfectly good fruits, veggies and meat. Even wrapped food tastes like chemical after weeks. May be pretty but definitely not safe or practical from a chemical perspective.
Are the eggs edible with the nail polish on the shell??
I would not want to chance getting sick from eating them just in case some of the chemicals from nail polish leaches into the inside of the egg shell.
it says this covers abput half the egg do you just turn it round and redip to do the other side or can you only do one side? sorry if this is a daft question
You can blow the eggs and decorate the shells. With care they last forever and some even make nice christmas tree ornaments. After dipping, spray with a sealant glaze.
Thought it might work well with pollystarine (?spelling) eggs. Stick a cocktail stick in one end then dip in solution. Take out then use other end of stick to stand it in flower foam to dry. These would look nice in a bowl and could be brought out each year. Or pin a ribbon in to hang on twigs.
If you can no longer find the wire tool that was used for egg dyeing, why not try to bend a wire coat hanger into the desired shape? I think this would give your finished eggs a more “polished” (sorry, couldn’t resist) look. ;)
Yes, you can definitely try that! I just haven’t had much luck with anything other than my hands…
An important question: can we eat that eggs or the decoration is just for pleasure??? Very beautiful, I’d love to do it, but someone tells that we can not it them
Well, that’s up to you Marina. Some folks are worried about traces of polish. But we ate them and lived :)
So your saying not to worry about the poisons that WILL seep through? Dibutyl phthalate, toluene, and formaldehyde.
If they seep though your fingernails, it WILL seep through an egg that has millions of tiny holes so the baby chick don’t die.
I think if you colored the eggs first with the normal egg coloring it then did the nail polish dip you would have the whole egg colored.
I understand that if you use petroleum jelly (vaseline) on your fingers, the nail polish comes off without remover. Haven’t tried it, just read it.
My nieces are gonna love this one! This will be the first Easter I get to spend with them, and there’s nothing they love more than painting their fingernails right now. They’re gonna love it! I’m not sure if they can eat these eggs afterwards .. .so we’ll probably do a few just for fun. Thanks!
These eggs are absolutely original!! Thank you for your tips!
haha! these are great! We have an annual Easter egg bashing fight at work…these would be stronger than the plain old dyed eggs! Might actually win the fight!
Can i eat the eggs after this? :)
You’ve got to be kidding me! This is brilliant! I want to to do everything in swirl nail polish.
I don’t think that’s a craft fail! They look pretty cool to me!
Oh thank you doll :)))) I think I just had super high expectations! Anyway, it was fun and that’s all the matters right?! =D
They look super cool. I’m gunna try today.
Oh, these are absolutely gorgeous, Steph! What an amazing idea…you come up with such lovely stuff.
Ronnie xo
These are beautiful! Love how vibrant the colors are!
Hi, these look fabulous so I tried them yesterday. I have a couple of concerns and mine did not turn out even half way so nice as the ones on the photos. Firstly, the smell is unbearable. I didn’t realise how bad it was until my daughter called out from the bathroom two rooms away asking what I am up to and I only did two eggs by then. I took them out to the balcony right away and had to keep the windows open for an hour in the flat – being nearly 0 Celsius outside. Well, it is just my story :)
Today I thought I take them in and see, but it is not because of their looks that I will not have them inside but again their smell. They stink big time! So for me this project is a no-no…. I am so sad :(
I worked with hollow eggs btw and they work fine if you can stick them onto something, easier to dry them anyway.
It sounds like your eggs were out of date :/
The eggs didn’t smell the nail polish did. The smell of the nail polish is absolutely horrid and lingers for hours!
what a great idea, these look fantastic! thanks for sharing :)
Wow, that is very cool – love your eggs!! I’ve got this linked to my Easter eggs DIY post too today, thanks for posting your tutorial!
It is not working… Looks cool under the water but when it comes out… It looks crappy…
Mine look crappy just out of the water too! (see the pic above) How do they look after they have a chance to dry?
I cannot wait to try this!
Thanks for sharing!
Messy project. Keep area well ventilated because of he fumes. It’s difficult to cover all sides of the egg. Worked well on plastic eggs, strung on fishing line (allowed for smudge free drying and dipping) and coverage of the egg.
Those are so pretty!
& why not use a wire dipper like the 1s that come w/ egg dyeing kits? I’m old enough to remember when you could buy egg marbling kits that used lacquer paints similar to nail polish. We placed the dipped eggs on waxed paper to dry.
We ate the eggs too – not sure if that did us any good, tho…..
I remember those kits too. The dyes came in glass bottles with bunny heads for the tops. I’ve been looking for that type for years!!!
Ruby’s Easter egg dye. They stopped making it.
Hinkle still make the egg colors for marbleizing, Check out their website
i wanna try this with some beads!
Oh my…..how awesome!!!!!
Great idea, my daughter does her nails like this all the time. Why not try it on plastic eggs too? Put a string through the end first, dip and hang it to dry. ********* You certainly wouldnt want to eat the egg after doing this.
Love the results we are going to give this a try when we do eggs next wk thanks!
First, please don’t get me wrong, these eggs are very lovely. But I think it’s definitely important to note that nail polish usually contains several seriously dangerous toxins, and egg shells are porous, so you really wouldn’t want to eat them after they’ve been dipped in nail polish.
I was thinking the same thing. So, maybe doing this on plastic eggs – although I think there are easier, less smelly, and cleaner methods. :)
Oh man, or taping off the tip of little girls Easter shoes an marbleizing the the tips of the shoes! I hope that made sense. Then you could paint polka dots or little eggs over the rest of the shoes. My mind is spinning! Thank you so much for this inspiration.
They are gorgeous! Think about using big jewelry beads ands stringing them up into festive spring jewelry!
This is so cool! I love how vivid all the colors are!
These are SO pretty – makes me want to color eggs! Haha!
If you use blown eggs, with a long craft needle, you could thread a knotted piece of thread or fishing line through both ends and dip it. That would prevent getting polish on your hands AND you could hang them to dry
Sounds good but I’m not sure a hollow egg would sink in the water? Did you try it yet? Maybe you could roll it around on the top?
Also, we use paint and a cheap tin (pie tin, roasting tin etc. from Dollar Tree) same thing and no messy fingers – just put a piece of poster board in the bottom and squirt lines of paint on it then put in the egg (one at a time) and roll it around until it’s covered the way you want it – you will also get a pretty cool looking piece of poster board to use some other crafty way!! Happy Crafting!!
These are so cool, Sofia would be very impressed with the Easter bunny who brought these eggs :)
Very festive and fun!
I’m over the top crushing on this. LOVE the vibrant colors!
Is it safe to eat the eggs afterwards?
I personally wouldn’t eat hard boiled eggs that have been colored with anything other than a food grade dye.
These are AMAZING!! I’ve been dying to try this marbling technique. I love these colors!
I remember trying a marbling kit one Easter when I was a kid and those eggs did NOT turn out well. Who knew the secret was nail polish?! These are so pretty!
Those are fantastically cool!
Wow! This are gorgeous! I’m so used to seeing marbling applications in pastels. These are really striking. Very well done!
What beautiful colors! So perfect for Easter.
They are gorgeous!! I’m using this technique to paint a tray ;)
That looks beautiful!!!! I’ve seen that on Pinterest for doing your fingernails, but never thought about it on eggs before! Gorgeous!!
This is so cool- I would never think to do this!