That marble countertop in your kitchen or even your bathroom may serve as the inspiration for your next manicure.
Women around the world are getting into this popular nail art trend with nearly a million posts on Instagram tagged #marblenails.
Inspired by the sophisticated look of white marble, this nail art manicure takes this same white, black and gray free-form pattern and puts it on your nails. The results are surprisingly cool!
Salons like Vanity Projects in New York City have seen many requests for this look, according to nail artist and salon manager Lia Lopez. Customers request everything from marbling the entire nail to creating a negative space effect and using the marble pattern on just the tips of the nails, she told TODAY Style.
And it's not only about the white and black look. Vanity Projects has also created a natural-looking turquoise effect. Lopez said she uses a light green gel manicure as the base and then adds a gel mixer along with a darker blue polish and blends them together. The nail artist repeats this step using a black polish to achieve a true earthy effect.
But unlike items for your home or even jewelry (in the case of turquoise) where you have to shell out major cash to get the look, you can create this sophisticated nail art right at home.
Christina Klug of the nail salon Paintbox in New York City shared a super easy DIY for creating marbled nails with any color of choice. In just five steps, you can have a professional looking and totally cool manicure. Here's how:
1. Apply a base coat and then one or two coats of a color of your choice. If you're creating the white marble look, then this color would be white.
2. Dot on the color you would like to appear as the marble. For the white-and-black marble look, this is when you apply the black polish.
Pro tip: Make sure the dots are very tiny. Lopez also suggests trying squiggly lines in acrylic paint for a similar effect.
3. Add tiny dots of the first color you put on your nails on top of the previous dots.
4. Using a detail brush, swirl around the colors into an organic, free-form shape.
Pro tip: Lopez said you can also try dipping the brush in thinner or alcohol and going over the squiggly lines to get a blurred look.
5. Apply your favorite top coat.
Pro tip: If you want to give your nails a different finish, try using a matte top coat.
And if the white marble look isn't your thing, you can easily use, neutral, dark or bright polishes of your choice to give your nails more of a tie-dye effect.
This story was originally published Nov. 5, 2015.