All that glitters may not be gold, but it is definitely pretty! Who doesn’t love some shiny glistening nails to add some pizzazz to a look? With these hacks, you can live your best sparkly life without any hassles.
1. Taking Glitter Off In One Swoop
As pretty as #glitter is, taking it off is one of the worst things! It gets everywhere!. And when it's in nail polish, it adheres stronger than fevicol! This makes taking it off a big pain.
Materials: Cotton, acetone and aluminium foil
Method: Take a thin piece of cotton, long and wide enough to cover your entire nail. Saturate it with acetone (not acetone free remover). Place it onto your nail and dab to ensure complete contact with the polish. Using a piece of aluminium foil, wrap the nail so that the #acetone doesn’t evaporate. Leave it on for 5 minutes if the layer of glitter is thin, and 10 minutes if the layer is thick. After the time is up, gently press on the nail and pull the foil off along with the cotton so that the glitter stays stuck inside. If any specks of glitter are left, just wipe away with some remover. Wash your hands and apply some nail #oil or hand cream to restore any moisture lost because of the acetone.This method can be done for glitter #gel polish too, albeit with some buffing of the top layers.
It takes ages to remove glitter polish in the conventional way using cotton and nail polish remover. With the ‘foil method’, you can take the glitter off in a jiffy.
2. Increase Pay-Off
Glitter nail paints always look gorgeous in the bottle, but when you go to apply it, it's mostly clear jelly base and a few specks of glitter here and there? Here's the solution.
Materials: Glitter polish and makeup sponge
Method: First apply a thin layer of the glitter polish. If the polish has a clear base, or you want another colour to peek through the glitter, apply a layer of base polish in colour of choice. Let dry. Now take a makeup #sponge. It doesn’t have to be an expensive one like your beauty blender, get a regular makeup sponge which you get in bulk for cheap. Now apply your glitter polish at the tip of the sponge. Wait a few seconds to let the sponge absorb most of the #jelly base. Now dab the sponge onto the nail. This will deposit the glitter particles minus the copious amounts of jelly. Let dry. Repeat till you achieve the desired amount of glitter coverage you want. If you feel the sponge isn’t absorbing the base of the glitter polish anymore, just cut off that portion of the sponge and use the freshly exposed side. Seal everything with a glossy topcoat.
This hack maximises the amount of glitter without having to glob on thick layers of polish which never dry. Voila, highest glitter levels achieved.
3. Get a Smooth Finish
Why does glitter nail polish feel rough and scratchy to touch? Well, glitter nail paint at the end of the day, is tiny flecks of glitter suspended in a liquid base. These particles have rough edges which aren’t #smooth to touch, and may not photograph well because of all the angles the light bounces off. This is a technique usually used in gel polish and extensions to smoothen the surface and get a fabulous even finish.
Materials: Nail buffer and quick drying top coat.
Method: Apply your glitter nail polish and let dry. Now apply two thick layers of a quick drying top coat. Let dry and harden completely. Now take a nail buffer and using its ‘smoothening side’ (1000 grid buffer), gently buff the top layer of the nails till it feels smooth to touch. Go gentle and slow so as to not mess up the nail. If you feel the glitter might be flaking off, that's your cue to stop. If you accidentally #buff too much and leave a patch of your nail bare, just sponge some glitter on and repeat the process. Once smooth, take the ‘shine side’ (8000 grid buffer) and gently buff to smoothen out the entire nail. Dust away all the polish buffed and seal with a glossy top coat.
There you have it, smooth glitter nails that look like you had gotten done at the salon.
4. Hide Outgrown Nails
Spent a fortune getting your nails done and they look #outgrown within a week? On a vacation and can’t get your extensions refilled or touch up your nails? Maybe you like the colour or the nail art and want to wear it longer? Glitter to the rescue! With this hack, you can wear your nails longer than what your nail #growth might permit.
Materials: Glitter polish and top coat.
Method: Clean your nails thoroughly so there's no oil or dust particles. Take an opaque glitter polish, which has a coloured base (preferably silver or gold) and paint it on the overgrowth where the nails are bare. Let dry. Now apply a second layer at the same spot, but this time pull in a little further down to make it look like a glitter gradient. Once dry, seal with a glossy #top coat.
There you go, no more overgrown nails, but a fabulous glitter gradient manicure instead.
5. Fix Chipped Nails
This will help save a manicure which was otherwise fine, or if you’re in a fix and can't redo your nails anytime soon.
Materials: Glitter polish and top coat.
Method: Clean your nails thoroughly so there's no oil or dust particles. Take an opaque glitter polish, which has a coloured base complimenting your current nail colour and paint it on the tips where the polish has #chipped. Let dry. Now apply a second layer at the same spot, but this time pull in a little further up to make it look like a glitter gradient. Once dry, seal with a glossy top coat. From drab to fab, just like that!
Similar to hiding the overgrowth of your nails, you can use glitter polish to cover up any nail #chips or wearing off at the tips.
6. Instant Galaxy Nails
Have glitter polishes that have a lot of clear base and hardly any glitter payoff? It’s their time to shine now.
Materials: Dark base nail paint & purple/black glitter nail paint.
Method: Paint your nails in a dark base colour, preferably black. Let dry. Then apply a thin layer of purple/black glitter nail paint on top. You can layer different glitters if you have, but don’t overdo it. The dark base should still be visible. Seal your mani with a glossy topcoat.
Here’s your personal starry night on your hands.
7. MakeUp Glitter Nails
Have jars of glitter gathering dust in your makeup drawer that you used once at a music festival? Maybe you bought them, but never really used them because of all the fallout? Now you can use them on your nails and have a fabulous manicure instead.
Materials: Loose glitter, base colour polish, top coat, fanbrush or cuticle pusher.
Method: Paint your nails in a base colour which compliments the glitter best. Let dry. Now apply a layer of top coat on just one nail. Now before the top coat dries, sprinkle the loose glitter so it falls evenly. You can use a fanbrush, a cuticle pusher or your hands to do so (keep a scrap piece of paper below so that you can clean up the mess easily). Wait for the top coat to dry and dust off the excess glitter using the fanbrush. Be gentle so as to not remove the glitter which might be weakly stuck. Repeat the process for all nails one by one. Give a final tap to remove any loose glitter and seal with a thick layer of top coat You can leave them as is or use the above mentioned smoothening hack to even out the surface.
Voila, glitter nails using #makeup which otherwise would never get a chance to be used. You can also use craft glitter for this hack as long as it is sealed properly and you don't ingest it.
8. Cover Up Messy Nail Art
Ever spent hours on a nail art and it turned out ugly? Bumped freshly painted nails and got a dent in the polish? Worry not! A little bit of glitter will cover all your mistakes, well nail #mistakes that is.
Materials: Glitter Topcoat
Method: If you want to cover up nail art that doesn’t look great or straight up messy, let it dry completely and then put on a layer of a holographic glitter topcoat. The flecks of glitter will catch light and distract from any flaws which might have been outright jarring. If you’ve bumped freshly painted nails, first take your thumb and wet it a bit and gently try to squish and flatten the dent. Don’t try to perfect it, because it wont. Once dry, top it with a nice chunky glitter top coat. Seal with a glossy top coat.
Voila, nails rescued and you won’t have to redo them.
9. Play With Different Bases
Have translucent glitter which only shows up on black nail polish? You can get more use from it by layering up on different coloured bases and getting effects of varied intensity.
Materials: Glitter top coat, piece of blank paper, light and dark nail paints.
Method: On a piece of blank white paper, swatch small patches of base colours of choice. Choose light and dark #shades, and different colours. Let dry. Now take your translucent glitter polish and shake and mix it thoroughly so that the glitter is evenly distributed. Apply one thin layer of the glitter topcoat on all the swatches. Let dry. Now look at the swatches in different lights(natural, direct sunlight, white light, phone flash). You’ll find that the glitter acts differently varying upon the shade of base colour and type of light.
Choose your favourite combo and paint it on your nails. There you have it, one topper, infinite combinations.