As soon as the rainbow colored glitter arrived, I knew that this design by Beaching Nails was the one I wanted to imitate. Using loose glitter, rather than a glitter polish, is the key to the dimension and reflection that this design shows off. With or without the stamping, this is a fun look that would make any special occasion that much more festive!
I hope you'll read the entire post to find out how these glitter nails were done and where to get this great glitter (it comes in 8 color varieties!)
I wouldn't call myself a glitter freak, but I do get fascinated sometimes with the look of glitter in nail designs. I've dabbled with both kinds of glitter polishes - those with a colored or crelly base that you can wear alone or over polish undies, and with those that come swimming in clear polish bases to wear as "toppers" over other polishes. But, I've never played with loose glitter in nail art until now.
While I found it unnecessary after the fact, I applied a black creme polish to all of my nails including those that I wanted to put the glitter on. I was able to easily achieve total coverage by immediately pouring the glitter over a layer of wet top coat. Then after a little bit, I gently patted the glitter all over the nail surface.
I worked over a plastic dinner plate to help contain the extra glitter and and to put it back into the container when I was done.
In the photo above, you can see that I had previously applied cuticle cream around my nails causing more glitter to temporarily stick to my skin. Next time, I would skip that step until after the excess glitter was removed (which I did mostly with a soft brush and then by running cold water on my nails after I was sure all of the top coat was dry).
One last look at the glitter on my nails without the stamping (above)...it was a nice dense layer of glitter that caught all kinds of reflections in all types of light. (The photos were all taken with a daylight bulb and flash, in front of either an off-white or light grey background.)
And, now with the stamping - done right on top of the glitter:
In this photo (above) you can see the extra sparkle in the ring finger that is out of focus. The stamping image enhanced the overall design (I think) and I was quite pleased with how it came out. Although, I admit, I held my breath each time I stamped as there was no way but to start all over again if the stamp didn't take just right. But. I found no trouble at all. I used stamping polish and my favorite stamper from Winstonia that has a soft stamper head that I just pressed my nail right into to transfer the design.
Similarly to the previous post design I made of the strawberries, this was another quick one to make - but had a great impact! And, another confession, I was twirling my fingers in front of my face all afternoon. I liked the pattern I stamped with - those nails almost looked like stained glass windows found in a church.
To give you an idea of the sparkle - I used my camera to capture a short video snippet of me moving my fingers around in the light. Please, be kind - I have not yet become familiar with video editing software - so this is the raw footage (intentionally out of focus at first to better show the sparkle):
And, worth the mention: if you didn't want to wear the glitter like this - you can purchase empty polish bottles, clear nail polish and even mixing balls to make your own glitter polishes. The Born Pretty Store carries all of these supplies, as well as just about anything you'd want for nail art. Don't forget - you can use my Discount Code TTKX31 to receive 10% off any items not already discounted.
Polish Palette:
Base Coat: Nail Pattern Boldness - Glitter-A-PeelBlack creme polish: Finger Paints - Black Expressionism
Top Coat: Rica - Glossy Glam (thumb, index & pinky only)
Stamping Polish: Konad - Black
Stamp Image: Cisi & Sisi 04
**Glitter: Born Pretty Store Item #15175 07-Rainbow
**Loose Glitter from BornPrettyStore.com (Pattern #7)
And, an even closer look at the pretty glitter - you can see it's a combination of multiple shapes and sizes of all the colors in the rainbow.
Inspiration Source(s):
As I already mentioned, this "Pure Glitter Mani" by Beaching Nails was my inspiration. She used black glitter on the other nails - which I didn't have, but I think either way looks pretty good. Doesn't she have the most amazing nails!! She's a tremendously creative nail artist who is a master of the stamping technique. In addition to being a group member of Adventures in Stamping on Facebook, you can find more eye-catching designs of hers in the places listed below.So, what did you think? Would you try wearing "raw glitter" on your nails? I loved it.
Oh - just a note, in case you were wondering: The glitter stayed stuck to my nails as long as I didn't rub them against anything with a texture. And, being that my couch is micro-suede and my bedding is fuzzy - I decided at the end of the day to coat the glitter nails with top coat (just in case). Doing so really downplayed the impact of the glitter; not as much light got in around all of the pieces and the stamping design didn't stand out as much. It wasn't unattractive, but I definitely liked it better without topcoat. So, I'd recommend this be a special occasion look if you don't want to get stray bits of glitter around. Having said all this, if you checked out the photo of Beaching Nails - it was taken the next day after she created her design. She's likely a more graceful person than I. (LOL.)
**PR Sample product(s)
Till next time,
Kimett