Here's A Tip...

I put these gold sparkles on my nails after seeing a tutorial on The Hairpin last week. But here is the thing, I took photos of the process, which aren't really necessary since we have the video, but I didn’t take a photo of the finished manicure until today... a week later. They still look good, no? The sparkles and extra layers of polish protect the tips of your nails from getting destroyed! Such a nice bonus!

This is just a regular manicure, not gelish. I used a new-to-me color from Essie called Sole Mate. It’s a lot like Wicked, only more purple, like grape jelly. I used Glitzerland by OPI for the gold polish, and Only Gold for Me for the gold sparkle, which is by OPI for Sephora. I’ve gotten rid of most of my OPI colors because… okay this sounds nuts, but… they take up too much room. Essie bottles are so much more compact! I have limited space! But anyway, I’ve held on to a few of my favorites from OPI, and these are two of them.

Below is the tutorial I followed. The application in the video seemed a little sloppy/gloppy to me, so I was a bit more careful. I don’t like it when there is a lot of polish buildup on my nails, it feels weird, and I think it’s more likely to chip. Especially because I will pick at it.




The trick is to use enough layers to get the effect, but not so many it’s going to be chunky. I did one layer of the gold at the tips (I didn't go quite as far down the nail as they did in the tutorial), then two layers of the gold sparkle at the tips, being careful to actually pick up some sparkles on the brush each time, which is a little tricky. Then I finished with one coat of gold sparkle over the whole nail, to smooth everything out and blend it together.

It was pretty easy, and the manicure extension makes it totally worth the effort. It would also be a good way to rescue a mani that has seen better days. And there are so many cool color combos you could do! My color combo makes me think of a belly-dancer, but with other mixes you could easily be a mermaid, a snow queen, a sexy pope, etc.