Make Your Tips Sparkle!

Every girl needs a little sparkle in her life sometimes! What better way to wear it than on your fingernails? Not everyone is ready for a full-on glitter manicure, but keep reading to find out how to use just a little bit of sparkle to spruce up a spring manicure.



Step 1: Get Ready



Make sure you have all of your items ready. You’ll need two nail polishes (one crème and one glitter), a piece of wax paper, and a regular makeup sponge. Prepare your makeup wedge first, because it’s easier to get prepped before you start painting your nails. I find that the sponge effect goes on more smoothly when the edges are a bit jagged, so pull pieces off the edge so the sponge is no longer uniform. You can use scissors if you like, but just pulling off little pieces works just as well.

Step 2: Paint Your Base Coat

Use your favorite base coat and then paint your nails with your base color. For this manicure I used a brand-new Gap polish named Mint. I just started to see Gap polishes pop up at my local NYC store and they are amazing! I highly recommend them! Light greens like Mint are some of the hottest colors for spring, and you can find one that works on any skin tone.

Step 3: Get Your Glitter On

Once your base color is dry (or mostly dry—since you are sponging on top it doesn’t have to be perfect) it’s time to start glittering. I decided on a very sparkly polish with micro glitter to maximize this gradient effect. The silver is China Glaze polish in Polarized, from the new Prismatics Collection, which has hints of different colored glitter. And since the glitter is so small, it can look sparser, which works perfectly for a sponged manicure like this.

Make a few lines of polish with several drops each, then gently dip the sponge into the glitter and then do a few practice runs on the wax paper to get a feel for how it sponges on. Once you can see how much surface area your sponge covers, it’s time to start on the nail.

Step 4: Sponge On the Sparkle

Start on the free edge of the nail for your first sponge. Gradually sponge more on the tip so the tip is opaque and continue to sponge down about halfway down your nail. It doesn’t have to be perfect because it creates a gradient effect. Do this on all of your nails until you are happy with the gradient.

Step 5: Seal and Protect

Finish with your favorite topcoat and enjoy your glittery manicure! And remember, you can reuse this sponge quite a few times—just pull off the edge with the polish on it before each use.


Read more from Carly at Lacquered Lover, or follow her on Twitter.