Neutral + Sparkle!

Sometimes I like to wear a very understated color on my nails, but I still want them to sparkle.  This is where neutrals come in!  I don't wear neutrals often, but when I do I find they make an excellent background color for many glitters.  In this case, it's a holographic metallic chunky glitter topcoat I made several months ago.

The neutral--which is, of course, too light for my skin tone to be a true nude--is Brain Power by Formula X for Sephora.  I really like this color, and the Formula X line is a new and increasing favorite of mine as well.  I've mentioned that glitter typically peels off my nails in whole pieces, but this never happens when I use "The Formula."  Sephora has developed a set that works with their Formula X polishes, and the set consists of a nail prep/cleaner, a base coat, a color of your choice (complimentary), and a top coat.  I use my glitter topcoat after the nail color and before the Formula X topcoat, and it wears...and wears...and wears.  I don't have to worry about chipping or the polish peeling off!  I usually have one set in use and a backup; this is the backup (less the bonus polish, in this set it was a color called Extreme)

This is certainly one solution if you find that glitter manicures peel from your nails all too easily!

Zoya Gold Glitter

A lot of manufacturers are coming out with gold glitter topcoats.  Unlike typical gold glitter topcoats, the better ones these days contain actual gold.  When I saw these, I knew I wanted to own a few.

Pictured below is just a snap of my fingers wearing the Zoya gold topcoat.  I can't remember what color is under it, but the combination of bright gold flakes over the rich pink polish looks fantastic.

The polish, non-surprisingly, is quite thick, and the glitter is more sparse than it appears to be.  I used three layers of it to build it up to this density!

But I like the polish a lot.

Having gold-trimmed fingers isn't super inexpensive, though.  It costs around $35 per bottle.