31 Day Challenge, Day 17 - Glitter

GLITTER! I have such a love/hate relationship with glitter - it's so sparkly, but so time-consuming, whether you're putting it on or taking it off. Accordingly I only did glitter on my accent nail, because I didn't want to spend hours on a mani I'm going to take off tomorrow.

I painted my nails with Ulta3's Wild Berry, a dark grey polish - bit of an odd name! I can't think of any grey berries? Anyway, it's a nice colour but it was a bit runny and had a tendency to flood my cuticles to the extent that I can't get it off.

I then used some orange and yellow hexagonal glitter which I got from Born Pretty Store a while back, in a pack of 12 different colours. The glitters were pretty cheap and you get a lot of them in each little jar, which is great. I used a toothpick and some clear nail polish to stick them on, and sealed it with topcoat. You need to keep an eye on which hexagon you're picking up, because occasionally they can be a little smaller than usual or a bit unsymmetrical, but it's not a problem if you're paying attention.

With hexagonal glitter, I find that you get the best results if you don't tap the glitters too deeply into the polish - just gently place them on. I got impatient towards the end and tapped one of the hexes near the tip too hard, and it's embedded slightly - d'oh! Patience is the key, and giving yourself plenty of time.

An InLinkz Link-up

A-England's Ascalon with hexagon nail studs armour

A while back, I bought a packet of silver hexagonal nail studs from Born Pretty Store with the intention of doing a full-nail armour look.

I painted my nails with A-England's Ascalon, a silver nail polish with a muted scattered holo effect and a distinct pink-green undertone which makes it quite warm toned. Formula was excellent, as I have found for all A-England polishes.

I then stuck the studs on the ring finger of each hand. I found that the best effect comes from starting at the side and working in a bit of a diagonal, making sure to always press each stud up hard against the edges of the other studs. Coverage was pretty good, with only a few awkward gaps - I did find that you can cut the studs to size for the gaps, but it's hard to get them to stay on the tips because it's such a high-impact area. It was fine on the side, though.

The studs are shiny, attention-grabbing, and the texture is lovely. I'd definitely recommend them!