Browsing through Pinterest again, I came across two nail hacks and decided to combine them both. I’ll link to the original Pinterest or blog posts where I found them, at the bottom of this post.

First, I did the neat cuticle hack. Using school glue, paint around your nail – being careful not to actually get it on your nail; and sorry about the low lighting! :/ (Click images to enlarge).

Once that was mostly dry, I painted them as usual. Forgot to take a shot after I painted them, but here I’m using Wet N Wild Megalast in Private Viewing.

Next, I used the other hack, but instead of using glitter, I used pearl powder (Perfect Pearls – Interference Violet by Ranger – it’s used in altered art, I have a ton of this stuff back from my artsy days). This one has violet opalescent tones when the light hits it, you can kind of see it on the edge of the pot in the photo below (click photos to enlarge). While your nail is still a little wet (or paint on a top coat and while that is still a little wet) carefully dip your fingernail into the pot of glitter/pearl powder and roll it to coat. Tap your finger on the edge of the pot to shake off some excess – you won’t get it all off.

At this point, you can paint over it to seal with a top coat (I left this part off to keep them slightly matte). Then the hard part – gently peel off the dried glue, being careful not to peel off your nail polish if you accidentally got the glue on your nail or the nail polish on the glue or if it’s not quite totally dry (ask me how I know).

Once the glue is off (again, make sure your nails are fully dry), run your hands under water to rinse off any excess glitter.

Viola, you’re done!  Clean cuticle and glittery (or subtly shimmery, in my case) nails! This was so easy and worked well, especially since I’m such a slob at painting nails.

Links to original tutorials:
27 DIY Hacks Every Girl Should Know (for the glue hack)
Nailed: GOSH Nail Glitter! (for glitter nails)