Holiday Glitter Ruffian Tutorial: How to manipulate loose glitter

Hello Loves.  A few people asked how I applied the loose glitter without getting it all over the nail in the Glittery Ruffian Holiday Mani that I shared earlier this week.  I am a HUGE fan of using loose with soak off gel, especially around the holidays.  I usually scrub the glitter into the tacky layer and top coat over it, but that method is a bit difficult when trying to apply glitter to one specific area of the nail.  Since I used a different technique for this one, I threw together a quick video tutorial to show you how I did it.

Please feel free to ask questions if there is anything I need to clarify.  Also, since this is my first video tutorial, I am certain there is room for improvement.  I appreciate and welcome any feedback that I can apply to future tutorials.  :)

Update: To clarify based on a question from one of my readers, the top coat used in this tutorial is soak off gel top coat. :)

~Michelle

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Glittery Ruffian Holiday Nails

Contest Prize

Hello Loves.  Wow it has been a busy weekend!  Between work, parties and Christmas shopping, I didn't have much time to dedicate to my nails.  I did manage to squeak out a mani to compliment my outfit for our annual Christmas party at work.  Yes, I have a day job.  I am the marketing database analyst for a financial industry training firm.  In other words, I'm a data dork.  I love what I do, and I especially love that being so far behind the scenes allows me to wear outlandish designs on my nails without anyone caring that I constantly violate the dress code.  ;) 

But I digress.  Onto the nails.  I picked up two lovely Couture Gel Nail Polish shades as my prize for third place in their Halloween nail art contest.  I will swatch the other as soon as possible, but I decided to wear one of them last night.  As usual, I couldn't leave it alone.  So I added a little bling.  Details below.

The base for this mani is Couture Gel Nail Polish Red Carpet.  This gorgeous, traditional orange leaning red has a subtle pink shimmer that gives it a touch of surprise.  The shimmer is great, but it wasn't quite enough pop for my tastes.  So I added ArstyFartsy Crafts Ultrafine Silver Holographic Glitter at the cuticle to create this fun Ruffian mani.  Because, well, nothing says the holidays like a little bit of glitter.  ;)  Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of this one before I added the glitter.

I'm not usually a fan of ruffian manicures.  To me, it looks like I got lazy and just filled the grow out of a previous mani with a different color.  Not to mention they tend to make nails look shorter by breaking up the length.  However, I think the glitter in this one is just the right touch.  Want to see it again?  How about a crappy outdoor shot from my iphone?  I tried to get a good outdoor shot with my Canon, but it simply refuses to capture the holo of the glitter.  My phone makes the base color appear pinkish, but it does show the glitter much better.  Please note that Red Carpet is a true red with a subtle pink shimmer. 

That's all for today.  How do you feel about Ruffian manicures?  Love them?  Hate them?  No preference?

~Michelle

*Red Carpet was provided to me free of charge by Couture as a contest prize.  ArtsyFarsty Crafts Ultrafine Silver Holographic glitter was purchased by me. 

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