55 Glitter Nail Designs To Add Some Everyday Sparkle To Your Look

You sparkle, shine, and pop with electricity, so it stands to reason you would want nails to match. Enter the wonderful world of glitter nail polish, and the magic it can create. From fully loaded to just a hint and simple designs to artistic creations, there's a glitter nail perfect for your special occasion or just a day at the office.

Of course, there are a few tips to help you with your glitter manicure. When dry, glitter polish has a textured finish, so you'll want to top your nails with one to two shiny top coats for a glassy finish. If your polish is chock full of glitter, according to nail artist Gina Edwards, you should apply thinner coats and let each coat dry for several minutes before applying the next; you'll avoid a gloppy, thick finish with this method (via Glamour).

And, while you'll love the look of your glitter nails, all good things must come to an end, and you'll eventually need to take the polish off. The easiest way to remove even the most stubborn shiny flakes is with the help of cotton balls and tin foil. Soak the cotton in nail polish remover, apply it to the nail, and wrap it tightly with tinfoil to keep it in place. In about five to ten minutes, you can twist off the cotton ball and foil, along with the glitter polish. Now, on to those 55 hot glitter nail designs.

While gold and silver are staples in glitter nail polish, there's something to be said for glitter that comes in so many pretty colors. Bring a jolt of sparkly color to a solid base shade, or just layer on multi-colored glitter over a clear base coat. If you can't find a combination of glitter colors you like, feel free to layer thin coats of different glitter polishes over each other. 

French manicures are a staple in the nail world, and for good reason: In their original form, they're the perfect neutral nail look. But they also lend themselves to creative twists, like with glitter. A traditional French manicure starts with a beige, peach, or pink base, then gets tipped with white polish. Don't be afraid to switch that classic look up. To add sparkle, make that neutral base a glitter one. Alternatively, you could opt for some glittery tips. 

Adding glitter to a solid gold base helps create a monochrome look with texture. You can try this look with any color, just make sure your base and glitter match, or at least coordinate. The glitter is applied in a fade finish — meaning there's more sparkle at one end of the nail that fades into only a few flecks at the opposite end. In a tutorial, nail artist Gabby Angelique shares a quick trick for getting the perfect glitter gradient fade — use a toothpick to place a few individual specks of glitter at the edge.

Rose-gold nail polish is pretty. Rose-gold nails plus shimmery rose-gold glitter in all sorts of light and dark shades are even prettier. Yes, it's okay to mix your glitter polishes all in the same manicure. Just start with a gorgeous rose-gold hue and design your nails around it. A plain pale rose polish can be boosted with sparkles on top, while an ombre of various pale pink, dark pink, and rosy gold glitter hues creates a beautiful finish. 

It's on the tops of your fingers, and it's a good place to be. If you like to put twists on tradition, then a completely modern French tip manicure could be your next favorite thing. A neutral base of pale pink or creamy white gets royal purple chrome tips. But why stop there? Use a thin brush to draw a silver glitter stripe just beneath the purple. For a steadier hand, use a bit of nail tape so you don't invade the neutral base. 

Looking for a whole lot of fun, such that you would have at a carnival? Try a swirled mix of glitter colors using the water marble technique. Fill a bowl with water and drop circles of polish into it; swirl the colors together with a toothpick to create your desired pattern. Dip your nail into the water, use the toothpick to round up the excess color, then lift your nail out of the water with the marbled polish on top. Repeat for each nail, which will allow you to vary the colors and designs.

While it's true that glitter was made to sparkle, you can also have fun with it in a less shiny version. Matte nails are a trend that was so popular, they became a part of every nail girl's bag of manicure tricks. While there are polishes with the matte finish built right in, for glitter nails, it's best to use a matte top coat. Paint some nails a solid color, and others with a glitter finish for a mixed manicure. The matte finish lessens the shine of the glitter but doesn't dull it completely.

If you like a little art with your glitter, try a marble nail. Start the look with a glossy navy blue base. Paint a stripe of baby blue polish and a stripe of medium-blue polish onto a plastic bag and lightly swirl together; pick up the swirled colors with a brush and lightly dab on to the base of the nail, allowing some of the darker blue to show through and creating a marbled effect. When dry, use a thin brush to paint a line of silver glitter as the marble vein. So artistic!

When you realize your bright-red manicure is missing something, that's when the stripes come in. Using a thin nail brush, paint on curvy black and white lines. With gold glitter polish — or a mixture of loose gold glitter and a clear polish — fill in some of the blank areas with solid sparkle, and add in an extra stripe or two. Seal with a shiny top coat, and you've gone from classic red to totally awesome. 

Why choose one or two colors when you can have them all in one pretty and perky manicure? Go ahead and paint each nail a different color, but use the same multi-colored glitter polish to finish them off with even more hues. Try a fade from the tips down for most of your nails, but go for a solid dose of glitter over the whole nail for one special color; white really makes those glitter colors pop.

Your black-and-white striped manicure has lasted all week, and you hate to give it up so soon. But nail polish is meant to be changed, and a new look is right around the corner, thanks to metallic glitter polish. Add a new dimension to your existing nail design by dropping dots of gold glitter onto the nail. If you have a special nail dotting tool that's handy, but if not, a toothpick or bobby pin will work just as well. 

If you jumped on board with the holographic highlighter makeup trend, you'll love holographic nails. Although both glitter nail polish and holographic nail polish will leave you with a super-shiny, super-twinkly finish, there is a difference between the two, as F.U.N Lacquer explained. "While glitter reflects light in a single color," they explain, "holographic polish actually bends the light and shows a rainbow of colors." Try a holo nail — as Instagram has dubbed the look — in a gorgeous solid hue.

Mixing glitter sizes and glitter colors can create a fabulous finish, especially when combined with different nail techniques. Starting with a neutral base of nude nails, some of the nails (you pick how many) are coated with a solid base of gold glitter polish, with micro flakes of shine. On top of that, a dark pink polish with larger flecks of pink glitter is painted over the top, with more emphasis on the ends. For contrast, center nails are given a glitter V-tip, with a gold glitter polish outline. This technique creates such a pretty mix!

Proving that just about every hot nail trend looks good with glitter polish, here's the viral pop art nail trend all sparkled up. The base of this comic-book-looking nail is all about ruby glitter. On top, a gray outline serves as the frame, and white polish accents are added to further highlight the pop art look. A matte top coat finishes off the look. While red is always a stand-out color, you could use glitter polish in just about any color to create a pop art nail. 

One of the great things about holographic glitter (besides the twinkle factor) is that it goes with every color, because it is every color. Just see how fabulously it accompanies a baby blue, baby pink, and white dabbled base with its sparkle power. After the tri-color foundation has dried, use a stencil to paint on curved stripes with holographic glitter polish. If you can't find a double-curve stencil, you may need to paint one stripe at a time.

Glitter is ever-evolving, and there are new techniques arriving on the scene all the time. One great invention: magnetic glitter polishes. After painting on a base coat, the magnetic glitter is applied over the top. While still wet, a magnet is held over the polish, attracting the glitter. By placing the magnet in a variety of positions, you can customize the glitter placement, creating angles, lines, and cat-eyes. Yes, it truly is that amazing. Let's hear it for glitter inventions!

Ombre nails feature colors that blend into each other at the seams for a solid looking finish — but with multiple colors. And, of course, you can do this with glitter nail polish. To create the look, a makeup sponge is incredibly helpful. Apply stripes of each color to the sponge, right in a row; be generous with the polish. Dab the sponge on to your nails, repositioning slightly with each dab so the colors blend a little. Bonus: The sponge soaks up some of the liquid, leaving you with more glitter power.

When your ombre nails scream for butterflies, stars, and hearts over your tiny glitter coat, you only have to find the right shape glitter and add it on. Glitter comes in all sorts of shapes, and you can use them all at the same time if you want. You can also pick and choose just a few, and use a heart as an accent for Valentine's Day, or a butterfly on the first day of spring. If you don't want full coverage and are picky about your glitter position, you can use tweezers for precision placement.

Glitter nails are gorgeous, and painting your nails can be just the self-care break you need, but sometimes you just want the pretty without the extra effort. Nail wraps, or nail stickers, are the perfect alternative — and you can get them in glitter! Simply peel off the wrap and apply it to your nail; use your fingers to smooth it in place around the sides of your nail bed. Fold over the extra wrap at the top of the nail and gently file off the excess. 

Can't decide if you want to do an all-glitter nail, or just maybe a few glitter accents? You don't have to choose with a multi-manicure, with each nail on your hand featuring a different design doused in sparkle. The key is to pick a color palette and stick with it. Black and nude-pink polish start out this scenario, and gold glitter is used to create the shiny accents. Ombre the black and pink and add gold glitter stripes, fade the glitter over solid black, do just the tips, or go for a solid glitter nail.

Oh, the things you can do with blue, teal, and glitter! Keep your mixed mani all in the same family by painting three nails with a solid teal polish, and two with navy blue. Pick out a glitter polish that has both teal and dark blue glitter flecks; if you can't find one, try layering on two different polishes. On one dark nail, start the glitter at the bottom and let it fade at the top. On one teal nail, do a solid coat of glitter. Blue never looked so happy.

If you don't already own a nail dotting tool, this may convince you to get one. These swirly squiggles were created by applying curved stripes of holographic glitter polish onto the nail using a dotter. First, though, a natural nail was brushed over with just the tiniest hint of silver glitter polish. Each nail includes three coordinating colors, applied so the stripes look like they're twining with each other. The rainbow of colors gives new meaning to a Skittle manicure. 

Baby, you're a star, and you should have nails that show your status to the whole world. To incorporate a sparkly star, or a few, in your glitter manicure, you can find nail polishes with shaped glitter already included in the mix. You can also add extra ones. If you don't want to go overboard with the glittered stars, a nude nail with a couple of colorful subtle sparkly stars carefully placed here and there is another great option. 

If the end of your dream rainbow has a pot of silver instead of gold, you're in luck, because silver glitter polish is the perfect accent for just about any nail look. Give your vanilla-white manicure extra credit with silver glitter plus signs painted over the top of one or two nail beds. An extra stripe of pure-white polish draws even more attention to the silver accents, and if added before the silver, can serve as a helpful guide for the plus placement.

If pure luxury is the story you want your fingers to tell, then velvet nails are the way to go. There are several ways to create the trend, but the most popular is via magnetic nail polish. A magnetic wand held over a special nail polish grabs the sparkle and manipulates it so the result looks like velvet fabric. You can also use a holographic or micro-glitter polish to create the same look sans wand.

Hands up — you're surrounded by glitter. And really, you want to lift your digits up so everyone can admire the glitter outline you have going on. If you've got a steady hand, a thin nail brush can help you create a line of glitter polish that surrounds your entire nail bed. If you need a little help, you can use a vinyl nail cover or sticker to cover the center of your nail bed, then just polish around it.

The mullet of nails! Business in the front, party in the back — or underneath, as it is. For a sparkling twist on nude nails, a coat of rose-gold glitter polish shines from underneath. As suspected, you'll need to have longer nails to achieve this look, since you need space on the underside to apply the polish. You may also find it easier to use a smaller brush or even a damp cotton swab to dab on the glitter.