Anna Sui '005' glitter gradient over butter London Teddy Girl

We never say no to a glitter gradient, and this gold glitter was a perfect way to dip our tips in to Spring! Anna Sui 005 is a good mix of fine and chunky silver and gold glitter - the perfect glitter for a gradient mani!

What's your go-to glitter for a gradient mani?

Disclaimer: Some of the products mentioned in this post may have been provided to us by the company/PR in exchange for our honest opinion and/or review.

Ciaté Luxe Caviar Manicure set includes pearls in Lustre, and a Ciaté paint pot in Ladylike Luxe.

 We were excited to try out the Ciaté Luxe Pearls set after realizing that the microbeads were actually made of metal (they even feel heavier than normal microbeads in the bottle!), since we love the look, but hate when topcoat bleeds the colour. The set includes a polish, pearls and a funnel (to save the extras!) and based on how much we used for one full set of nails, you should have enough beads to do at least 6 or 7 full out nails. If you are using the beads for accents though, you will have more than enough for many manis!

We tried out this look on our full nails, and it wore for three days, although it was just over 48 hours before we had any bead loss. We have read reviews of this leaving a coloured dot on nails where beads were placed, but we used a base coat and had no ill effects! We also used the Ciaté Speed Coat Pro which we are happy to report had amazing dry time, and looked great over the microbeads.

Ciaté Luxe Metals in Lustre

What do you think of this look? The metallic sets are available in Silver, Gold and Rose Gold and are on sale on Sephora now for $23! We're especially lusting after the Gleam set which is a rosy gold metal!

Stay tuned to see the accent nail we did using the microbeads from this kit in the next few days!

Disclaimer: Some of the products mentioned in this post may have been provided to us by the company/PR in exchange for our honest opinion and/or review.

Today's Nail of the Day is a gold and black 'studded' manicure. The stud's are microbeads which we purchased from our local Micheal's and are Recollections brand. We adhered them when the topcoat was wet, using a damp paint brush to pick them up and (attempt) to neatly place them on the nail!

We used PRITI NYC's Horned Poppy, available here, underneath a Chanel Gold (limited edition - we're sorry!) similar to the Sonia Kashuk Golden Ticket for the normal nails, and used Essie Licorice, available here, for the black on the accent nail!

Monarch Butterfly Wing Nails

The Monarch Wing Nails on a full hand.

Why we love these:

These nails reflect the beauty of mother nature, and are fun and easy to do! We love mixing this look up with different backgrounds colours (full silver glitter butterfly, anyone?) and even using it as an accent nail to liven a tired mani!

What you need:

• White Polish (we used OPI Alpine Snow, buy it here)
• Black Polish (we used Essie Licorice, buy it here)
• Orange Polish (we used Misa Speed of Life, buy it here)
• Gold Shimmer Polish (we used Chanel Gold Fiction, buy it here)
• Base Coat and Top Coat (we used Essie, buy the top coat here, and base coat here)
• Nail Art Brush and Dotter Tool (buy both in a set here here)
• Makeup Sponge (we used something similar to the Make Up For Ever HD Sponge, buy it here)

What to do:

1. Start with clean, dry nails. Paint each nail with base coat.
2. Paint each nail with two coats of your gold shimmer polish, and allow to dry fully (this is the most important part!).
3. Soak your makeup sponge in water - so it doesn't absorb all of the polish - and paint your orange polish on to one side. Begin sponging at the tip of your nail, and move  3/4 of the way towards one upper corner, creating an ombre style fade of orange polish in to the gold shimmer polish.
4. Using your nail art brush and black polish, paint a diagonal black line from the upper top corner to the opposite bottom corner of your nail. Perpendicular to this black line, draw another black line near the top of your nail.
5. Use the nail art brush to draw two more black lines, dividing the bottom section of your nail in to 4 quarters. Fill in the tip of your nail creating rounded edges (see photo below for clarification).
6. Using the dotter tool and white polish, make some white spots on the black tip of your nail.
7.  After ensuring your nails are dry enough to top coat without running (allow about 5-10 minutes), paint the top coat over your whole nail and the tip of your nail and allow to dry!

Close up of a Monarch Wing nail.