There’s bold manicures, and then there’s bold manicures.  When you combine Color Club’s neon and Essie’s glitter, you’re bound to get a pretty bold manicure look.  This week’s Manicure Monday features both fun glitter and bright neon.  This manicure is not for the faint of heart – it involves bold polishes, a lot of tape, a lot of time, and a lot of patience.  If you can overcome those obstacles, this manicure is definitely worth the effort. Want to learn how to get the look?  Read on to learn how!

Start out, as always, with clean nails and your favorite base coat.  Nail Tek II continues to keep my nails long and strong, so I’m sticking with it!

Begin with the glitter polish – layering the colors over the glitter really helps the colors to stand out and not get overshadowed by the glitter.  I used two coats of Essie’s Beyond Cozy.  It’s perfect for this manicure because it’s almost totally opaque, but it’s not thick.

You’ll want to let your manicure dry completely before moving on.  You’ll be using a lot of tape and if your manicure is still wet, it will ruin it.  I actually applied the glitter coat one day and began adding the details the next day.

Tape off sections of your nails on the diagonal, alternating taping off the base and the tip.  I used masking tape, but only because I couldn’t find my painter’s tape.  I’ve found that painter’s tape works the best on manicures out of all the tapes I’ve tried.  Apply white polish over your nail, making sure to cover the glitter entirely.  I used Zoya’s Snow White and needed two coats.  Let the white dry almost completely and then remove the tape.

And let it dry totally before moving on because you’ll be using tape again!  Tape off two smaller diagonals, one on each part (white and silver glitter) of your nail and apply enough coats of your neon polish to cover the white and the glitter.  I used Color Club’s London Calling, which is a beautiful mint green, but it’s neon so it’s even more fun!

Check out more great manicure tutorials:

• Manicure Monday: Nail Lingerie
• Manicure Monday: Tribal Accents
• Manicure Monday: Ombre Nails