Best Techniques to Smooth and Remove Glitter *Updated July 12, 2023*
Noodles manicures are always all about shine. We all love glitter, but removing it can be a pain. Oh, and I’ve also been known to eat top coats that leave texture on my nails after drying. If you’re particularly sensitive to the feel of your polish, try applying a thicker top coat or a second coat of thinner top coat.
Instead of applying two thick top coats, several indie brands are launching products that you can use after your last polish coat and before your top coat. These are generally thicker and will “fill in” the gaps left by the glitter. Here are some products I use and recommend (in no particular order).
6. Smooth and Shine Duo by Esmaltes da Kelly (available in Polish pickup some months)
To use these glitter-grabbing top coats, it’s best to let the polish dry for a few minutes before applying. If you apply the Glitter Grabber too quickly, your nail polish will eat up the Glitter Grabber a little bit, and even after you add a quick-drying top coat, it can still have a bit of nail polish texture. Using it this way requires a little more patience, but it’s worth it.
Noodles Manicure Autumn Soul (2 coats)
Let’s start with Autumn Soul. Autumn Soul is a deep burgundy crelly (slanted jelly) base with metallic orange/copper/garnet/rose/fuchsia/plum glitter, pink holo glitter, and a touch of orange micro flake. Don’t you think the reason it has a more jelly-like finish is because it looks a little more fluffy? It’s deep without being too dark, so you can really see all the glitter blending together. Despite being more jelly-like, it only takes two smooth coats for full coverage. Once all the glitter texture has dried, refer to the recommendations above to get a smooth finish.
Then there’s Better in a Sweater. This is a deep dark teal crelly base with copper/gold/red/greave color-shift flakes, orange/green iridescent glitter, and metallic copper/aqua/light green glitter. Look at the last photo and the giant flake deep inside that base (no, that’s not a weird shadow)! Natalie is best at combining glitter and flakes, and this one is no exception. This is also two coats, but once it dries it has a lot of texture. Double up on top coat or layer with glitter smoothing top coat.
Previous collections of Noodles nail polishes all featured glitter toppers, but this set only has one. Fall Babe is a holo glitter topper with metallic raspberry, orange, and copper glitter. This is one of his toppers that looks perfect over any warm color, and as a base he used a new shade from the Zoya Enamored collection. I didn’t try to use this alone, but you could probably build it up in three thick coats. Because of the interspersed holo finish, you may only need a regular top coat, but it depends on the top coat you use (the thicker the better).
It wouldn’t be a fall Noodles nail polish collection without white crelly. Well, it’s not pure white, but it’s definitely a cream color. Harvest Dream is a cream crelly base with copper shimmer, metallic rose/copper/lavender shimmer, and red matte and metallic shimmer. I really love the combination of lavender and red here. You should always expect the unexpected with Natalie’s color combinations. I thought it would need 3 coats, but I only needed 2 thick coats and it was finished without any problems. If you use a really thin coat, you may need a third coat. This is another one that dries with texture from all the glitter.
Without a doubt, this is my favorite polish in the collection. Give me all the dusty purple polish. Hazy Harbors is the sister polish to last year’s bestselling she polish, Misty Harbors. In fact, Misty Harbors is now a permanent fixture on her website at NNP. Anyway, Hazy Harbors has a dusty lilac crelly base with copper/rose/garnet/caramel metallic sparkles in various hexagons. I love everything about this piece. Shown are two coats, which will dry to reveal a glitter texture.
Moonlight Magic is also my favorite from the collection. I did my best to show that transition. A medium gray crelly with purple undertones that transforms to pink/gold/green with copper holo glitter and bronze metallic microflakes. All the glitters are very small and don’t add much texture to this, so I think you can just use a regular top coat (I used the Glitter Smoothing Top Coat, just in case you need that) ). This is such a fun and modern look.
October nights in North Carolina tend to be pretty hot, but in many parts of the United States, now is the perfect time to enjoy some balmy nights. October Evenings polishes definitely have a deep, cool feel to them. Metallic periwinkle/garnet/raspberry/orange/lavender/rose/lilac/copper/red glitter shines in a hexagonal shape on a deep plum crery base. It has a high texture even when dry, so we recommend using a glitter smoothing top coat for a smooth finish.
Noodles Manicure Pumpkin Everything (3 coats)
Last, but certainly not least, we present our final top pick from the collection: Pumpkin Everything. I love orange so this is the perfect pumpkin shade. When you think of autumn and Halloween, there’s no orange, right? Pumpkin Everything has a medium orange crelly base with gold flakes, bronze microflakes, copper shimmer, and fine copper holo glitter. This was a little sheer so I used 3 thin coats to get it completely opaque. It also had more flakes and shimmer than glitter, and seemed less textured as it dried, so one coat of top coat should smooth it all out.
*These polishes were provided by our company or our public relations staff. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*
