How to Do Disco Nails

Put the glitter of Studio 54 onto your fingertips.

Photo: Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images

Disco nails are perfect if you lack experience with nail art, but want a style that will wow your friends. Disco nails are traditionally silver, but feel free to use your favorite glitter nail polish. Rock this nail design at a New Year’s Eve party, for Mardi Gras or the next big shindig. For a more conservative look, give a disco-ball look to an accent nail.

Using Glitter Polish

Glitter nail polish is fabulous, but it can scratch up the surface of your nails, especially if you use chunky glitter. To protect the surface of your nails, use a clear base coat. Then paint your nail a base color that matches your glitter polish. If you’re wearing silver glitter polish, use black, silver or gray nail lacquer for the base color. Then, to help keep your nail sparkles in place, seal your disco nails with a clear topcoat.

Simple Disco Nails

After applying a clear base coat, paint your nails with a nail polish color that matches your glitter lacquer and allow the polish to completely dry. To give your nails a densely glittered look, apply one layer of chunky glitter polish and let it dry. Then keep adding more glitter polish, allowing each layer to dry between coats. If you don’t let the polish dry between coats, you will start to remove glitter from previous coats, which is counterproductive. Plus, letting each coat dry will give you better smudge- and chip-free results.

Using Nail Rhinestones

Katy Perry is the music scene’s queen of nail art and you can get her disco ball nails by using small nail rhinestones. After applying a clear base coat, paint two coats of silver polish over your nails. While your nails are still wet, place small silver rhinestones into the polish. The polish acts like glue. For the best look, place the rhinestones in straight, even rows, like a real disco ball. Once your silver polish dries, add two layers of a clear topcoat to set the stones in place.

Disco French Manicure

For nail art that isn’t so loud, but is still as amazing, create the disco-ball effect on the tips of your nails. After applying a base coat, use a French manicure sticker on your nails to help you make the perfect smile line on the tips of your fingers using black nail polish. After the black polish dries, use a glitter polish on the bottom half of the tips of your nails to create the disco ball effect. Instead of using polish with chunky glitter, use polish with smaller specks. Once the glitter polish dries, use a sheer, French manicure-pink color over your entire nail, followed by a clear topcoat.

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