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As expected, pearls are a big accessory trend this year. Experts even came up with a catchy name, calling it, Pearlcore for 2022. Personally, I like to track the influence to Harry Styles and the string of pearls he often layers over a T-shirt. But beyond jewellery, I've determined that pearls can be an add-on in any way you want. Recently, I've been influenced to try pearl nail art.
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It's been determined that 3D nail art is more wearable than ever before. In the interest of seeing if that was true — mind you, I've never worn any kind of pop-out nail art with decals — I decided to try out a pearl manicure, killing two birds with one stone: dipping into pearlcore with a manicure that's decidedly out of my comfort zone but on-trend.
I could've (and probably should have) made an appointment at a nail salon, but because I had neither the time nor the funds and didn't need a gel removal, I went the DIY route, riffing off of this manicure I found on Instagram. I painted my nails a blush-pink colour using the Dazzle Dry system. In my option, it's the longest-lasting nail polish that doesn't require a light or dip powder. I have a bunch of different colours, but usually rotate between this ballet-slipper pink and a cherry red, and a manicure usually lasts around two weeks, if I do a careful job painting.
Once the pink base was dry, I added the pearls. I used these tiny stickers, which are supposed to be face decals, that I found in a makeup kit from Pley Beauty (Peyton List's new beauty brand). I used the smallest pearls I could find and started sticking them to my nails, without any real plan of action, one teeny pearl per nail, skipping my ring finger because I ran out of stickers.
This took like 3 minutes and was easy enough because I wasn't precious about the placement. Then, to get the stickers to hold, I added a clear topcoat, Essie Gel Couture. Once that dried — and really, like immediately — I started to become pearl obsessed. Like, if I was an emoji, I'd have heart eyes made of mollusk shells.
I loved how tiny and dainty they were and how they dressed up an otherwise-neutral nail. While I expected they'd pop off pretty quick, I was shocked that the pearls stayed on most nails, for a full week. The only annoying part, really, was the fact that the pearls caught my split ends when I ran my fingers through my hair. Otherwise, a complete success and now I want an éliou necklace.