I Found 4 Ways to Make This “Tacky” Nail Trend Look Chic

Because I can’t let anything go, I had to get to the bottom of this “tacky” reputation and find out ways you can use glitter nail polish without making a manicure faux pas. So I asked nail artists why glitter was stuck with this sad label. Some told me it’s because kids normally opt for those nail polishes, so they can be seen as immature.

“I think anything glittery, shiny, and big can easily be overdone, which leads to people thinking it’s tacky,” says Brittney Boyce, a consulting nail artist for Orly. “If you look at fashion, black and white along with muted colors are always seen as ‘chic,’ so the opposite of that gets labeled as loud and cheesy. Plus, I think millennials associate glitter to the late ’90s/early 2000s, with raves, butterfly hairclips, and tons of tacky scented rainbow body glitter that you can never fully wash off.”