I Tried A Pearl Manicure & Immediately Started Acting Different

Pearls are expected to be a big accessories 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 jewelry, 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.

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 or 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 color 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 colors, 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 top coat, 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.