Gelibility + Crushed Shell Nail Art

Today I did my first and last crushed shell nail art mani!

I have had a package of little bottles, containing plastic crushed shell/iridescent looking stuff - I am really not technically certain what this material is called - sitting, untouched, unloved. No time like the present! - only thing is, I am not really 100% certain what I am supposed to do with this stuff. It's experiment time! Here's my tools:

I started out by using Gelibility to turn my China Glaze "Travel in Color" into a sheer base coat. I elected to use the Gelibility in hopes that the added thickness of the gel will sandwich in the little glittery pieces. After two coats of polish, I used my dotting tool to place the shell/glitter/whatever this substance is onto my nails. It took two more layers of Gelibility to really seal in the shards, and even with that I can still feel some of the material when I brush my fingers against my nails. I added a little gold shell and a pearl as an accent, and that was it!

I felt like this mani was more time consuming than it was worth. I still don 't even know if I used this stuff correctly (or should I say for the reason it was intended). Have you ever used this stuff? I would love to hear other people's experiences with this --- what is this stuff called?!? (for the record, the packaging said nothing.)