Accessorizing 101: Rhinestones, Body Jewels, Garters & Pasties

Accessories are what separate a good outfit from a finished one. This guide covers the working method — how to place rhinestones and body jewels so they last, how to keep pasties secure through a full night, where a leg garter actually belongs, and what gloves, wigs, wings and hats do for a silhouette.

How do you accessorize an outfit without it looking like too much?

Choose one focal point and let everything else support it. The most common mistake is competing sparkle — a rhinestone bodysuit, a body chain, jeweled pasties and a crystal choker all fighting for the same eye, so none of them win. Decide what the look is about, put the shine there, and keep the rest quiet.

Costume makers who stone professionally build contrast rather than coverage. Mixing materials — rhinestones with sequins, with mirrored elements — gives you several different light reflectors instead of one uniform glitter field. Varying stone size matters more than most people expect: small stones do a disproportionate amount of the work, catching and refracting light in a way that makes the larger stones read brighter by comparison. Uniform stones at a uniform size read flat from any real distance.

Two more principles worth stealing from stage costuming. First, follow the garment’s own structure — use seams, panel lines and boning channels as the map, enhancing the design rather than burying it. Second, if you commit to stoning a piece, finish it all the way around; a dazzling front and a bare back is the failure mode. On body chains and layered jewelry, stylists broadly converge on the same ceiling: two to three chains at varied lengths creates dimension, while four or five without deliberate spacing reads cluttered and tangles.

The accessories that finish a look are the ones with a job. If a piece doesn’t add a line, a texture or a function, it’s competing.

Which accessory does what, and how do you make it last?

Every accessory earns its place by changing something structural — a line, a silhouette, a scale — not by adding decoration. Below is the practical breakdown: what each piece does for a look, and the single thing that determines whether it survives the night. Skin prep and correct adhesive account for most failures across all of them.

Accessory	What it does	How to make it last
Body jewels & rhinestones	Draws the eye along a chosen line — collarbone, spine, hip, cheekbone	Clean, dry, product-free skin. Cosmetic-grade adhesive only. Let glue go tacky before placing. Seal with setting spray; keep alcohol-based hairspray away from it.
Pasties	Coverage that reads as a design choice rather than a compromise	Bare, oil-free skin. Adhesive at the outer rim, not the center. Press from the middle outward, then hold steady pressure for five to ten seconds to set the bond.
Leg garters	Breaks up the leg line and gives tips somewhere to live	Sit it mid-thigh where the leg is still firm. Two fingers should slide under. Too tight migrates down; too loose migrates down faster.
Gloves	Extends the arm line and finishes a minimal set instantly	Check the top band against your arm, not the mannequin’s. Longer gloves need enough grip at the bicep or they roll during movement.
Wigs	Changes the face and gives you a stage identity separate from your day self	A wig grip band under the wig is the foundation. For hard movement, add tape at the hairline, temples and back rather than relying on clips alone.
Wings	Builds scale — the fastest way to turn an outfit into a character	Test the strap comfort loaded, not empty, and know your clearance. Wings are a room-dependent accessory; crowded floors punish them.
Hats	Character shorthand readable from across a room	Pin it to hair or wig at two points minimum. A hat that needs a hand to stay on costs you a hand all night.

How do you apply body jewels and rhinestones to skin?

Start with clean, dry, product-free skin — oil, lotion and body shimmer are what break the bond, not the adhesive. Use a cosmetic-grade body adhesive or lash glue. Place a dot on the stone, wait roughly 20 to 30 seconds for it to turn tacky, then set it with tweezers rather than fingertips and press lightly.

Never use super glue, craft glue or a hot glue gun on skin. This is not a durability preference — those products are not formulated for skin contact and cause real damage. Cosmetic adhesives sold for face and body gems are the category you want; some are formulated with soothing additives specifically to reduce irritation. Patch test anything new before a night you care about, not during it.

Prep is most of the outcome. Wash with soap and water to strip lotion and oil, and make sure the area is fully dry before anything touches it. A mattifying setting spray or a swipe of micellar water on the placement spots removes the last of the surface oil.

For longevity, embellishments applied this way generally last around eight hours — but that figure moves with how heavy the stones are and how hard you’re moving. Heavy stones on a high-energy set will shed sooner than small stones on a photo shoot. Sealing the finished look with a setting spray adds a layer of protection against sweat. One thing to avoid: hairspray. The alcohol in the formula works against the glue rather than with it.

Placement follows the same logic as costume stoning. Pick a line of the body and follow it — collarbone, spine, the curve of a hip, the outer eye — and vary the stone size along it. Body jewels layer well over a stoned or sheer piece; if you’re already wearing rhinestone lingerie, treat the skin work as the supporting act, not a second lead.

How do you keep pasties on all night?

Bare, dry skin does most of the work. No lotion, no body oil, no shimmer anywhere near the application area — that is the single biggest reason pasties lift. Apply adhesive around the outer rim rather than the center, press from the middle outward to push air out, and hold with steady pressure for five to ten seconds to set the bond.

On which adhesive is best, the sources genuinely disagree — and so do the performers who do this nightly. That disagreement is the honest answer, not a gap in the research. Fashion tape and toupee tape are the cleanest and quickest option, easy to apply with little mess and often kinder to sensitive skin; one long-working burlesque performer names flash tape as her choice specifically because it makes quick changes quicker, while openly noting she gets a mild reaction from it. Body adhesives and spirit gum hold harder and are the recommendation for intense performances, high-energy dancing, or if you sweat heavily. The consensus among people who wear these professionally is that there is no one perfect adhesive, because different ones work for different skin types. Test on yourself before you commit a shift to it.

A few technique details that matter more than the adhesive brand:

• Adhesive goes on the rim. Coat the outer edge — with stronger body adhesives, applying to both the skin and the outer rim of the pastie builds the strongest bond.
• Use a mirror and place to the visual center, not strictly to anatomy. Bodies aren’t symmetrical; placing to what the eye reads as center is what produces the appearance of symmetry.
• Press center-out, then hold. Smoothing outward from the middle minimizes air bubbles and gets even contact along the edge, where lifting starts.
• Tape the edges for insurance. A perimeter of cover tape is a standard extended-wear move.
• Carry a backup pair and your adhesive. Nobody’s technique survives every night. The people who never have a problem are the ones who packed for it.

How do you remove pasties and body jewels without hurting your skin?

Oil and patience. Never pull anything off dry, and never pick at a stone — picking is what causes the irritation people blame on the product. Saturate the edges with a plain oil, give it ten to fifteen minutes to break the adhesive down, then peel low and slow, parallel to the skin, with one hand holding the skin taut behind the other.

Coconut, almond, olive or baby oil all work; the point is a plain oil with enough dwell time to emulsify the glue. Rub it around the edges and massage it in rather than flooding the surface. Once the bond softens, the piece should lift with almost no resistance — if it’s fighting you, it needs more oil and more time, not more force. Two hands is the technique: one anchors the skin down, the other peels back onto itself. That’s what prevents the tugging.

For body jewels set with lash glue, a gentle makeup remover or facial cleanser dissolves the adhesive. For stronger professional adhesives, follow that product’s own removal directions — those formulas are designed to be taken off with their matched remover, and improvising is where irritation comes from. Leftover residue takes more oil, worked in until it wipes away clean.

Then finish properly: cleanse the area with a mild soap to lift the last of the adhesive and oil, rinse with warm water, and moisturize. Skin that gets treated well at 3 a.m. is skin that takes adhesive well the next night.

Where should a leg garter sit, and what is it actually for?

Mid-thigh — above the knee, on the firmer part of the leg — snug enough to hold through a set, loose enough to slide two fingers under. A leg garter is decorative and functional at once. Dancers have long used the thigh garter as the place cash lives, with bills folded over the band and secured with a rubber band so tips stay on the body and within reach.

Worth clearing up, because the words get used interchangeably: a garter belt sits at the waist or hip and suspends stockings. A leg garter is a band worn on the thigh — it holds nothing up. They solve different problems and can absolutely be worn together.

Styling-wise, the garter has crossed well out of its original niche and works as a statement accessory in its own right. It layers over thigh-highs or tights, sits under a mini skirt so it just breaks the hem line, or reads perfectly well against bare leg. Over hosiery it does something specific: it interrupts an otherwise unbroken leg line, which is exactly why it draws the eye. If you’re pairing it with a dancewear set, let the garter be the interruption and keep the hosiery plain — two busy elements on one leg cancel each other out.

One preference rather than a rule: a single garter on one leg tends to read more deliberate than a matched pair. That’s taste. Plenty of people wear two and look right doing it.

What do gloves, wigs, wings and hats add to a look?

Each of these changes a silhouette rather than decorating one, which is why they read from across a room where a small jeweled detail disappears. They’re the accessories that do structural work — and the ones most likely to be the focal point, meaning everything else should get quieter when you reach for them.

Gloves extend the line of the arm and make a minimal set look finished with no other effort. They also solve a real problem: a simple two-piece can leave the arms feeling unaddressed, and gloves fill that without adding bulk.

Wigs change your whole face and give you a stage identity that’s separate from your day self — which for a lot of performers is the actual point, beyond the styling. Security is the whole game here. A wig grip band worn underneath is the foundation, giving hold without clips or glue; for genuinely hard movement, layer tape at the front hairline, temples and back on top of the grip. The multi-method approach — grip as the base, tape at the stress points — is what performers use for all-day and stage wear rather than trusting any single method.

Wings and hats build scale and character. They’re what push an outfit into costume territory, which makes them the right call for themed nights and the wrong call for a crowded floor where you can’t control your clearance. Both need to be secured deliberately — a hat that requires a hand to stay on has cost you a hand for the night.

How do you match accessories to the occasion?

Work backwards from the room. A stage set, a bottle service floor, a festival and a costume party each reward a different accessory — and punish the wrong one. The variables are movement, distance, clearance and how long you’ll be wearing it. Match those first and the styling decisions largely make themselves.

• Stage sets: Body jewels, a leg garter and pasties. Everything must survive sweat and movement, so this is where the adhesive discipline earns its keep. Wings and long gloves compete with movement rather than supporting it.
• Bottle service and floor work: Long hours, tight spaces, constant motion. Gloves, a garter and restrained jewelry work; anything with clearance requirements does not. Pair against the guidance in our bottle girl outfit guide, and get the footwear right first — your accessories don’t matter if your feet quit, which is what our heel height guide is for.
• Festivals and rave nights: Body jewels and layered chains are at home here — this is the one context where deliberate maximalism reads as intentional. Two to three chains at varied lengths, and let the skin work carry the sparkle. Our rave and festival outfit guide covers the base underneath.
• Costume and theme nights: Wings, hats and wigs. Scale and character over subtlety. Our costume selection guide covers building the whole look rather than just the finishing pieces.
• Photos and bedroom looks: Body jewels perform beautifully on camera because the lens picks up refraction the naked eye misses. Movement isn’t a factor, so heavier stones become viable here in a way they aren’t on stage.

Frequently asked questions

How long do body jewels stay on skin?

Generally around eight hours on properly prepped skin with a cosmetic adhesive, though that varies with how heavy the stones are and how much you’re moving. Heavy stones plus a high-energy set will shed sooner. Sealing with a setting spray adds protection against sweat.

Can I use super glue for rhinestones on skin?

No. Super glue, craft glue and hot glue guns should never touch skin — they aren’t formulated for it and cause genuine damage. Use a cosmetic-grade body adhesive or lash glue made for face and body gems, and patch test anything new before the night you need it.

What is the best adhesive for pasties?

There isn’t a universal best one, and working performers say so plainly — different adhesives suit different skin types. Fashion or toupee tape is cleanest and fastest for quick changes; body adhesives and spirit gum hold harder through sweat and intense dancing. Test on yourself first.

Where should a leg garter sit on your thigh?

Mid-thigh, above the knee on the firmer part of the leg. Two fingers should slide under comfortably. Too loose and it migrates down through a set; too tight is uncomfortable over hours and still migrates. Wear it over hosiery or against bare leg.

Can I try accessories on at the Houston store?

Yes. Our staff measure you in store with no appointment needed, and seeing how a piece sits on your actual body beats guessing from a photo. We’re on Richmond Ave in the Galleria area, and it’s a judgment-free room — bring the outfit you’re accessorizing if you can.

Accessories are usually the last step, not the first — see the rest of Pleasure Zone’s style guides for how to build the look before you get here.

Pleasure Zone is an adult boutique; you must be 18+ to shop. Visit us at 5705 Richmond Ave, Houston, TX 77057, open Mon-Wed 10 AM-12 AM, Thu-Sat 10 AM-2 AM, Sun 12 PM-12 AM.