Abstract: A liquid metal composition includes a binder comprising an acrylic resin and a cellulose acetate butyrate, a wax, an organic solvent, and an aluminum pigment comprising PVD aluminum flake. A multi-layered coating system has a flop index of greater than 10 and includes a substrate, a liquid metal layer disposed about the substrate and formed from the liquid metal composition, and a topcoat layer disposed about the liquid metal layer and formed from a topcoat composition. A method of painting the substrate with the liquid metal composition and the topcoat composition to form the multi-layered coating system includes the steps of applying the liquid metal composition onto the substrate at an application percent solids of greater than 10% to form the liquid metal layer, applying the topcoat composition onto the liquid metal layer to form the topcoat layer, and curing the layers to form the multi-layered coating system.