Sorry to hear that your experiments had a disappointing result, Marq. I think the final result on the paint still looks great, though.
From your description, you tried a slightly different method than I used, and the Brightside has fewer layers than I'm applying. I don't spray a whole layer, I just dust the surface with a fog from about 18-24 inches away with Armor Coat silver. At that distance, all I get is a very fine layer of glittering on the surface of the unsanded layer. The next coat goes over that and then gets sanded. I have no extreme roughness, or curing problems. The spray can paint is actually acting more as an adhesive to hold the flake in place until the next coat goes over top.
Pwing to the poor (read as cheap school trip for kids, so it got lost on the bus [Edited by Moparts - Keep it clean] camera) the effect doesn't show up well in the pics, but this one does seem to catch the effect. In person and outdoor light, the flake is very noticable.
Perkaps the Krylon paint has something to do with the curing, I've used their spray at work, and somehow it seems to be plastic when dry, something like a saran wrap layer. I dunno
Sounds a bit like cold fusion, one guy says it works, another one can't. I wish it had been a success for you.
Sorry for the longwinded post I will try to get a pic that shows the effect better.