How many clear nitro coats over shorline gold?

Reason I'm asking is because I sprayed metallic silver pearl over my other guitar then sprayed 2 can of clear within a week and I could still feel the bumpyness of the metallic flakes,etc. am I doing something wrong?

Is the bumpiness from the metallic flakes or dust on the clear coat.
Would there be a risk sandIng and possibly messing up the metallic finish?

I'm totally amateur and maybe I'm wrong but I've placed few coats of transparent lacquer (nitro), every of them sanded a little with fine grain paper. There was no bumps under fingers but at the end I made little texture.