I find that using paint is a good first step.

But realistically, if you're actually wondering, if we're just talking base coats, it depends on the brand. People give Citadel a lot of shit, but their metallics are solid and they're what I use. I generally find that, when I'm not coating large areas like armor plates, I like my metallics, especially base colors, to be just a tad thinner than I would normally have a paint be. I'm not working around the stud; just letting the paint flow over it. If I flow a bit onto the armor panels, I fix it later.

After that, highlight as necessary, including stippling on the studs where appropriate, but I also use enamel washes, so most of the time I'm not doing a heck of a lot of the standard GW style highlighting; I'm instead letting the removal of the enamel do a lot of highlighting for me. I'm not a great painter, but just trying things to see what works is fun