Remember when Barry M brought out the crackle nail polish and everyone went nuts? Geez, even Mr C amazed!
I got bored of crackles pretty quickly then there was magnetic polish – once again a really really clever concept but one I have yet to master! Korean brands have been making crackle and magnetic polishes for a while now with lots of shades to choose from.
I picked 3 shades from the range and the magnet. Here are the full range of colours:
No. 1 – Red
No. 2 – Purple
No. 3 – Blue
No. 4 – Mystery Khaki
No. 5 – Black Dark.
I have 1, 3 and 4.
To use these polishes, apply one coat of polish then use the magnet, holding it over the nail to get the special lined effect.
Well, I found the texture of the polish quite thin so I don’t think 1 coat is enough to get an even smooth finish.
The magnet looks like this -
Argghhh. I struggled. I really struggled with this product.
In order to get the lovely striped finish they show (and I have seen other people successfully do it, it just took me many many goes to get anything even half like it) you have to get the magnet CLOSE but not so close it touches the nail.
Cue many smudges. The magnet has slightly raised edges so if your fingers are thin enough you can just directly place the magnet on top and then you get a brilliant effect.
But if you have to hold it over your nail, its hard to get close enough without touching the nail and also the less you shake or move around, the more defined your stripes will be. I must have shaky hands…
I couldn’t get green to work for me, naughty green. But this is the effect I got from hand holding the magnet:
But look at the effect when you can place the magnet directly on top of the polish and you can leave it to form the pattern!!! Much better. I haven’t mastered this yet – my fingers are too chubby and there’s no way the magnet will just sit on top without touching it. Boo.
Verdict: Quite nice colours, takes a bit of skill to get this right though! I wouldn’t purchase any more to be honest.
*Purchased from eBay
I have a huge collection of Etude house polishes. I tried on the No. 3 – Blue, its really fun to work with this. You can create a lot of magnet designs, but it just take a little effort and patience. Nice to play along with friends during sleep overs.