Tag Archives: magnetic

Manicure Monday: Kinetic Copper

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Happy Monday, reader! Remember magnetic polish! I’m bringing it back! Today’s look was done with Sally Hansen’s Kinetic Copper; this is three coats of Kinetic Copper with one coat of Seche Vite.

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So we all remember 2011, right? Maybe it was 2012. That time had a lot of really fun and, looking back on them, really questionable nail trends. Magnetics, feather toppers, crackle toppers… It’s so fun to look back on looks like these with what we know now. I wasn’t huge into nail art at that time, and this was way before I discovered indies, so anything new was really exciting. Even with as popular as magnetic polishes were, I’ve still only worn like three of them ever, and that’s why the novelty hasn’t completely worn off for me. I kind of wonder if we’re going to look back on gel-effect polishes and Liquid Sand with the same kind of  dismissal.

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Kinetic Copper has the benefit of being a really pretty polish with or without the magnetic effect. As you can see, I only used the magnet on my accent nails; let’s not go too far into the past, shall we? This rich bronze has a lot of copper shimmers floating around in it, so even if you just wear it as a shimmer polish, it’s a really nice look. The magnet deepens the polish to a rich brown, and the wave pattern gives it a cool cats-eye cabochon effect. It’s still cool, even if it is dated.

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You can see the magnetic effect best in the sunlight photos. I never get a good even pattern because my nails curve so much; it’s strong in the center and only in the center. It looks fantastic in the sunlight, though, the copper shimmers really come to life out here.

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Kinetic Copper and the Magnetic line are discontinued by Sally Hansen; other Sally Hansen polishes are available in stores nationwide.

Manicure Monday: Trash Nails and Magnetic Silver

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This week on Manicure Monday, we play with magnets, tweezers, and super glue. No, we’re not building a robot, we’re doing our nails! I wish we were building a robot, that would be cool.

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I only used one polish this week: Sinful Colors’ Polar Opposites. I know magnetic polishes are passé and uninteresting now, but I still like the look, even if I couldn’t get mine to come out very well. As was the case with my last magnetic polish, the magnetic design looked fantastic when I pulled the magnet away, but began to fade and distort as it dried. On some nails, the design is completely invisible, whereas some others barely are. It’s too bad; the magnetic effect really brings out the fine blue-to-purple shifting glitter. It’s a shame it’s not more pronounced, it’s really pretty.

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You’re probably wondering what all that crap is doing stuck to my nail. I got this nail art wheel from Claire’s with a bunch of round pyramid studs in it, and I thought that since I was only using one color, I could use a few of these studs. I thought they’d look best paired with a gray or silver polish, and since I was using one, I tried it. These are some of the tackiest, trashiest, most clothes-snagginest nails I’ve ever done. I can’t wait to see what it’s like washing my hair in the morning with these bad guys. There are pyramid studs of various sizes and colors, a teardrop rhinestone, and metal chain segments in a variety of finishes. I know they look like over-the-top hooker nails, but they make me feel kind of badass, like I could cut somebody with them. I might accidentally cut myself.

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I don't always post my right hand, but when I do, it's tacky as hell.

I don’t always post my right hand, but when I do, it’s tacky as hell.

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I tried something new this week: the DIY gel manicure. I originally saw a post on Reddit (that I can’t find now, so here’s the tutorial I used), where someone applied layers of Gelous between their color coats to get a durability comparable to a gel manicure. I was in Sally this weekend, I saw the Gelous, and I decided to try it for myself. Application was easy, but took some time; you’re using a few different products in a short amount of time. I didn’t really like this part; I like to let my polish dry for a really long time (like an hour) before I put another down. As a result, when I went to clean up my cuticles, I got some pulling and tugging from where the polish was kind of dry, but not dry enough. I have some weird edges from that. Also, the tutorial skipped base coat altogether and jumped right into the Gelous. I wasn’t okay with that. Having bought my first bottle of Nail Envy this weekend, I started with a base coat of that, then went for my usual OPI base coat (which was probably overkill), and then went into the Gelous tutorial. We’ll see if it holds up. I really hope it does, because now that my boyfriend lives here, I have to wash dishes twice as often, and my manicures don’t hold up the way they used to when I only had to do dishes once a week.

One of these things is not like the others. It's Sinful Colors' Polar Opposites!

One of these things is not like the others. It’s Sinful Colors’ Polar Opposites!

In unrelated news: Wacie Nail Company is a thing that’s really going to happen, and soon. Last week I ordered some supplies for a R&D run, and the last of it will arrive tomorrow. I will probably spend all my free time this week huffing lacquer fumes and inhaling glitter, and hopefully, I’ll have working prototypes by Friday. I’m really excited about making polish, sharing it with everyone, and doing something more constructive with my time than refreshing Reddit. I hope you’re looking forward to it!

Manicure Monday: Purple Magnetic Polish

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I am really, really late to the magnetic polish party. I bought this one a really long time ago, right when I heard Sinful Colors had a magnetic collection out; they were pretty late to the party, and this was months, if not a year, ago. So here I am, hopelessly chasing a bandwagon that’s long since been abandoned for Liquid Sand.

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I don’t know what went wrong with these, I really don’t. On my test nails, it came out perfectly; the starburst design was always sharp and centered. On my own nails, the starburst shape leaned to the left a lot, but I was okay with it; it kind of reminded me of a lens flare, or a Rising Sun flag. The design was clean and visible, at least until I pulled the magnet away and it began to dry. Now it’s faint, vague, and easy to overlook.

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Bonder, Captivate Me, Out the Door

Despite that, I kind of like it. I like the polish in general; before applying the magnet, it was a deep plum color with a fine rainbow shimmer. Part of me wishes I’d just left it alone. The shimmer’s still easy to see, but it looks like many of the colors are missing. I also used the Out the Door top coat on this manicure, and I’m still unsure of how I feel about it. I do miss Seche Vite, somewhat. Out the Door was a bit easier to clean up, but my nails still feel kind of flexible, and I’m worried about breaking them. Seche Vite was so rigid that it was like a suit of armor over my nail polish. I didn’t have a break the entire time I used it.

I’m not sure my nails have ever been this long. Maybe one or two have been, and were cut because they were longer than all the others and looked like coke nails. For a few months, I cut them to fingertip length, because they always broke if they got very much longer, but I got tired of having short nails. I started taking biotin, and the difference it has made is amazing. Comparing the first photo I posted with this most recent one, I can’t believe they’ve grown so long so quickly. Of course, I hit them on everything now, and my typing accuracy suffers somewhat, but who cares? They’re pretty!