One More Magnetic - Nails Inc Piccadilly

As promised, here is another magnetic polish! This one is from Nails Inc and instead of the typical 'wavy line' type of magnetic pattern, the magnet sold with this one makes a fishnet design!

Nails Inc Piccadilly

What I like is that the different magnets can be used with any magnetic polish - so let's say one day I'm feeling the colour and finish of Nails Inc Trafalgar Square, I can use this magnet to give it the fishnet pattern! Which I did one day and totally forgot to snap a pic. Doh.

That being said, I DO love this colour. It's somewhere between olive and gold. (NB: If you're into makeup, it reminds me of the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow called Bronze Divine. And it is divine!) I actually like this polish alone without magnetic effect perhaps more than with the magnetic effect. It's rather sparkly and therefore has a chunkier texture than the other magnetics I've tried (here and here) which makes the design less obvious and in a way, messier.

I think that's probably it for me with magnetics! I do love the three that I have, but I think I'm set for this trend. Do you own any magnetic effect polishes? Love/hate?

kittytokaren

More magnetic - Sally Hansen Red-y Response

I so enjoyed my little foray into the magnetic trend with Nails Inc Trafalgar Square, that I couldn't resist picking up one of the new Sally Hansen magnetic polishes! I tried Red-y Response - a warm plum pink/purple.

I have to say it. These are total copies of the Nails Inc - the bottle is the same, the cap is the same...and well, the formula is very similar as well! The price is very different, so I'm definitely not complaining. Unlike another Nails Inc I've tried (which you will see soon), Trafalgar Square and this Sally Hansen are both extremely smooth polishes, and the magnet works beautifully on them to create a design.

I'm still quite enamored with this trend - and because of the great price on these Sally Hansen magnetic polishes, I'm considering picking up another colour! Perhaps a copper/brown to look like tiger's eye?

kittytokaren

Magnetic Trend - Nails Inc Trafalgar Square

I'm not usually the first to jump on trend bandwagons, and the magnetic trend was no exception. But better late than never! My coworker (slash super-awesome-nail-polish-and-makeup-wearing-goth-friend) showed up to lab one day with this nail polish on - and it looked incredible! Really suited her style too. I liked it so much I had to stop by Sephora and use the remainder of a gift card to give Nails Inc Trafalgar Square a go!

Aaannnnnddd I kinda love it! It's super cool looking in person - like polished hematite or some other semi-precious stone. The colour is subtle and neutral enough that the finish is the only thing on display, and I quite like that. The magnet makes a very simple stripe pattern, so the effect is stark and eye-catching. The polish itself isn't especially glittery, like some other magnetic options, which I think I prefer as it makes the surface appear extra smooth.

This is one trend I will dip more than one toe into - expect to see a couple more variations from me soon!

Have you tried magnetic polishes? Into it or not?

kittytokaren

Quick and dirty swatch: L'Oreal Star Magnet Purple

Today has been a big growth day for Publish or Perish! We've added our FIFTH blogger, Jess, who has already introduced herself. Five geeky lacquer loonies who aspire -- at least, in the short term -- to the Ivory Tower. Five students posting about nail polish while procrastinating from their academic pursuits. If that doesn't guarantee a new post on most days, I don't know what will.

(By the way, if you love academia, nail polish and photographing your lacquered tips and toes, consider blogging with us! Email us at polishorperish@gmail.com for more details.)

In other PorP news, Kathleen at OCNailArt.com has provided our blog with our very own coupon code: type in "polishorperish" in the promo/coupon code box during checkout and get 20% off your entire order! Shipping is free for domestic and international orders over $20 (after discounts). This is a great resource for Konad kits and accessories!

Anyway, back to business:

Thank heavens it's summer vacation because I can keep an eye on Nail Board for when some enterprising NBer posts about some terribly irresistible eBay ("evilBay" in NB parlance) auction for an HTF polish. I finally got my little lacquered paws onto some L'Oreal Star Magnet polishes (AKA cheapie Lancome Le Magnetique).

For those who aren't familiar with these magnetic polishes, Boing Boing has a nice summary. You gotta love a nail polish that gets mentioned on Boing Boing. Synopsis of the BB post: polish has metal filings, polish bottle has attached magnet, put freshly lacquered nail up to the magnet and voila, metal filings in the polish create a starburst pattern. Instant geek sexy.

The colors aren't special but the magnetic part is. The bottle is terribly small (0.3fl oz as opposed to the typical 0.5fl oz) and the brush is terribly big. (Exactly how many times have I used the word "terribly" here? Too many.) I'm sure the brush would work better on big nailed gals but I have sadly small nails and polish cleanup around the edges of my nail post-application was a bitch.

But it's got magnetic filings and it creates a starburst pattern! Behold!

L'Oreal Star Magnet in Purple:

I'm not sure why L'Oreal decided to use an '80s space age computer game-like font for their logo here but never judge a book by its cover, right?

What was pretty nifty to me was that I could see the the magnetic filings being drawn into the starburst pattern while it was held up close to the magnet: a little dollop of polish even flew off of my nail onto the magnet.

On the topic of dollops, because Star Magnets are HTF, I usually do my nails in another (regular) polish to achieve maximum opacity with only one layer of the Star Magnet. That way, opaque but I'm not wasting the precious polish. Once the polish is dry, the filings are no longer mobile enough to be pulled in by the magnet so doing two coats with it is tantamount to wasting the polish.

I decided to further jazz my nails up with a couple of nail art rhinestones. Not the most interesting pattern -- or the greatest execution -- but you guys get the general idea. This is my first foray into 3D nail art. Or maybe just sticking stuff on my nails on top of my polish.

You know what I'd love to try but would probably suck at? Acrylic 3D nail designs! It's not really the sort of thing I can wear while teaching and holding office hours but seems like a lot of fun to try out!