Blue (17 magnetic nail polish part 1)

As you might have seen in my recent post I managed to track down the popular 17 magnetic nail polish. I was so keen to try these out and didn't want to spend a small fortune on one bottle of the Nails Inc version at first. Nails Inc magnetic nail polish costs £13, the 17 version costs £5.99. I have never tried magnetic polish before and I was eager to find out if they lived up to the hype. Here we have the polish in blue.

I love this colour! The vibrant blue and deep shimmering purple work well together. So, how does this work? I know a lot of people have probably already seen or tried this, I know am late to the party, but just incase you don't know I shall explain.

I started with clean nails (although I have read some people putting a base of black down first) The magnet is a cap which conveniently comes away from the actual polish cap, this means you don't have to keep unscrewing the cap back on to complete the manicure.

I also love the lip over the magnet, it means there is something to 'rest' the edge of your nail on, rather than just hovering over the nail. It also makes it less likely that I will touch the nail with the magnet. 

I found it best to paint one nail with a thick (but not so thick it is gloopy!) coat of the polish, working as quickly as I could I made sure the polish covered the entire nail evenly. I then took the cap/magnet and rested the lip with the magnet over the nail. Now, here is the slightly tricky bit, don't let the magnet touch the wet polish, but I couldn't see the pattern appearing, so I had to guess how long I should leave the magnet to create a strong enough pattern. I would say 10-15 seconds, basically the longer you have the magnet there the stronger the pattern. However, don't leave it too long, I have heard some people having trouble where the iron fillings in the polish (which create the pattern) can start to lift too much and cause rippling and an uneven finish. So really, this is a guessing game and trial and error as to how long you should take to create the pattern. 

The polish itself dried quickly, I applied China Glaze Fast Forward top coat after I had completed all nails on both hands. The varnish dries flat, not shiny, so I wanted to add a gloss. 

My other hand shows the pattern not as strong, I didn't leave the magnetic over the wet polish long enough.

Overall I love the way this looks and can't wait to try the other colours out, I wonder if the pattern will look stronger or not, depending on what colour I use. I have seen other people using the gun metal grey shade and the contrast looks strong and obvious. Have you tried these out?