Barry M Magnetic Sparkle Gold

Although I've gone off magnetic polishes a bit since the market was flooded with them, I randomly decided a couple of weeks ago that I wanted a gold one (I was feeling in the Christmas spirit.) Barry M Magnetic Sparkle Gold fitted the bill nicely. It's an antique gold, not too much yellow in it, which is the sort of gold I generally prefer. It also has some gold glitter in there - hence the sparkle part of its name. It comes with a diagonal line magnet but I decided to use a chevron one with it instead.

I just realised I do own another gold magnetic polish, but it's a dud one from Nails Inc - I think it was actually recalled because the magnetic effect doesn't really show up! To see really bad photos of it from over a year ago, click here.

Barry M Magentic Sparkle Blue

I went off magentic nail polish a while ago because every company seems to be doing it now, but I spotted one in Superdrug recently that looked pretty cool. Barry M Sparkle Blue may have one of the most boring names ever, but the polish itself is anything but dull. It's a sort of pale blue/grey before the magnet is applied, but after it's magnetised it reveals a stunning bright blue shimmer. The magnet it comes with is a fun star pattern. The first coat went on quite sheer but I used the magnet after painting on the second coat and it was perfectly opaque.

In hindsight I think perhaps I should have taken the photos in the shade because the sun obscures the pattern slightly, but I wanted to show how sparkly it is!

Pretty cool, isn't it? But wait, there's more...

It's a duochrome! At the right angle, the blue shimmer turns purple.

What's your opinion of magnetic nail polish? Are you still a fan or are you over it? Sparkle Blue may have just rekindled my love of it...

17 Magentized Nail Polish

I had such a positive experience with Nails Inc magnetic nail polish that I was interested to try another brand's version and see how they compare. I decided to try 17 from Boots. I couldn't find it in store so I bought two colours - blue and teal - off their website.

The bottle design is idential to the Nails Inc one. It's a 10ml bottle with a detachable magnet cap. Both caps also have a little lip that you rest against your cuticle to line up the magnet.

So I could try both colours at once, I alternated the colours on each nail. As with the Nails Inc polish I did two coats of each, the first coat obviously without the magnet and the second holding the magnet over the nail while the polish was wet. It was incredibly easy to do. I then sealed with a top coat to make it super shiny.

These photos were taken after three days so there's a bit of tip wear, but no chipping. As you can see, the blue has a more subtle effect than the teal but I like both colours equally. They're just so pretty.

17 vs. Nails Inc

So if you were only going to buy one magnetic polish, which brand should it be? Well, the Nails Inc formula was definitely superior to the 17 one. I can't fault the former, which I found the latter a bit gloopy. It wasn't bad enough to cause any real problems, though. 17 has a choice of four colours (silver, lilac, blue and teal) and Nails Inc has three (gold, silver and purple). But the most obvious difference is in the price. I got the 17 polishes for £4.99 each, while the Nails Inc ones were a whopping £13! In spite of the inferior formula, for more than half the price and a wider range of colours, I'd personally go with the 17 polishes.

Nails Inc Magnetic Polishes

I gave in and bought the Nails Inc magnetic polishes the other day. For those who don't know what a magnetic nail polish is, it doesn't mean - as most people I've mentioned it to seem to think - that you suddenly become like Magneto from X-Men and metal things stick to you (trying to set the dinner table would be a lot more interesting if it did!). Rather, it means that the polish formula has little metal particles in it - to quote the Nails Inc website: "As the magnet is held over the nail, the iron powder in the formulation gravitates toward the magnet forming the pattern/design secretly hidden in the magnet for an astonishing finish!"

Nails Inc currently has three magnetic polishes, all named after famous London landmarks: Trafalgar Square (silver), Houses of Parliament (purple) and Big Ben (gold). I bought Trafalgar Square and Big Ben. Each comes with a magnet built into the removable cap, which then leaves a smaller bottle lid underneath. There's a little peelable instruction book on the magnet cap, but they also provide you with a larger one (with pictures) if, like my mother, you're old long-sighted.

I was too impatient to try one polish at a time so I decided to alternate the colours on each nail. The instructions said to do one "generous" coat on each nail but I ended up doing two coats to make it look more even, obviously not using the magnet on the first coat. I was worried using the magnet would be awkward, but actually it was very easy. One by one I painted the second coat onto the nail and then, while the polish was still wet, held the magnet over it. You can see in the first photo above that there's a sticky-up bit (the technical term!) on the cap that you're supposed to hold over the cuticle to make it easier to position the magnet. I actually ended up resting it lightly on my cuticle as it made it easier to hold the magnet steady over my nail without touching the polish. I one-Mississippi-two-Mississippi'd for about fifteen seconds before lifting the magnet away to reveal the cool effect.

Considering it was my first go, I'm really pleased with how this turned out. The formula on these was brilliant, I had no problems whatsoever. My application wasn't perfect as I was so worried about the polish drying before I had a chance to use the magnet that I wasn't as careful as I should have been. My only real complaint is that it's quite hard to see the pattern with Big Ben (the gold polish); it's nothing like as obvious as Trafalgar Square. In some lights it's almost invisible, which is a pity.

Nails Inc magnetic polishes are priced at £13 on their website (or £11.70 with their reward scheme) with £1 going towards The Prince's Trust. I'll freely admit they're not cheap. However, for such a beautiful effect - and such an easy alternative to nail art - I think they're worth every penny.