Magnetic Nail Polish by Layla & Nails Inc.

As much as I love nail polish, I have to admit that sometimes I can suffer from a feeling that I can best describe as a "lack of new things" vibe that I think comes from seeing the same brands over and over again and having to make the weighty decision of "should I buy this creme or shimmer finish?"  As the popularity of nail polish has growth hugely in the last few years, manufacturers have had to get a lot more inventive and/or innovative in order to stand out in what is now a very crowded market.  More often than not, some of these "innovations" are just retreads of ideas tried out in the past like matte finish polishes, polishes in pens and crackle top coats.  I've seen all of these trends before (let's face it, I'm old!) and I've tried them all too but one type of polish eluded me for a while and that was magnetic nail polish.  

Magneto, Do Your Thing!

This in itself isn't new.  I've seen them often on many other blogs in the last few years but somehow I either missed out when the polish was first available and since I don't shop online as much as I used to, my options for purchasing were limited.

But now magnetic polish is all over the place from high end retailers like Sephora to your local pharmacy which is where I picked up these two polishes to try out:

First up is Trafalgar Square from Nail Inc. London which is finally available at Sephora stores in Canada.  They didn't have too much to offer by way of colour choices.  In fact, the Sephora that I bought this from only had two: a dark grey/black and a dark purple. 

The second polish is Velvet Groove from Layla.  They had a larger choice of colours that included blues & greens but I think I chose this colour because I still would have liked it even if it didn't have tiny magnetic particles in it.  As you can see, I had a few issues with the application, which obviously takes more time to do than the usual process.

The process is simple though.  You paint your nail and while the polish is still wet, you hold the magnet (which is part of the bottle cap) over your nail for a few seconds as it pulls on the particles to form a design on your nail...

Kind of Like This, Only With a Lot Less Charisma.

And you better work fast because both of these polishes dry like lightning and you'll just end up with a very frosty looking finish. Oddly enough, what helps this process work is much like what it takes to get to Carnegie Hall: Practice!  I botched up my first two attempts on my pinkies and ring fingers by holding the magnets so close, I smudged my polish with the bottle caps!  The first photo is the Nails Inc. cap and the second is the Layla cap.

The Handy, Rounded Guide for Your Nail Didn't Stop Me From Smearing the Polish.

Oops! I Did it Again.

Two words of advice. If you buy the Layla polish and you smudge your nails with the bottle cap, do not wipe the polish off or you will end up ruining the effect of the magnet design as seen in the above photo.  The second is you really should work in a well lit area so that you can see what you're doing and avoid mishaps.

So now for the final word.  Which one is the better polish of the two?  As far as the application process goes both the Nails Inc. and Layla polishes are on the same level but when it comes to results I preferred the Layla polish since once I got the hang of the magnet, the results were much more dramatic.

Ta Da!