Gel polish magnet: what is it, how to choose and use?

Magnetic varnish has been familiar to lovers of unusual manicure for many years, but its popularity today is not so great. The thing is that the creation of a neat pattern with the effect of volume required a certain skill and great effort, and the usual nail polish lasted no longer than 5-7 days. With the release and distribution on the market of gel polishes that polymerize on the nail into a hard layer using an ultraviolet light from a lamp, the popularity of this design is gaining momentum again. And along with multi-colored gels, an increasing number of various magnets are on sale, which allow you to get the famous volume effect on the nail plate.

5D magnetic manicure is often called the "cat's eye". It got its name due to the fact that as a result of placing the magnet over a single-color coating, one or more double strips of a different shade are formed on it. A similar strip looks like a vertical cat pupil, and the nail itself becomes like a semiprecious stone of the same name. This effect is achieved by the presence of a multitude of tiny metal particles in the gel polish, which collect in certain places during the magnet present.

Depending on the pattern of the magnet itself, the pattern of the resulting bands also changes. The consistency of this material is more dense and elastic than that of a conventional gel, and the wear period is longer than that of varnish. The resulting patterns are especially visible when moving and glare of sunlight falling on painted nails.A huge number of shades of the coating itself and patterns on the magnets allow you to get a huge number of unique combinations. At the same time, magnetic elements can be sold both in a set with gel polish, and in the form of an independent accessory that works exclusively with a magnetic coating.

Using a magnet to create the effect of volume on the nails is quite simple. Most often, on the package in which the kit or the accessory was sold, there is a detailed instruction. The main thing is to correctly bring it to the nail, without touching the gel polish, but also not holding it too far. The whole process of creating such a spectacular manicure includes the following steps.

• Nail preparation. Before applying the gel, you need to do a regular manicure: cut or move the cuticle, trim the edge of the nail, process the top layer with a buff so that the gel better rests on the surface of the nail plate. Apply a layer of base gel and bake it in the lamp.

• Coating. On the sticky base layer, apply the middle layer of a special magnetic gel polish and bring a magnet to it. This must be done immediately, otherwise the metal particles will not move well in the drying substance. Do not cover all nails at once, especially if this is the first application experience. In this case, the probability of error will be much less. You need to bring the magnetic accessory at a distance of about 4-6 mm from the nail and keep it in this position for 10-12 seconds. It is not necessary to keep the magnet in one position, you can drive it from side to side at the same height so that the pattern changes. Once a suitable pattern is found, you can use a UV lamp.

• Decor If desired, you can decorate the magnetic gel polish with additional rhinestones, foil, lace, drawings and many other decorative elements. This is best done after baking the coating in ultraviolet, but before removing the sticky layer. In this case, the pattern of metal particles will not be disturbed, and the element will be well fixed on the nail.
• Topcoat. Apply a finished coating to the finished manicure to fix the result for a longer period, bake it in the lamp and remove the sticky layer. The manicure is ready.

On sale you can find a large number of magnets of various types.

Most often they come in the form of thin plates of various shapes:

• round;
• rectangular;
• polygonal.

Such plates can contain only one magnet or be double-sided. Then each side gives the coating a specific pattern. In addition, they can be made in the form of volumetric cubes, washers, balls and even in the form of pens or pencils. Unlike a large area of ​​a conventional magnet, the magnetic tip of the pen is quite small. Leading it over the coating, you can draw any patterns that add up from the metal dust of gel polish.

Many manufacturers claim that the brand of gel polish and magnetic accessory must be the same. In fact, the same magnet will work perfectly with all the magnetic gels that can be found on sale. Moreover, a special accessory can be replaced with any magnet purchased in a store or obtained by disassembling old household appliances. Although they are not designed to create patterns on the nails.

Despite the great hardness and strength of the gel coating, it, like regular varnish, can crack or peel around the edges. Of course, the better the quality of the materials themselves, the longer the finished manicure will last.

But there are several tricks to help maintain the original appearance of the nails even after a couple of weeks, not counting the small overgrown edge at the hole.

• Any homework that occurs in water and with cleaning products, it is advisable to carry out with rubber gloves. If you smear your hands with a fat cream and put on gloves on them, then even ordinary washing up can turn into a home cosmetic procedure with the SPA effect.

• When working with any alcohol-containing substances or solvents, you must carefully monitor that they do not get on the nails. Of course, it is quite difficult to dissolve the coating with ordinary alcohol, but getting it can remove the beautiful shine and even slightly distort the smooth top layer.
• Within 2-3 days after coating the nails with magnetic gel polish, it is undesirable to have long contact with hot water or steam. A visit to the sauna and solarium should also be postponed until the end of this period.
• Do not try to turn gel-coated nails into a screwdriver or scraper. Even a hard coating baked in ultraviolet has its own tensile strength. If there is a need to scrape something off the surface of the table or floor, it is better to take a knife, spatula or scissors.

Like any other gel, the magnetic coating is not removed by ordinary nail polish remover. You will have to attend to the purchase of a special tool, but even with it this procedure occurs in several stages.

• Preparation. The procedure for removing the hard coating will take at least 30–40 minutes with a certain dexterity and exactly at least an hour if this is the first time. It is necessary to choose free time so that nothing distracts, no one demanded attention at this moment. In advance, you need to cut cotton halves into halves and prepare 10x10 cm square pieces of foil or buy special caps.
• Softening. To make the hard layer of the gel more pliable, it is necessary to moisten copiously with cotton wool in gel polish remover and wrap it around the nail. Top cotton wool is best covered with foil to create a greenhouse effect. Keep such a compress on your nails for at least 10-15 minutes.

• Withdrawal. After the solid gel has turned into a softer, supple substance, it must be cleaned off the nail plate with an orange stick or a regular toothpick.
• Care. Treatment of the nail and the skin around it with a liquid with a solvent negatively affects the health and appearance of the hands. In order to minimize the resulting harm, it is necessary to lubricate the treated surface with a moisturizer or nourishing oil.

Magnetic gel polish manicure is good even without additional decorations. It looks great with both a casual and festive look, complementing even the simplest outfit. At the same time, an unusual coating serves as a good base for manicure experiments. Making the image more bold and sophisticated will help applying a different shade or even color to the ring finger.

A scattering of small beads or rhinestones will also highlight one or two nails and at the same time they will not look too vulgar, as if they were applied to all ten.

For the New Year and Christmas holidays, you can complement the "cat's eye" with sparkles or liquid stones. They will look especially good if their size is larger than the metal particles of the gel itself.

An unexpected, but no less interesting combination is magnetic varnish and stamping in the form of lace, flowers or even feline silhouettes. Such pictures are placed on top of a color coating and, having covered with a top, are baked in ultraviolet. Such fastening allows you to keep for a long time even the thinnest pattern.

About the design options for manicure with a magnet, see the next video.