nails inc. Magnetic Effect - Trafalgar Square

Hey guys! I'm really into "special effects" that I can do with my nails, and one of the easiest effects has to be the magnetic effect. Plenty of companies have taken their swing at the magnetic trend by now, and unfortunately, I've only been able to try the nails inc. magnetic polishes. But that's alright - I love them enough that I've never felt the need to branch out and try others!

nails inc. Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, Houses of Parliament

Originally, nails inc. released three colors: Trafalgar Square (silver chrome), Houses of Parliament (purple), and Whitehall (teal). Apparently there was a gold as well, but it was discontinued and now nearly impossible to find. Now there's a whole bunch of colors, including a glittery gold!

Now on to Trafalgar Square...

As per the directions, I did one coat of base coat then let it dry, and then one coat of the polish without using the magnet. nails inc. has an amazing formula, and Trafalgar Square was actually almost opaque! (Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture of my nails then.)

Once that first coat of color dried, I worked on each nail, one at a time. The first time I tried to use a magnet, it ended up looking pretty sloppy, so if you can't get it right away, don't despair! the nails inc. magnet is fairly easy to work with; there's a raised edge at one end to put on your cuticle so you know exactly how to place the magnet, AND you don't accidentally touch the magnet to the wet polish. All you need to do is paint another coat of Trafalgar Square, then hold the magnet over your nail for anywhere from 8-15 seconds (I do 15 to make sure the magnetic effect works).

After you've done this for every nail, it should look like this:

nails inc. Trafalgar Square

If you try this out yourself, you'll probably notice that it's a lot harder to get the effect to cover your thumb than it is for the rest of your nails. While I haven't yet perfected the magnet technique either, I find that it's a lot easier to get full coverage with the magnet effect if you tilt the magnet left and right on your thumb for a few seconds.

Once you've gotten the hang of the timing and the magnet, this manicure is actually pretty easy to do! And if the magnetic look itself doesn't make you happy, I can assure you that the "ooh"s and "aah"s of your friends will!

Zoya Myrta

There's probably millions of swatches of the Zoya Beach and Surf collections out there, so why not add one more? Here's Zoya Myrta, " Warm medium orange coral with red undertone, gold and silver metallic shimmer, and a foil-like finish".

Zoya Myrta

As you can see from the bottle shot, Myrta looks fairly orange. What I've noticed, though, is that the less lighting there is, the more coral-pink Myrta looks:

Sun (but still indoors :P)

Regular indoor lighting

I love, love, LOVE Zoya, and I looooove Myrta. Myrta is really orange in some lights, pink in others, and sometimes red (as you can see in the pictures above). The formula was perfect - not to thick, not to thin, easy to get the perfect amount on the brush and on the nail. Zoya's website says it is a 5 for intensity (should be completely opaque), but I wouldn't say that it was as opaque as other "5" polishes Zoya has. It didn't look BAD at 1 coat, but there was a lot of nail and some patchiness; at 2 coats, it was almost opaque but you could still see the nail line in the light; I did 3 coats, which seemed perfect to me.

My only real issue with Myrta is the way it almost eats topcoat. I'm a huge fan of the super shiny, frozen-beneath-glass look that I can get with the right topcoat, and even though I used my normal topcoat, Myrta didn't have that glassy finish. Not sure if it's just Myrta or if it's the actual finish ("metallic micro glitter"), but I'll test out some of the other Surf polishes soon just to see.

UPDATE: The next day when I went to take Myrta off, I found another downfall of the pretty finish - the "micro glitter" makes the polish almost as hard to remove as a real glitter! Not a huge issue, though, if you use the foil method.

Not-ultra-shiny finish aside, Myrta was a pleasure to work with. Her formula more than made up for the finish, which definitely made me happy! 

My Favorite Things!

Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens...while those are some very, very nice things, I'm sorry, Maria, but those aren't my favorite things. 

What you may be wondering, then, is what are my favorite things? Chocolate, the color orange, raspberries, peaches, kiwis (the fuzzy fruits!), swimming...I have a lot of favorite things. But what this post is concerned with is my favorite things to use for my nails!

Base coat: Gelous (American Classics) or Double Duty (Sally Hansen). I've never ventured into the range of really expensive base coats, because these two have been working just fine for me! Gelous is great for making your nails feel thicker (and healthier!) while Double Duty is great because it's super cheap and available anywhere.

Gelous

Double Duty

Top coat: Poshe. It's amazing. It's so shiny I swear it distracts me even when I'm driving, and it stays shiny. It makes my nails last through days of swim practice, and any swimmers out there will be able to testify to the horrors that swimming does to nail polish. Not only is it super shiny, but it's super fast too. I've never tried Seche Vite, but why bother when I've already found perfection - perfection that is less expensive?

Out the Door and Poshe

Top coat: Out the Door. I don't love OTD quite as much as Poshe, but that's alright, because OTD is amazing in its own way - its size. I took a picture holding my bottle of Out the Door (2.5 oz versus the standard .5 oz) just because I love how gigantic the bottle is. It dries just as fast as Poshe, but in my opinion it takes a little longer to completely harden.

Out the Door...do you see how huge it is??

Nail file: Sephora crystal nail file. It's super inexpensive ($3 for the file and a plastic sleeve, or $12 for the file and a hard plastic case) and it WORKS. My nails are always shaped exactly how I want them! I would strongly recommend getting the hard case, though - the file is glass, after all, and glass breaks.

Sephora crystal nail file in pink! Also available in purple.

Remover: None. I usually use a generic drug store remover. Everyone sings the praises of Zoya Remove+, which I have tried and do love, but I do my nails so often I don't want to spend the money on Remove+, when drug store removers work just as well.

Conditioner: Hoofer's Choice Nail and Cuticle Cream (European Secrets). I use it at least once every day, and every time after I use nail polish remover. Never heard of it? Neither had I, but I'm beyond happy that I found it at Sally Beauty for less than $4. Not only is it super affordable, but it makes my cuticles look and feel AMAZING. I have noticed that my nails don't chip as much, too...

Hoofer's Choice Nail and Cuticle Cream

Well, these are the nail products that make ME happy...what are yours?

The Amazing Magical Foil Method

First, outside, inside, last! 

Just kidding. This post is definitely NOT about how to multiply binomials...which right now, I probably couldn't even do if someone held a gun to my head. I love being out of school!!

Instead of basic algebra skills, I'm going to talk about another amazing, magical foil method - the one used to remove glitter nail polish! I love, love, LOVE shiny things (who doesn't?!) but  I hate, hate, HATE the hassle that comes with removing glittery nail polish. Luckily, some genius discovered this method that gets rid of torn cotton balls, wasted nail polish remover, tears, and, most importantly, the stubbornest of glitter nail polishes.

First, you need 3 things: 

Remover - I use the generic kind, but there's obviously a lot of options out there

Cotton balls!

Aluminum foil - doesn't matter how big the strips are, but I'd guess that I make mine about 3x2 inches

Here's how it works:

1. Soak cotton ball with remover
2. Press cotton ball to nail
3. Wrap foil, shiny side down, around cotton ball to secure it to nail:

Hehe - looks like robot monster nails!

4. Play music and dance around for 5-8 minutes (as you might be able to see in my picture of removers, today's artist of choice was WHAM!)
5. Slide foil/cotton ball contraption off fingertips
6. Use cotton ball to take off any remaining polish/glitter. You don't even have to use a new cotton ball - just take one out of the foil you just used!

VOILA! No more messy glitter!

7. Repeat with your other hand. This might be tricky if you're not ambidextrous (don't be ashamed if you're not; I, like the other 97% of the world, am not either), so you might want to enlist some help.

And there you have it! No more tears over the terribleness known as removing glitter polish! You'll notice that your cuticles might look a little dry, so I'll post my remedy for that later.

Hope your nails stay happy!

Summer+Clouds+Too Much Free Time+Nail Polish = ?

Hey, guys! 

This was the first manicure I ever tried to do that wasn't just plain nail polish. I think it turned out alright, don't you?

Zoya Kristen with Nails Inc. Maida Vale

It was pretty easy (even if it took FOREVER...): base coat, 2 coats Kristen, 1 coat Maida Vale. All I did for Maida Vale (the sparkles) was start at the cuticle and go about halfway down my nail, keeping the end uneven.

Sorry there aren't any more pictures...and that my hands look as dry as the Sahara...

Hope these nails made you happy! They definitely made me...