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

Magnetic varnish is familiar to lovers of unusual manicure for many years, but its popularity today is not so great. The fact 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 did not last longer than 5-7 days. With the release and spread of gel polishes on the market, which are polymerized on the nail into a solid layer using ultraviolet light lamps, the popularity of this design is gaining momentum again. And together with multi-colored gels, an increasing number of various magnets appear on the market, which make it possible to obtain the famous volume effect on the nail plate.

Magnetic 5D manicure is often called "cat's eye". It received its name due to the fact that as a result of placing the magnet above the monochrome coating, one or several double stripes of a different shade are formed on it. The similar strip is similar to a vertical cat's pupil, and the nail itself becomes similar to the eponymous semiprecious stone. This effect is achieved by the presence in the gel varnish of many tiny metal particles that are collected in certain places during the presentation of the magnet.

Depending on the design of the magnet itself, the pattern of the resulting bands also changes. The consistency of this material is denser and more elastic than that of a conventional gel, and the period of wearing is longer than that of varnish. The resulting patterns are particularly visible when moving and glare of sunlight falling on painted nails. A huge number of shades of the coating and the patterns on the magnets allow you to get a huge number of unique combinations. In this case, the magnetic elements can be sold both in a set with gel varnish, and as a separate accessory that works exclusively with a magnetic coating.

Using a magnet to create a volume effect on the nails is quite simple. Most often on the package in which the set or the accessory was sold, there is a detailed instruction. The main thing is to properly bring it to the nail, not touching the gel polish, but 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 lies on the surface of the nail plate. Apply a layer of base gel and bake it in a lamp.

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

• The decor. If desired, you can decorate the magnetic gel polish with additional rhinestones, foil, lace, patterns and many other decorative elements. It is best to do this after baking the coating in the ultraviolet, but before removing the sticky layer. In this case, the pattern of metal particles will not be broken, and the element will be well fixed on the nail.
• Topcoat. Apply on the finished manicure topcoat to secure the result for a longer period, bake it in the lamp and remove the sticky layer. Manicure 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 two-sided. Then each side gives the coating a certain pattern. In addition, they can be made in the form of bulk 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 rather small. Leading it over the coating, it is possible to paint any patterns made up of gel polish from metallic dust.

Many manufacturers claim that the brand of gel polish and magnetic accessory must be the same. In fact, the same magnet will work fine 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 when parsing old household appliances. Although they are not intended to create patterns on the nails.

Despite the great hardness and strength of the gel coating, it, like a 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 preserve the original appearance of nails, even after a couple of weeks, not counting a small regrown edge at the hole.

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

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

Like any other gel, the magnetic coating can not be removed with ordinary nail polish remover. We'll have to attend to the purchase of special tools, but even with him, this procedure occurs in several stages.

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

• Withdrawal. After the solid gel has turned into a softer pliable substance, it must be cleaned with an orange stick or a regular toothpick from the nail plate.
• Care. Treatment of the nail and the skin around it with a liquid with a solvent adversely affects the health and appearance of the hands. In order to minimize the damage received, it is necessary to lubricate the surface to be treated with moisturizing cream or nourishing oil.

Manicure magnetic gel varnish is good even without additional decorations. It looks great with both casual and festive way, complementing even the simplest outfit. In this unusual coating serves as a good base for manicure experiments. Application of a different shade or even color onto the ring finger will help make the image more daring and refined.

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

For New Year and Christmas holidays, you can add a cat's eye with sparkles or liquid stones. Especially good they will look 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 cat silhouettes. Such pictures are placed on top of the color coating and, covered with top, are baked in the ultraviolet. Such anchoring allows you to save even the thinnest pattern for long.

See the following video for options on the design of a manicure magnet.