Magnet for gel polish: 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 varnish on the nails lasted no longer than 5-7 days. With the release and distribution on the market of gel varnishes, which are polymerized on the nail into a hard layer using an ultraviolet light of a lamp, the popularity of such a design is gaining strength again. And along with multi-colored gels, an increasing number of various magnets appear on sale, which allow you to get the famous volume effect on the nail plate.

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

Depending on the pattern of the magnet itself, the pattern of the resulting stripes also changes. The consistency of this material is denser and more elastic than that of a regular gel, and the wear period is longer than that of a varnish. The resulting patterns are especially visible with movement and glare of sunlight falling on the painted marigolds.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 as an independent accessory that works exclusively with a magnetic coating.

It is quite easy to use a magnet to create a volume effect on your nails. Most often, the packaging in which the kit or the accessory itself was sold has detailed instructions. The main thing is to correctly bring it to the nail, without touching the gel polish, but also without holding it too far. The whole process of creating such a spectacular manicure includes the following steps.

• Preparing the nail. Before applying the gel, you need to do a regular manicure: cut or push back the cuticle, trim the edge of the nail, treat 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 the lamp.

• Coating. Apply a middle layer of special magnetic gel polish to the sticky layer of the base and bring a magnet to it. This must be done immediately, otherwise 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 hold it in this position for 10–12 seconds. It is not necessary to hold the magnet in one position; you can move it from side to side at the same height to change the pattern. Once a suitable pattern is found, a UV lamp can be used.

• Decor. If you wish, 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 light, but before removing the sticky layer. In this case, the pattern of metal particles will not be disturbed, and the element will adhere well to the nail.
• Finish coating. Apply a topcoat to the finished manicure to fix the result for a longer period, bake it in a 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 certain 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 the large area of ​​a conventional magnet, the magnetic pen tip is quite small. By moving it over the coating, you can paint any patterns that are formed from the metal dust of the 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 just fine with all the magnetic gels you can find on the market. Moreover, the special accessory can be replaced with any magnet purchased in the store or obtained by disassembling old household appliances. Although they are not intended for creating patterns on the nails.

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

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

• Any household work that occurs in water and with cleaning agents should preferably be done with rubber gloves. If you smear your hands with greasy cream and put on gloves, then even ordinary dishwashing can turn into a home cosmetic procedure with a SPA effect.

• When working with any alcohol-containing substances or solvents, you must carefully monitor so that they do not get on your nails. Of course, it is quite difficult to dissolve the coating with ordinary alcohol, but its ingress 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 applying magnetic gel polish. Sauna and solarium visits should also be postponed until the end of this period.
• Don't try to turn your gel polish nails into a screwdriver or scraper. Even a hard coating baked in ultraviolet light has its own tensile strength. If it becomes necessary to scrape something off the table surface or floor, it is better to take a knife, spatula or scissors.

Like any gel, the magnetic coating cannot be removed with regular nail polish remover. You will have to attend to the purchase of a special tool, but even with it, this procedure takes place in several stages.

• Preparation. 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 demanded attention at this moment. In advance, you need to cut cotton pads into halves and prepare square pieces of 10x10 cm foil or buy special caps.
• Softening. To make the hard gel layer more pliable, it is necessary to moisten cotton wool liberally in a gel polish remover and wrap it around the nail. It is best to cover the top 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, pliable substance, it must be cleaned off the nail plate with an orange stick or a regular toothpick.
• Care. Treating the nail and the skin around it with a solvent-based liquid can negatively affect the health and appearance of the hands. In order to minimize the resulting harm, it is necessary to lubricate the treated surface with moisturizing cream or nourishing oil.

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

A scattering of small beads or rhinestones will also highlight 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 glitter or liquid stones to the "cat's eye". 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 cat silhouettes. Such pictures are placed on top of a colored coating and, covered with a top, are baked in ultraviolet light. Such fastening allows you to preserve even the most delicate pattern for a long time.

See the following video for the design options for a manicure with a magnet.