BEAUTY REVIEW: Nails Inc. Magnetic Polish in "Houses of Parliament"

A shelf of magnetic polishes at Sephora.

Several weeks ago, I found out about magnetic polishes through one of the lovely ladies I follow on Twitter.  I was instantaneously intrigued by this striped look, especially without the application hassle of the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips.

I was excited to get my paws on one of these bottles, but a little hesitant once I realized that each bottle costs a whopping $16!  I admit that I indulge in makeup from time-to-time, but I always justify my high-end purchase with reasoning such as, "Look how many colors I will be getting in a palette," or "Look how much I will be getting in a bottle."  Unfortunately, those lines went out the door with this bottle because I found out that there are only two color choices available at my Sephora and each bottle of polish contains less polish than a bottle of OPI polish (which is cheaper).  What to do...what to do...??

Still, I had to get my paws on a bottle.  I watched the product reviews on YouTube and scoured over blog posts regarding this polish.  I had an urgent need for some retail therapy after a terrible day at work, so I walked into Sephora and acted as though I was leisurely perusing through their merchandise when really I was desperately casing the joint for the magnetic polish.  Voila!  I found it!  Several rows of Nails Inc. Magnetic Polish calling my name and chanting, "Buy me!  Buy me!  Buy me!"

Nails Inc. Magnetic Polish in "Houses of Parliament"

Then came my next dilemma:  Which one?  Sephora had a silver shade in "Trafalgar Square" and a deep purple shade in "Houses of Parliament."  Note:  Since my purchase, Nails Inc. has released a third color, which is a teal shade in "Whitehall."  After a lot of private deliberation--after all, I refused to get BOTH shades in fear that I may not like it and then be $32 in the hole--I decided on the deeper purple shade.  While the silver shade was gorgeous in the bottle, I thought "Houses of Parliament" was a little more versatile. I decided I needed a little more retail therapy and picked up a bottle of Sephora from OPI in "Be-Claus I Said So," which is a glitter polish with small and medium bright red sparkles.  I thought it would be a perfect overlay on my OPI "I'm Really Not A Waitress" for the holiday season.

I intended to use my new magnetic polish for Halloween, but got busy and wasn't able to try it out until last weekend.  After watching several videos on YouTube, I was confident that I would be able to achieve the magnetic effect correctly.  The bottle has two caps:  The larger outer cap has the magnetic strip that is needed for the magnetic waves on your nails, and a smaller inner cap that contains the brush applicator.  Remove the larger outer cap and place it away from the bottle.  This is the process I used to achieve my magnetic effect:

• Applied one coat of Revlon Base Coat.
• Applied a thin coat of Nails Inc Magnetic Polish in "Houses of Parliament."
• Working one nail at a time, applied a thicker coat of Nails Inc Magnetic Polish and then using the magnetic strip located on the top of the outer cap, carefully placed it above each recently polished nail.  Use the small lip at the bottom of the magnetic strip as a guide by placing the lip at the base of your cuticle.  Be careful doing this because your don't want to hit your wet nail against the magnetic strip and ding your polish (like I did on one of my nails!).  You can also slowly rock the magnetic strip cap from side-to-side to cover more surface area.  It only takes a couple of seconds to achieve the magnetic effect, so do one nail at a time--apply second coat and then immediately use the magnetic strip--for best results.
• Applied a top coat.

My nails using Nails Inc. Magnetic Polish in "Houses of Parliament"

This is an opaque polish that has a metallic sheen, but a matte finish, so a top coat is necessary for a high glossy finish.  It took me a couple of nails to figure out the best way to achieve the magnetic waves on my nails, but once I got the hang of it, it was pretty fast and easy.

I followed the instructions on the Nail Inc website, but I saw a couple of videos where only one coat of polish was applied.  The polish is on the thick side, so I slowly and carefully applied it to my nails.

These were my nails the morning after I applied the polish.  I wore my polish for about a week and got rave comments from the ladies in my office.  Even my boyfriend thought it looked pretty cool and he usually doesn't notice my nails (i.e., typical guy!).  It lasted okay with moderate chipping around the edges, but not too noticeable.

All in all I am completely satisfied with this polish and am thinking about buying the silver and teal polishes as well, but perhaps at a later time.  I am still getting over the fact that I bought a $16 bottle of nail polish!