Thursday 4 April 2013

Battle of the Brands: Magnetic Nail Polish

I was recently requested to try the Barry M magnetic effects nail varnishes, due to a disappointing experience. I had previously used these and had an equally disappointing experience, so thought I would give it another go! To make it a bit more interesting though, I thought I would compare the Barry M polishes, to the Nails Inc ones, and see if price difference really effects products. There are loads of different brands around that do magnetic polishes, but the Barry M ones and Nails Inc ones have quite a significant £8.00 price difference so I thought it would be interesting to see who won. I also played around to see if the different magnets would work on another brands polish. 
 
To use the polishes you apply one coat and leave to dry, and then do another coat and hold the magnet over the top whilst wet. The little lips on the lids next to the magnet make placing the magnet over the nail easy and gives you the correct distance. So here were my results.

I'll start of with the Nails Inc polishes. At £13 a bottle these are my 'splurge' purchases. They come in 3 patterns, fish net, stripes and a large star. They have different colours in these patterns but I chose the green, blue and gold. The other colours were not to my taste. To be honest, I was quite disappointed with the effects. The gold polish did absolutely NOTHING! so I had to try the fishnet effect on another nail.

Thumb- This was the green polish and I used the fishnet effect. It did work but because a thumb nail is quite broad it only did the top surface and not the sides.
Index finger- This was the blue stripe effect. It didn't go stripey but went more of an oil spill.
Middle finger- This was the green polish again but with the star effect. It looks better in real life to be fair.
Ring finger- This is the gold polish that had no effect whatsoever.
Little finger- This was the blue nails Inc polish but I used a Barry M magnet. This was not the best experience as the magnet actually fell off onto my wet nail polish so left a nice scuff. The magnet effect was coming into place though so you CAN use the Barry M magnets on Nail's Inc paint.


Next we have the Barry M polishes, I chose 4 colours, although they do moreof a selection online. I prefer the colours and the packaging is a bit clearer in indicating what the nail effect will be. These are much cheaper at £4.99, and I found I got on much better with them. The effects came out a lot clearer and again I found the Nail's Inc magnet worked on Barry M paint.

Little Finger- The black polish was the one I had tried previously and not had much luck with. Second time round, I think it didn't go quite as wavy as it should, but it did make a bit of a pattern
Ring Finger- This broken star effect did work but went to the corner of my nail for some reason.
Middle Finger- I was really impressed with this one as the lines were very definitive and the colour is really pretty.
Index Finger- This one was the best. It has a really clear pattern and has done its job perfectly.
Thumb- This was the blue Barry M with the Nail's Inc fish net effect. It did work well but again I only got a bit of coverage in the middle.


To be honest, I think magnetic polishes are a bit too much hassle, and although I don't mind the look, its not one I would do again. If you do like the look though, the Barry M ones are much better value for money so I would recommend those but hold onto the magnets as the may fall off!

*I bought all these nail polishes myself

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