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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Review & Tutorial: Pretty Woman Magnetix Nail Polish

Yesterday I gave you a sneak peek of the new magnetic polish collection I spotted at Rite Aid and now that I've been playing around with the color I purchased, I'd love to give you a little tutorial and my thoughts on this product.

Pretty Woman Magnetix Nail Polish
(retail: $7.99 at Rite Aid; 0.34 oz)


There is no shade name on the box, but this is sort of an olive-khaki green with gold sparkle. There are other shades in this range--going from memory I know for a fact there's a silver, magenta, vampy purple, teal and navy blue color in this collection.

The bottle shape is pretty distinctive--it's asymmetrical and unlike any other polish I own.



I LOVE that you get two magnets with this polish--a squiggly line and a straight line design:



The magnets are flexible and housed in little rubber "boats". Notice the curved sides on each "boat": this is where you rest your finger when you're holding your polished nail against the magnet.



Following directions, I applied a layer of polish to my nail:


And then I rested my nail on the lip of the magnet, making sure that my nail did not touch the actual magnet:


And here's what it looked like after I rested my nail above the magnet for 15 seconds (as directed):


Pretty cool, huh? Then I painted another nail and rested it above the squiggly-line magnet and here's the result:


TIP: after doing the above process on all of my fingers, I noticed that the closer you can hold your painted nail above the magnet the better. The farther away your nail is, the less magnetic pull there will be, so my advice is to hold your nail as close as you possibly can to the magnet without touching it. I accidentally touched one of my nails to the magnet and it smudged it a bit (you can see a smudge in the first "after" pic above).

Another tip: I think this system works better if you hold your nail to the magnet after you've applied TWO coats of polish, with the second a bit on the thick side. The design appears more bold and vivid after TWO coats of polish, so my advice would be to apply your first coat as normal, and then one by one, apply a thicker second coat. You want your nails to be wet when you use the magnet (if the polish dries too much, the magnetic pull becomes weaker) so be sure to hold each nail up to the magnet one by one, right after you paint each nail.

One more tip: hold each of your nails up to the magnet for longer than 15 seconds (the time suggested on the box). I think 30 seconds yields much better results.

Here's what my nails looked like after using TWO COATS of polish and then using the magnets on each finger (no top coat). I held each finger to the magnet for about 30 seconds.



I used the squiggly-line magnet on my pinky and middle finger and I used the straight-line magnet on my ring and index fingers.


Notice how there is barely any visible design on my pinky? Yeah, well that's not for lack of trying. I don't know if it had to do with the small surface area of my pinky or what, but I just could NOT get the magnet to work its magic on my pinky nail! I tried about three times, doing exactly what I did to my other nails, and what you see above is the result. Hopefully after some more practice I can get the design to show up on that nail.

Application: this polish applied just like a standard polish. I didn't find it too thick, too watery, or difficult to work with. The brush is pretty standard--not extremely wide or flat, yet not extremely thin either.

Dry Time: this polish didn't take an abnormal amount of time to dry, but it wasn't a quick-dry formula either. I'd say it's pretty standard.

Removal: this polish removed as easily as any of my other shimmery nail polishes. The only issue I had was that, due to the high sparkle content, there was sparkle on my skin after removal (but then again, that happens with most super-sparkly polishes I own).

I can't comment yet about the wear-time of this polish because I just bought it yesterday. But so far, I'm pretty happy with this purchase (aside from the fact that I can't yet get the design to show up on my pinky) and I would definitely consider buying another shade. I think it's a really fun product and the final look reminds me of a Tiger's Eye gemstone. If you've been wanting to try nail art that's extremely quick and easy and requires absolutely no talent at all, this product might just be for you. For $7.99 at Rite Aid, I'd say it's a great alternative to the pricier magentic polishes on the market.

Do you own any magnetic polishes? Are you excited that this trend has hit the drugstore?
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33 comments

  1. WOW these look great! Much better than the china glaze ones. I read that the CG magnets suck :-/ There's a Rite Aid down the street from me, looks like I'll be stalking them now!! Thanks for posting about them!

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  2. Nice post, I may have to get some tips on and buy some polish, lol.

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  3. Thanks for the review and swatches. I was wondering about the quality of this nail polish, but thanks to you I know it works :)

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  4. Oh awesome!!! I totally need that! <3

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  5. very cool! I'll have to give it a try. thanks for the review!
    xoxox kat

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  6. I like that they give you two patterns to try, but it is strange it didn't work on your pinkie.

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  7. Ooh, it looks like these work really well. You are so awesome for swatching these so fast. MUST FIND.

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  8. this looks identical to icings gold magnetix!

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  9. I saw these today and bought the blue and green. :)

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  10. emilee: Good to know about the CG magnets. I had no idea.

    Davina: Thanks!

    Bunny Nails: Glad I could help! :)

    Lerina: I think so too. :)

    penelope: Cool! Hope you like it if you try one.

    Melissa: lol! :)

    Katie: You're very welcome.

    NeutraKris: I know, right??

    Project Swatch: You are so very welcome! :)

    ThatsSOfresh: Oh, do the Icings come with two magnets? I thought they only came with one!

    Leticia: Oooh, I can't wait to hear how you like them!

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  11. I bought several of these and I can attest that they are all awesome except for the silver and darker gunmetal ones. I tried each on two different fingers and I couldn't get a good design to show up. The blue is my favorite because the magnetic design comes out purple! G, you should definitely go back and get a few more!

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  12. icing has one but that color is the same!

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  13. I'm actually excited to try one of the magnetic polishes, something different!

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  14. Wow! Those little rubber boats are so cute.That has to make it easier to apply the design.My only regret is that Rite Aid doesn't exist where I live,else I'd jump on these.

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  15. I ran out and (much to my boyfriend's chagrin) bought one today, the blue one. I'm freaking out because they only have one of each color! I want the green, the gold, and the pinks. I only tested it, as I was in the middle of another manicure, but they worked really nicely! The longer you leave the magnet on, the clearer the lines. The box says 15 seconds, but I'd leave it for a solid 30. A really great alternative to the nails inc or other magnetic polishes. Now I hope Sally Hansen does it in more colors, I'd love to see a rusty color and maybe a really pretty amethyst.

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  16. Thanks for the review, G. I really regret having bought the China Glaze ones now, it seems like the magnet is subpar, especially for the price. I wasn't the only one having problems with the magnet, Jen at the Polishaholic and a few commenters had the same issues. Seems like these drug store polishes are a better value, especially if you're only going to buy a few. The Icing magnetic polishes also seem to be a good option.

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  17. I found these today! I bought the silver and the purple, and did quick swatches just now. The purple is AWESOME - the design shows up really well, much better than the polish you bought, G. The silver is not great - I think it's too shimmery for the design to really show up. I'll probably exchange it for a different shade if I can find my receipt, and use it as a regular polish if I can't.

    Here's a super quick and messy (it even has a smudge!) swatch photo if anyone wants to see it: http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d133/qwerty_zxcv/magnetixbest.jpg

    & G, if you'd like I'd be happy to take good-quality swatch photos for you to post - just let me know :)

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  18. Cool! Do all of the colors come with the same magnet styles or do any come with different designs?

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  19. Ooooo I wanna try these! I'll have to check out Rite Aid soon.

    For those of you with China Glaze, why don't you see if you can get one of these or the Icing one and try that magnet with your CG polish? It might work better!

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  20. I went to my local Rite Aid last night and these weren't there! :( My Rite Aid usually sucks at getting new beauty product displays in anyway. What state(s) is everyone finding these polishes in?

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  21. Hi Sweetie! Thanks so much for allowing my comment yesterday about this polish. I did a video on the magenta one & because of you I got a few new subscribers on my YT channel! I totally agree with all of the tips you gave...esp.the 2 coats. G....you are the most generous beauty blogger on the web. You give so much of yourself AND you give back to everyone around you. You have to be the MOST beloved person on the internet. Love you muchly ;-)

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  22. On some of the other tutorials people hold their hand correct and place the magnet over the nail. Would it still work if you did it that way?

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  23. This looks really pretty. I love that it's gold and has 2 designs. Thanks for sharing ;0).

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  24. WOW that looks awesome!!! I think I'm sold!

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  25. ohmygoodness, this looks so fun!!!! :) I've seen a few of these magnetic polishes around the blogging community, but this is the first time I've seen different designs! Genius! :)

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  26. I grabbed the maroony-magenta one (WHY don't they have names? So annoying) and swatched it right on top of another mani at my desk at work because I couldn't wait to see how it worked. I was pleasantly surprised, and love that two magnets come FREE, unlike some of the other brands who charge as much for a magnet as another bottle of polish costs.

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  27. I bought the blue one and I do like it. I had the same thing happen to my pinky , no matter what I did I barely got any results there. I too felt that holding the magnets longer over a thicker coat worked better. I do wish they had names though, oh well at least they are cheaper than the China Glaze magnetic polishes coming out. I do want to try the China Glaze magnet with this ploish :-) Great reviews... Thanks!

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  28. I went and grabbed the blue violet one and used it on my toes. The magnet didn't do so well. I'll use on my hands before writing it off as a loss. I saw a video on YT where the woman used the Nails Inc one and did a demo with a fake nail. She actually put the magnet under the fake nail so we could see the magnet work. AWESOME!

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  29. I bought this last week at Rite-Aid as well and was very excited to try it out. The first time i tried it i just did one coat and it turned out okay. But i just painted them again on saturday and did two coats and the colors showed up much better, it looked really cool. But about 4 hours after i had painted them they started chipping and this morning they just started peeling off. It really bums me out when i put all that work into them and they look so neat but then they are ruined. So i love the way they look but hate that i didn't get to wear for even a full day before the paint started chipping. ;(

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  30. I'm so happy I saw your post. I found a bottle of "Green" at 99¢ Only. I bought it a while ago and I haven't used it yet both because my nails have had polish on them and I really didn't want to be disappointed. I'm iffy on buying beauty products at the 99¢ store. I had no idea that this nail polish was sold at Rite Aid! Thanks for the tips, they'll come in handy tonight :)

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