How to use Magnetic Nail Polishes - Tips & Tricks / a TIWSHTME post

A new TIWSHTME post, magnetic polish edition! If you're wondering what that appalling mouthful is, it is my acronym and tag for 'Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Earlier', aka when I do a post compiling tips on how I approach a certain nail-related action that took me a while to learn. Basically a how-to guide, with things often not mentioned in tutorials. Here we go.

...about using magnetic polishes

How-to / Tutorial

1. Find the strongest point of your magnet. Mark that end using a permanent marker so it is easy to find. Patterned magnets usually have a marked area to be used already. This can be done by applying your magnetic polish on a swatch stick and rotating your magnet ends / poles to see what reacts the most strongly. The pattern created by the magnet depends on the axis (direction) it has been magnetised.
   
   

   

   Bar magnet from Tonic with strongest spot marked in blue

   
   My ring magnet creates a cool circle shape when I hold the flat side parallel to a magnetic surface.



Ring magnet with flat surface marked in blue



Pattern created with ring magnet (blue lines mark magnet position) on polish bottle



2. Shake your polish! If it has been sitting longer than 5 minutes, shake it again. It helps the magnetic particles to spread evenly through the bottle.
3. Apply thin layer. Cap your nail tip with polish. Let dry fully. An alternative to this is putting down a a black creme polish and letting it dry fully.
4. Shake bottle. Apply thicker layer evenly, making sure there are no streaks on surface. This time you do not need to cap the tip - this should help with the streaks. This step should be done as quickly as possible. If the polish needs clean up, save it for later. You are trying to manipulate the magnetic particles in the polish before it dries.

   
   
   

   

   Holding bar magnet diagonally across nail length on swatch wheel
   

5. Hold marked magnet point 8mm - 15mm parallel from nail surface for 60 seconds in your position of choice. You may wriggle magnet slightly around the surface of your nail  if you have a strong C-curve so the magnetic pull is distributed evenly.

   
   

   

   Ring magnet tool with 'handle' created from 2 bar magnets snapped together in use over swatch wheel

   
   

   

   Side view of ring magnet tool. Coloured markings on bar magnets are strongest pull point.

6. Wait until polish is mostly dry. You can go back at intervals to repeat step 4 (for 10 seconds instead of 60 seconds) to coax back any drifting particles into place.
7. Apply a quick dry top coat and repeat step 4 (and 5 if needed). Until polish is completely dry, which can take a few hours, the magnetic particles might continue to drift. A thin first layer and allowing polish to dry as well as possible before top coat helps to aid total dry time.
8. Clean up!

Miscellaneous Tips

• If you want to apply a topper like a scattered holo, I suggest waiting until polish is completely dry to do so. Each time you apply a new layer of polish, the solvent in the polish 'melts' the polish below, so when you use a magnetic polish the particles move. This is why I use a magnet after top coat. When a polish is completely dry it is less likely to be affected by a new polish layer.
  
  
• Apply polish in steps 4 & 5 one finger at a time. This ensures you have enough time to magnetise each nail properly.
  
  
• If you screw up, let polish dry fully and add a new coat and try again. An extra coat can be easier than starting over and getting little sparkle bits everywhere.
  
  
• You can tell when a magnetic polish is fully dry when the particles look finer and more dull. The polish surface looks flatter rather than 3d.
  
  
• You can use a third hand / soldering tool to position your magnets so you don't have to hold them. Personally I keep knocking into the magnets this way as I have shaky hands, but it works for other people. 
• After you have mastered the basics, instead of a first layer of polish or a black creme base you can add any other polish (cremes work best) colour to produce a different final effect. Colours that either contrast or complement the magnetic particle colour work best here. I particularly like using Tonic's Happy Beginnings which is a blue squishy creme. 

Different magnets, different shapes
Here are some of the patterns created by different magnets.

Pattern 1: Bar magnet diagonally over the tip of nail

Pattern 2: Ring magnet over the tip of nail

Pattern 2: Ring magnet over the tip of nail

Pattern 3: The round end of double-sided magnet

Pattern 4: Wavy lines using patterned nail magnet (#4)
Pattern 5: Flower using dual-ended magnet pen

Pattern 4: Wavy lines using patterned nail magnet (#4)
Pattern 5 & 6: Flower and stripes using dual-ended magnet pen

For the stripes (pattern 6), I moved it very slowly once down the nail. The flower (pattern 5) on the opposite side of the pen tool just needs to be held in position for 30 seconds once before lifting directly upwards so the design doesn't move on nail surface. For whatever reason the smaller magnet doesn't need to be renagnetised after design or top coat and still holds the pattern, I am not sure why. 

P.S. The polishes used in this post are magnetic multichromes from Tonic Polish - Here comes the Sun and Drag Race if anyone is wondering!

If you have any questions or points that you are wondering about, feel free to drop a comment and I'll respond to the best of my abilities. Good luck!