China Glaze Magnetix - Instant Chemistry - Review/Tips

I'm bored, so here's a post.  My intro is coming soon.
[excuse the phone photos, please...I tried this out at work]

This blog owes its existence to magnetic polish and, less directly, the spring Target Beauty Bag.  It had the $1-off coupon that bumped the Sally Hansen Magnetic polish down to the $8 upper limit I self-impose for polishes.

I was enthralled.  That shit is mind-blowing.  I bought Silver Elements.  I gave myself a very fussy, multi-day, perfectionist paintjob. I couldn't stop staring at it...even while driving.  Their colors are kinda meh though, beyond the two silvers...and the price is slightly yucky, so I googled to see what else there was.  Amazon had a $20 set of six China Glaze Magnetix with a three-pattern magnet which looked SO cool.  Had to buy it.  Had to.  I'd never bought China Glaze before, and I had no idea of their reputation (which is generally good, so I'll be looking at them next time I'm at Ulta).  I did the sensible thing and read reviews, which were mixed.  There will always be some yutz who can't get something to work and will blame the thing itself.  There was that, but then...the nail polish blogs I checked also seemed hesitant.  The price was good though, and that magnet looked spiffy, so I went for it.  The package stunk when I opened it, which scared me, but nothing had spilled.  The light purple shade, Drawn To You, looked like the cap was a little loose, but none spilled.  No question, I was using the deep plum (called Instant Chemistry) first.  I used an old Maybelline black cream for the base and giddily held the awkward magnet over this pretty plum color....

Fuck.  This....wasn't good.  My nails are curved to almost a crescent moon shape at the ends, so I knew magnetic polishes are always gonna be tricky for me...but this...this was completely disheartening.

The magnet is awkward.  You need to hold it closer to the knuckle than the cuticle and centering is difficult.  The starburst is even weaker than I thought it would be...shame, because it was the exciting one.  My index looks like a palm tree.  Thumb was the same.  The thinness and shape of the magnet make it really easy to whack your nail with it.  See my middle nail?  UGH!  There's the vaguest suggestion of a design on my ring finger, an attempt at one of the other two designs, but I forget which.  The pinkie nail did NOTHING.  At all.

I added another layer and tried again on a few nails.  Some looked a little better...some still didn't pull at all.  Erg.  I gave up briefly...for about two hours.  I do actually work sometimes at work.

Dejected, yes, but not completely fed up, I tried the Sally Hansen magnet.  It did something.  Still not much.  Almost nothing when seen from some angles, but in the right light and with the right tilt of the wrist I didn't see failure.  ...but I wanted *better*.  I wanted something closer to the magic you get with a better magnetic polish.  This was still a let-down.

I googled around again, looking for help with my stupid, predictable problem.  Magnets from around the house can work?  Reeeeeally?  I grabbed a bunch from various spots in the office and held them to the bottle (another tip I found) to see how they pulled.  The winner, no question, was one of these cut strips of magnetic tape (along the lines of this) we use to hold memos to the whiteboard.  The best part?  It BENDS!  My curved nails aren't a problem!  The stripes are cool too.  Plus, it's easier to hold than that stupid China Glaze horseshoe.

I like it!  This is a better result than I'd hoped to get, since the contrast between the magnetic and base colors isn't strong.  I only wore it for a day, but it didn't chip at all in that time.  This photo is from just before I removed it, about 20 hours after I finished applying it.  Might have been all the damn layers I had to do to get this end result, dunno.

So over-all?  Well...I've still gotta try the other five colors and I want to try that magnet on the Sally Hansen stuff (and this other stuff...which a botched order is sending to my old place, so I might never get it)...but this isn't a total loss yet.  If the other colors work at least this well and don't look bad with my coloring I'd say it's worth it.  $20 for six polishes?  Not bad.  I can write off the magnet at that rate if I can't get it to work.

China Glaze has clay in it, so the formula's a little thick.  It applies smoothly, but I have to move even faster with this than I did with the Sally Hansen or I get nothing, even with the better magnet.

Magnetic polish has jump-started my use of polish.  I used to sculpt polymer clay, and the two are deadly enemies.  It was one or the other...and the clay almost always won.  Then I moved twice over the winter.  Never do that.  It sucks.  Then I had other misfortunes and hassles.  Through it all (and before that even) I've been trying to take more interest in my appearance.  Thanks to this new silly (but AWESOME) nail trend, I think it'll actually stick this time.