Tag Archives: Barry M Magnetic Effects

So here (at last) is the mysterious Magnetic Violet. This one seems to have eluded the stands of Superdrug and Boots since the release of the magnetics, but I finally managed to get my hands on it! I found mine in Superdrug.

Magnetic Violet in person looks like velvet with the 3D finish, in fact, with the pattern of the magnet, it looks like coontails for nails!

This is soo pretty. The pictures really honestly don’t do it justice – get it on your nails and you’ll see what I mean!! I think the base colour of Magnetic Violet is actually pretty similar to Boots 17 Magnetic Purple and Nails Inc. House of Parliament, but that’s a good thing, as the Barry M one is cheaper than both of them! Also the pattern of the magnet is unique – it’s uniform stripes, which actually looks pretty awesome, like you have a really steady hand for nail art 😉

Application:

The photos show 2 coats. 1 coat was a little thin so I left that to dry then added the second coat and magnetised away! I’m getting the hang of magnetising, there seems to be a knack to getting the whole nail involved without blobbing the magnet fully onto the polish. Magnetic Violet dried very shiny, so no topcoat needed (and if you do decide to apply a topcoat, use a thin watery one rather than a thick one which will pull the magnetic particles with it, thus ruining the effect!). I don’t really have much more to say on it, other than it dries quickly.

If you don’t already know how to magnetise your magnetic polish, the lid (with the magnet on and a curved lip to give you an idea of how close to put the magnet) detaches leaving a normal Barry M bottle and brush. You apply 2 coats of polish, then as soon as you’ve applied the second coat to one nail, you hover the magnet over the nail for a few seconds, then repeat for all 10 nails.

And if you don’t like magnetic polish, it still makes a very pretty purple shimmer polish!

What do you think of this one? I like it a whole lot more than I thought I would! I still don’t know which I prefer out of Barry M Magnetic Blue and Magnetic Violet. Have you tried the magnetics range? The only one I haven’t tried yet is the red, and I’m increasingly tempted! These will set you back a mere £4.99, and you can get them from most Boots, Superdrug or the Barry M website (along with another two new nail paints in ‘Cappucino’ and ‘Nude’ – titled the ‘Classics’!) .

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Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Barry M have released four new magnetic polishes (and 5 new nail paints but that’s for another post!) in the colours black, blue, red and purple. I never really got into the whole magnetic trend because I’m not patient enough to perfect the technique (as you will probably be able to tell from my photos!). I did get two of Boots 17’s magnetic polishes in silver and green and for some unfathomable reason, I am yet to use them. Something about the Barry M polishes got me excited though. Maybe it’s because I’m a huge Barry M fan! In any case, the new Barry M magnetics come with a different magnet on the lid, so each of the colours has its own pattern. Of course you can always swap them round but it’s a good way to get you to buy all four, lol. I picked up ‘Magnetic Blue’ – I was wildly influenced by the model in the photo on the Barry M stand as it looked super duper pretty. Anyway, enough rambling!

I am really rather spectacularly in love with this. For a start, the magnet is in a star-shape, it almost makes a Union Jack! It’s a gorgeous denim blue, quite different from Boots 17 Magnetic Blue  from the lovely Lydia at Lyd’s Blonde Thoughts. The background is a very deep dark blue, while the ‘star’ is a very silvery blue. Magnetic Blue totally makes me think of faded jeans!

I also think it’s kind of like the mysterons’ circles from Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, lol! Anyone old enough/sad enough to know what I mean? It’s just a very alien-like, jellyfish-like finish and I LOVE IT! I’ve always been pretty much in awe of jellyfish and finally I can make my nails look like one!

Application:

I’m not going to lie, it’s not easy. The polish is very thick in the first place, which makes neat application difficult. Then there’s the magnet – I found it quite difficult to align it correctly over each nail and as you can probably see, my nails don’t match. I think my nails are a little too curved as well – this effect will look amazing on people with flatter nails! I found that it was difficult to get the magnet to affect the sides of my nail as well as the centre, and often I touched my nail by mistake in trying to make sure I kept it even. By the way, if you get polish on the magnet, don’t panic, just use a cotton wool bud with a tiny amount of nail polish remover and rub it off. The important thing is not to scratch the magnet. Like with a lot of magnetic polishes, there’s a little curved lip on the edge of the magnet for you to rest on your cuticle as you magnetise. Be sure to keep the magnet that distance from your nail because you’ll end up touching the nail and messing up like me otherwise! The magnet is on the top of the cap, which is detachable and removes to reveal a normal Barry M bottle. The pictures show 2 coats of polish – I magnetised it on the second coat, as the first is not quite opaque. Don’t put topcoat on until the polish is totally totally dry – I made this mistake and a lot of the metallic particles came with the brush which blurred the effect. If you do use a topcoat, use a thin, watery topcoat that won’t pull the polish.

What does it look like when it’s not been magnetised? A lovely denim shimmery-frost. Not too brushstrokey, still quite thick.

For curiosity’s sake, I put on a coat of Rimmel Matte topcoat – the effect was very pretty but totally doesn’t translate in this picture! It was somewhat 3 dimensional – very cool!

What do you think of the magnetic trend? Is it one of those novelties that you’d only wear at parties or is it something you’d go for? I’m tempted to try it on my toes, I think it’ll look pretty funky!

Barry M Magnetic polishes retail at £4.99 – currently only available in some Superdrugs and some Boots – when they announce the release of the polishes is when you know they’ll be in your local Superdrug/Boots, and they’ll be online too! In Superdrug there’s a buy 2 Barry M nail polishes and save £1 offer on – with my student discount I think I shaved £5.50 off my receipt!

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Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.