Saturday 11 February 2012

Nails Inc - Houses of Parliament

Purple won my Facebook survey last week, so I am bringing you this magnetic nail polish from UK company Nails Inc.

Magnetic polishes are one of 2012's hottest trends, but this one is actually from last year. I believe it came out in the Summer, but my husband bought it for me for Christmas. He chose Houses of Parliament, the purple shade; it also comes in chrome (Trafalgar Square), blue (Whitehall), red (Kensington Palace) and gold (Big Ben).

The name is great, despite not having anything to do with purple in my mind. It does, however, remind me of walking along the south bank on warm Summer evenings and seeing the Houses of Parliament in warm lighting across the Thames.

When I first tried this nail varnish I thought it wasn't as easy to use as I'd anticipated. My experience was that the formula was lovely, smooth and dried very quickly, but once I had to use the magnet it all went wrong and I had to re paint several nails.

How does it work? You apply the first coat on all ten nails, leave it to dry and then do each nail individually. The cap comes off so you can handle the supplied magnet separately. This magnet only works on wet polish: you need to hold it at the right distance, by placing the lip on the cap just below your cuticles, for approximately 10 seconds. 

I had read that it was better to move it around a little to cover the sides and hold it for longer to have a more prominent 3D effect, but my experience proved that when I tried this I only got what looked like a burnt design, full of black parts and very messy indeed. I also held the magnet too close to the nail on a couple of occasions, lifting the whole lot and having to start from scratch.

When I did it again today for the photos below, I just followed the instructions to the letter and I was much happier with the results. Some people recommend using a black/dark nail varnish as a base, but I didn't think this was necessary.

I love this product. I think it's like nothing else I've tried before and it reminds me of those 3D rulers I had as a child, because every time you move your hands it's as if there are waves in your nails. It's mesmerising! Having said all this, it chipped within two days, which was very disappointing, especially after all the effort I'd put into getting the magnetic effect to look right.

Last but not least, it can also be used without the magnet and it looks fantastic with just one coat.

Click to enlarge

Brand: Nails Inc
Name: Houses of Parliament
Type: Magnetic
Pantone equivalent: 668
Make Up Alley rating: N/A
Potential dupes: Haven't seen any yet! There are other purples out there but they don't look similar.
Buy it from QVC (pack of three plus topcoat) £21.97

I used:
1 x OPI Natural Base Coat
2 x Nails Inc Houses of Parliament

Metadata:
Canon EOS 450D - 50 mm - f/1.8 - ISO 400 - indoors - no flash - overcast

8 comments:

  1. Te quedó muy lindo, pero la verdad no me enganche con la onda de esmaltes magnéticos... No me compraria ninguno por ahora. No son lo mío supongo!

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    1. A mí me parecieron tan novedosos que no pude resistir la tentación, sobre gustos... ;-)

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  2. Que color más hermoso! Creo que este es uno de los más lindos esmaltes magneticos, sobre todo porque el esmalte en si es de muy buena calidad, he visto otros que quedan muy toscos. Al principio cuando salió esta moda debo confesar que me daba un poco de impresión, me parecía demasiado y me daba un poco de desconfianza el no saber que clase de compuestos químicos tienen los esmaltes para reaccionar asi con el imán. Pasado los meses y viendo tantos swatches, creo que me gustaria probarlos. Estan muy buenos los de China Glaze nuevos, que cada imán permite crear 3 diseños distintos

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    1. Tenés razón, la idea da un poco de impresión. A mí me resulta más extraño el tema de los nail apps, todavía no me he animado (pero no lo descarto). Los de CG tienen lindos diseños en los imanes pero no me llamaron mucho la atención. Creo que tener uno así está bueno para probar, pero si te lo ponés todos los días pierde la gracia... no?

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  3. Hola Cecilia.
    Es muy bonito ese esmalte, no sabía que existían los magnéticos. Me enteré leyendo blogs; tengo ganas de comprar alguno pero no sé si porque me gusta o porque es algo novedoso.
    Saludos =)

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    1. Como le puse arriba a Caro, es algo tan novedoso que no pude resistir :-) Si vas a comprar uno te recomiendo éste porque es muy lindo para usarlo aún sin el imán (si después te das cuenta de que el look magnético no es tu onda). Saludos para vos también!

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  4. Me encanta!!! Justo ayer compré unos magnéticos de PUPA, despues te cuento como me fue... :)

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    Replies
    1. Uy, ¡qué bueno! Me encantan las cosas de Pupa pero nunca probé los esmaltes... quiero saber cuál es tu experiencia :-)

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