Current Obsession: Nails Inc. London Magnetic Manicure
As all of you have probably noticed, this year the newest trend for nails has been the magnetic manicure. Polishes with embedded iron filings in them respond to the pull of a magnet while wet…resulting in beautiful undulating patterns and subtle gradients across the nail.
Airbrush-style nail art made easy! Done in 5 seconds! And now popping up in stores everywhere.
I bought Nails inc. Magnetic Polish Trafalgar Square
The color, once applied, reminds me of dark grey iron filings, with bands of light silver waving through. And the polish was surprisingly easy and fun to apply. Here’s how:
1. Start with clean, dry nails. The instructions on the bottle do not say to use a base coat, so I also left it out.
2. Remove the magnetic cap from the bottle. This particular one creates wavy patterns.
3. Apply a generous amount onto your nail – really glop it on there!
4. Quickly, while the polish is still wet, apply the magnet. You press the rounded ridge just below the cuticle and the magnet will sit about 1/8″ above your nail.
Hold that magnet there for about 5 seconds, but don’t let it touch your nail! (You may also see some polish lifting up and securing itself to the magnet…if so, just separate the magnet a little more from your nail.
Pretty easy, right? Repeat for the rest of your nails. Once dry, add a clear topcoat to extend the life of the manicure.
I did find that one coat, even when glopped on thickly, tended to be a little too translucent for my taste. So to deal with this after putting one coat on and applying the magnet…
I spread another thick coat on (not even waiting for the first to dry!)…
And then reapplied the magnet. As you can see, the dark areas are a lot darker, and a lot less translucent. I think this is something you’d have to play with depending on the color of your polish and how opaque you want it.
Now I’ve also recently spotted $10 magnetic polishes available at Ulta (Magnetix Nail Lacquer from China Glaze), so having this lower-cost option is great. China Glaze also sells a separate magnet
How about you guys? Have you tried out these magnetic polishes – or are you thinking of giving them a whirl?
xoxox
Carly
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I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of trouble drawing straight lines with my non-dominant hand. Whenever I attempt some nail art with straight lines, my efforts on one hand turn out perfect, and the other hand looks all wonky and wiggly. I figured a template or stencil would be the best way to combat this – so I thought why not DIY? These candy cane striped nails are actually a cinch to do, and if you’re using sticky color dots (found at any office supply store), they’re also cheap! No striper brushes or special nail polish required. Here’s how:
from my Secret Santa 
, which contains little holographic flecks)
Fold every other fringe strip under itself…this will become the stripe stencil for your nails.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
I’ve been utterly exhausted this week since it’s Lil Tot’s first full week of school, and driving him to and picking him up from requires a total daily commitment of about 3 hours from me. Three hours in the car, every.day. This means that although I do have a block of time uninterrupted at home, I now am spending so much time behind the wheel I’ve found I’ve had to skimp on time spent elsewhere. And what’s first to go when I get busy? DIY’ing. Then updating my blog. It’s unfortunate, but I have to figure out some compromise here.
is similar), with 
Now off to pick Lil Tot up from school! Just how does one deal with school commutes when there is no bus and no public transport??
One day I was browsing in my usual drugstore in Hawaii, Lil Tot in tow, when I spied something in the Sally Hansen nail products aisle
seemed to be taking over the world, and I was toying with the idea of forking over the $40 for a tube. I’ve always had sparse, light brown lashes with blonde roots – so I’ve had to gunk on tons of mascara to get full coverage all the way to my eyelids to completely disguise the blonde part. (Which I’ve found almost impossible anyway.) I’d considered getting them dyed before, but the side effects and potential for disaster (blindness, anyone?) had scared me off. After having my son, I noticed my eyelashes were falling out about the same time the hair on my head was [if you didn’t know, about 6 weeks – 4 months after having a baby your body begins shedding all the hair that it held onto during pregnancy; normally you lose about 100 hairs a day but during pregnancy your hair does not shed at the same rate – we’ve all heard that your hair gets thick and luscious during pregnancy, right? It’s in part due to less shedding…which commences abruptly and often in large clumps after delivery, just FYI]. So I was looking to do something about the situation…and being such a do-it-yourselfing frugalista, I figured I wouldn’t be stepping into a salon anytime soon.
Ardell Duralash
*Ardell Duralash Eyelash Extension Kit (my old kit is on the left; currently sold kit is on the right)
*magnifying stand mirror (it’s sooooo much easier when your mirror is on a stand!!)
The Before photo. I was startled by how much I look like 
2. Pour a small amount of the adhesive onto the foil (about the size of a pea).
Grasp one of the shorter eyelashes near the end (just beyond the curve in the center) with the tweezers, and dip the knotted end into the adhesive. Allow a tiny bead of adhesive to form on the underside of the knot before you apply.
3. Close one eye and use your other hand to hold the eyelid taut while you are applying. (I like to start in the middle of my eye and fan out from there, but it’s up to you.) Carefully place the lash ON TOP of your top lashes.
Use the tweezers to squeeze the lash onto your natural lashes, and open your eye and squeeze the lashes together (being careful not to touch the gluey end). Wait for a few seconds, and the glue should dry and adhere to your natural lashes. DON’T touch or try to shift the extension lashes at all after a few seconds, or else you could pull them off.
4. Repeat with the shorter lashes, applying in towards your nose, and then outwards towards the outer corner of your eye.
Change to the medium- or even the longer-length lashes near and at the outer corners of your eyes for a natural look.
5. If you find the application doesn’t look as “full” as you like, go back in and apply the shorter lashes in-between what you’ve already applied. If you drop the lashes or the glue dries too fast before you can place them on your natural lashes, you can wait a few seconds, and use your fingers to “ball up” the glue and pull it off the lashes, and then re-apply glue and start over. If you get glue on your natural lashes where you aren’t applying the extensions, pull off the glue as quickly as you can before it dries using your fingers (you can also use Adhesive Remover, included in the kit, on a tissue to remove extra gobs of glue). I also find that as I’m going back in and filling in the lashes, I can use my fingers to grasp the lashes and then “squeeze” them onto my lashline since I have all the applied lashes to grip and press against.
6. Once you’re happy with one eye, count the number of lashes you end up applying. Then apply the same amount and sizes to the other eye so they match. For me (since I’ve done this many, many times), the whole process takes about 30 minutes, and I usually do it while watching some bad late-night TV.
7. (Optional) I find that straight out of the kit the lashes are a little long for me for daily wear, so I like to trim them with nail scissors. DON’T simply cut the ends straight up or else they’ll look weird; you want to half-close the scissors and pull the blades down the length of each clump of the lashes so they snip the ends at different lengths (kind of like how you would “feather” your bangs or hair if you were cutting it). Always snip just a little – you can go back and cut more if you want. And DON’T cut your natural lashes!!
No more Steve Buscemi! And the best thing is, I wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and feel pretty immediately…without makeup, without washing my face or doing my hair…it’s truly amazing what a different a pair of lashes make!
Happy DIY’ing!
