ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – LCN Magnetic Nail Polish
365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to.Once upon a time, Lancôme released Le Magnetique, a magnetic nail polish, and people even outside the nail fanatic realm were fascinated. Tiny metallic particles in the polish formed a star sapphire pattern on the surface when a special magnet was placed in front of it. What a crazy and unique concept, no?
Of course, Le Magnetique was a US limited edition which upset international fanatics, rightfully so. Then L’Oreal (Lancôme’s parent company) decided to release a special European version of Le Magnetique under the L’Oreal brand in a wider range of colors which upset the US fanatics, rightfully so. That brings us to today. We haven’t heard a peep about magnetic nail polishes in the US since the Le Magnetique craze and it was almost as though we forget they ever existed. But now, thanks to LCN, we have a whole new set of magnetics to play with and a new design pattern. |
Formula & Application: The LCN bottles do not list ingredients and the polish is made in Germany so I have no idea if it is 3-Free or not. The short, square bottles have a smooth, stubby cap with an medium length, round brush inside.
The polish itself is somewhat thick and goopy and it has a metallic, brush stroke finish so I wouldn’t recommend wearing the polish on its own, though you certainly can. I’m just not a fan of brush marks so it’s not something I would reach for if the magnets weren’t involved. While the polish is pigmented enough to only need one coat, the pattern will be stronger with more depth if you use two coats.
Application Process & Tips: Magnetic nail polish contains tiny metallic particles that are attracted to the specially designed magnet. Because the magnet has a pattern engraved into it, the particles create a design (star sapphire or diagonal stripes) when held over the nail. The process can be kind of tricky and takes a little practice so here are my helpful hints to working with the magnets.
Work on one nail at a time – The nail polish dries pretty fast and it must be wet for the pattern to form so polish all of your nails with one coat and then, one at a time, apply the second coat, holding the magnet over each one as you go.
Steady the magnet by holding it perpendicular to your work surface – I had a rough time trying to hold the magnet over my nails without hitting the surface. I found that standing the magnet up, similar to the Le Magnetique magnet holder, I was able to raise my nail to the magnet and see exactly how close I was to the surface. This may not be ideal with longer nails but it worked perfectly for my length.
The Le Magnetique polish magnet makes better stars – I don’t know if there’s a difference in the strength of the magnets or if the pattern is cleaner but I had a bitch of a time creating the star sapphire pattern with the LCN magnet. One side of my nail never formed the pattern or it wasn’t very strong. For me, the best stars came from using the Le Magnetique magnet though I still found the diagonals turned out best. Maybe my LCN star magnet is just a lemon.
If you mess up, add a new layer – To perfect your patterns, hold the magnet over each layer of polish. You can essentially “erase” a bad pattern with a new layer of polish without having to start over. I wouldn’t suggest exceeding three coats since the polish will get really thick and start to pull.
Wait until the pattern is dry to apply top coat – If the polish is still wet, applying top coat will destroy the design. Wait at least three minutes before applying your top coat.
LCN Green Temptation Magnetic Nail Polish is a forest green metallic that looks pretty silvery in the bottle but once the magnet is applied, the dark green is revealed as the design forms.
LCN Amazing Mauve Magnetic Nail Polish surprised me as it looks like a pretty blah lilac tinged silver during application. Once the magnet is applied, a vibrant purple comes shining through. It’s pretty spectacular and when you move your nails up and down they look like one of those optical illusion toys from the vending machines in grocery stores. You know, the ones by the jawbreakers and gumballs.
To give you an idea of what the rest of the LCN polishes look like when magnetized I held the magnets up to the bottles. What’s cool is that the pattern stays until you roll the polish.
Copper Seduction and Nude Charm
Fuschia Attraction and Magnetic Moments
Green Temptation and Amazing Mauve
Iron Magic and Ferromagnetic Blue
Bottom Line: Magnetic nail polish is fun and interesting and the science geek in me loves the concept. It’s an easy form of DIY nail art and will surely garner attention. Even the boyfriend, who is pretty immune to nails at this point, took notice. The thick formula of the polish can be a pain to work with and creating the patterns can be frustrating for a perfectionist like myself but the learning curve is relatively small. I wish the magnets were a little larger and more curved so the pattern would reach the sides of my nails but it still looks cool as is. My must-have colors from the set are Amazing Mauve, Copper Seduction, Ferromagnetic Blue and Green Temptation.
365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: I’m STASHing them all. They’re too unique not to.
LCN Magnetic Nail Polish is available online to consumers at LCNBoutique.com and licensed professionals at LCNUSA.com. LCN Magnetic Nail Polishes retail for $9.90/ea for a 8ml bottle & the magnets retail for $19.90/ea. You can buy the whole set including 8 polishes and 2 magnets for $115.90. European Fanatics, brands including Essence and Alessandro Go Magic Twist! have magnetic nail polishes that should be accessible in your part of the world.
Are you happy to see magnetic nail polish make a comeback? Will you be picking up the LCN polishes? Which color is your fave from the set? If you already own the LCNs does your star magnet work well?
Disclosure: I purchased these nail polishes at the professional price. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
This is awesome! I totally want to try these.
Hey if you’ve got a moment, please vote for me. I’m a finalist in a nail competition. I’m the last one “Fishing4Beauty.” http://www.beautystat.com/site/headline/beautystats-first-nail-polish-competition-finalists-vote-for-your-favorite-lacquer-photo-swatch-now/comment-page-1/#comment-18764 Thank you!
I had that Lancome magnetic polish a few years ago, but sadly, lost it. I had a hard time with the start magnet as well. If I stumble across some other magnetic polishes, cool, but I’m not going to go out of my way to get them. The iron magic and fuschia look fun.
This is SO COOL. I’m going to have to start saving my pennies… Will be hard to justify the price tag (!) but I just might have to do it
Thanks for the review!
Oh my goodness! This is the first time i’ve heard of magnetic nail polishes, and they look so fun and amazing! Loving the LCN Amazing Mauve Magnetic Nail Polish, although I wish there were swatches of the blue and red ones too.
This nail polish is so cool. I love how you can make a design using a magnet.
This is totally awesome. I really want Green Temptation and Amazing Mauve. I wish the price of the magnets wasn’t so high. I guess I’ll have to start saving.
I got my Le Magnetique on sales (imagine that, for half the price!) in Belgium so they were available in Europe as well. And thanks for the swatches of LCNs. I’ll look for them when I go to Germany next week.
I have got to get my hands on this!!! LOVE it!!!
Very nice. I had never heard of magnetic polishes until a month or so ago when someone was swatching the Essence ones. I’ve been missing out!
These are absolutely on the top of my lemming list!!
That is such a cool idea. I wonder if you could get different patterns with other magnets? I can’t wait to show your review to my daughter!
Wow, the result looks good! I have tried a drugstore brand magnetic polish several times and I either ended up with no pattern on my nail because the polish dried too fast or I didn’t hold the magnet close enough… Or when I did, I nicked my nails on that magnet and had to start all over again… Guess I don’t have the patience to do this properly
I would love to try magnetic polishes but I have never seen it available in Canada.
They just came up for sale at Nail Polish Canada: http://www.nailpolishcanada.com/magnetic-nail-polish/
Hi Amy,
did you have a look at LCN Canada – http://www.lcn.ca/ ?
Regards, JoKi
This is amazing!!! Do you feel that different colours do the patterns better or that they’re all similar? I can’t wait to try these!
-Sarah
so cool!!!!
OMG SO COOL!!!! DO WANT!
I have the Lancome one. Sometimes, I would have trouble getting a nice clear design. Your suggestions are excellent. I think I may have inadvertently messed up my Lancome manis when I did the top coat. Thanks!
I love the looks of the LCN colors, but not knowing what’s in them would bug the heck out of me.
Hello Deb,
LCN products (except specific ones) are completely acid- and acetone-free.
Maybe you get in touch with LCN USA – http://www.lcnusa.com – for details about ingredients.
Regards, JoKi
wow these are amazing… I want
O.M.G. I had never even heard of such a thing! The effects are pretty cool!
There’s a new brand mentioned in Allure magazine this month that only manufactures magnetic nail polish. I wish I could remember the name of the brand!
Allure mentioned Nails Inc having a magnetic polish with the magnet in the cap, it looked like you create your own pattern by moving the magnet though? I’ve never tried any magnetic polish but I’m intrigued…
Yes, it’s apparently coming to Sephora in October. I’m intrigued as well.
Oh my gosh, I LOVE this! Science FTW!
That is the craziest thing I have ever seen! I didn’t know about the original magnetics, so it’s all new to me. Who even thinks up these things? Wild!
OK, for the scientist in us, I wonder if it’s possible to make our own magnet designs–perhaps by cutting up thin magnets of the sort that is used to back business cards and such and gluing them into patterns?
Just a (semi)crazy thought.
Essence also has magnetic nailpolish, but without the magnet to make the patern.
I am sooooo wanting a few magnetic polish shades and 2 magnet designs. None around where I live so I will have to put them on my wish order list which I don’t tend to buy as impulsively from as if it’s a walk in store. Maybe since these are L’Oreal, they will eventually be released in the states?
Is LCN owned by L’Oreal?
LCN is not owned by L’Oreal. We are manufactured in Germany by Wilde Cosmetics. http://www.wilde-cosmetics.com. LCN is the flagship brand of products.
LCN is sold in over 65 countries around the world and you can find the LCN nearest you on Wilde’s website.
LCN USA sells LCN Magnetic Polish. We have a professionals website and a retail site. Following are the links. Personally, the star magnet has always worked for me and I’ve tried several
OMG! Yowza! I’ve never seen anything like it! How could Lancome not make this a big seller?!
This is so cool! Magnetic nail polish? Sign me up!
Oh god ! this blog is so bad for my bank account. I’m based in the UK and found a website that did the whole collection as a job lot, I just bought it !!!!
Every day I read this blog and I go and buy new nail polish, this is becoming an addiction. Keep them coming
I NEED these. I hope that they’re still around when I finally have money to spend again!
Wow, that’s amazing!!
I *love* magnetic polish! Do you think, as a nail expert, they could be the next big thing in nail polish world? Like next year? Similar to the matte year, crackle year etc. I mean. That would be awesome. I have Alessandro and Essence bottles at home, saldy Essence magnet is crap, but Alessandro has a nice one. It’s limited though, and expensive as hell, but IMHO worth it.
I can’t wait for these, they’re on order at my prof. distributor ( yes, they’re available in Canada for whoever was asking, we’ve had LCN for many, many years). The Fuschia one looks kind of Holo, no?
Wow! That’s a steep price for polishes, but it looks like they are a lot of fun
I am disappointed. I really want a star magnet that works!
These are amazing! I’d never even heard of them until this post, but now I will definitely try them!!
Does the magnet come with the nail polish? And if so, can you use another magnet if you have one? Or is this magnet “special” in some sort of way?
I am so glad that someone found magnetic nail polish for sale in the States! I have the original Lancome Le Magnetique and I’ve been looking for magnetic nail polish ever since. Thank you!
Also, I’ve found that regular magnets work just fine on the nail polish. I have a dry erase board with the magnetic markers, and those magnets produce very strong lines. I’d suggest experimenting with magnets around the house to see if they produce stronger effects.
Such a fun concept, I have never seen anything like it before!
i really really want these. but, damn! they are expensive.
LCN Magnetic Polish is available in Canada as of July 1st, 2011 ….. check out our website for availability at a distributor or salon near you! Join us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/lcncanada as well for more images of Magnetic Polish on fingers and toes
Melody
LCN Canada
WOW! That is just stunning. If this catches on, I think magnetic polish could take over from Crackle nail polish as the It trend for nail art. It looks a bit fiddly but beautiful.So impressed! xx
Just thought you might like to know, if you don’t already, that Nails Inc are bringing out their magnetic collection in September (in the UK at least). Just seen it on their FaceBook page…
I did hear that but I don’t know if it is coming to the US. I’ve been trying to get confirmation.
its coming to sephora and they are gonna carry the magnetic polishes.
its going to be released in october
do you know if you can buy other magnets somewhere? my star one doesn’t work well either!
Whats the nail polish on your other hand in the first picture?
That would be remnants of my Ozotic Holographic Purple manicure
I am glad to know that I am not the only one that thought these magnets were duds. I could not get diagonal one to work at all and my star does work well. Thank you for the tip on using the Le Magnetique magnet! I have that one in my stash.
I bought the collection but its tricky to work with the polish. The magnets don’t work that well. I hold it for 15 sec. nothing happens!!!!
But sometimes all have some come out on part of the nail. any suggestions?