China Glaze Magnetix Collection Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

China Glaze has just released their own line of magnetic nail polish. It's called Magnetix and it consists of six magnet effect polishes plus a three-pattern magnet that you purchase separately (instead of being attached to the bottle). I'm really excited about this collection. I've been hoping that one of the major brands would hop on the magnetic bandwagon, and what better brand than China Glaze?


China Glaze Attraction. This is a very dark grey base with shiny silver chunky shimmer. I've never used a magnetic polish like this one before! Most of them tend to look smooth and blurry, like it would feel velvety if you touched it. This one is sparkly and crisp! Those little silver speckles are gorgeous and add extra contrast to the design.



China Glaze Cling On. This is a light, silvery olive green. Actually, it's more like the color of overcooked artichokes. When the magnet is applied, the design becomes very dark, much darker than I expected it to become based on the very light bottle color. This one was more sheer than the others and I needed to use three coats. I think that using the chevron pattern on this one is.... fitting.




China Glaze Drawn To You. A silvery medium purple based magnetic polish. When the magnet is applied, the color transforms and becomes even more beautiful. Little pink and red sparks appear near the design and balance well with the more silvery areas created by the magnet.



China Glaze Instant Chemistry. This is a very dark burgundy purple. It's the most opaque of all the shades, needing only one coat for complete coverage. But, despite being the most opaque, it's also the least dramatic. There's not as much contrast to this one so the pattern doesn't look very strong. I still like it, though. There's something really H.R. Giger-ish about this dark color combined with the chevron pattern. A little bit dark and ominous.



China Glaze Pull Me Close. This is a blue-toned grey based magnetic. The pattern turns very dark on this one as well- looks super dramatic against the light base!



China Glaze You Move Me. A soft brown magnetic. A little more red tone to it and it would look just like Tiger's Eye when you use the magnet on it.

The formula on these was excellent. Like most other magnetic polishes, the texture is thick and opaque. These were a little less thick than others I've used and slightly less opaque, but still applied perfectly and reacted well to the magnet. The brushes are normal, thin China Glaze brushes and I found that to help provide smooth, even application. Lots of other magnetic polishes have very thick brushes, but I prefer these thinner ones. I did two coats of all but Cling On, which needed three because I could see my nail through the pattern. Dry time on these is very fast.


Here's what the China Glaze magnet looks like. It's u-shaped and has a diagonal stripe pattern (left), a chevron pattern (center) and a star patten (right). Similar to the Nails Inc. magnet, it has a little rest for your cuticle that helps you position the design and helps prevent you from touching your nail to the magnet.

I found the magnet to be okay, but a little awkward to get used to. Figuring out how to hold it was the trickiest part. At first I kept it flat on the table and lowered my nail over it, but after using it a few times, I found it easier to pick up the magnet and hold it over each nail, using the little cuticle guard to help position it. It's not as easy to use as the Nails Inc. one because the cuticle guard isn't tall enough to completely prevent you from touching the magnet. It's also tricky to figure out how to center your nail on the magnet so that the design is in the right spot. The trick to getting the best position is to fully center your finger in the plastic guard, but position it back closer to your first knuckle instead of holding it right against your cuticle. The center of the pattern is in the center of the magnet, so try to visualize getting the middle of your nail right along the middle of the magnet when positioning.

The other thing that I noticed about this magnet is that it's not as strong as some of the other brands' magnets. The pattern doesn't form as quickly or as strongly, but it also doesn't pull as much polish up because of that. Instead of holding for 5-10 seconds like I would with the super-strong Nails Inc. magnet, I held it for 20 seconds minimum to be sure I got a strong design.

Once I got the hang of holding the magnet correctly, I didn't have any trouble with it. If you already have a few magnetic polishes (and you like their magnet), you don't have to buy the China Glaze magnet. The China Glaze Magnetix polishes will work with any other brand of magnet, like the LCN, the Layla, Lancôme, Nails Inc., or whichever magnetic polish you already have.

Quick bullet-point summary:

What I liked:

• Gorgeous colors.
• Perfect formula.
• Perfect brushes and bottles.
• These are full size (0.5 oz) bottles while many other brands contain half that amount (or even less)!
• Good, strong contrast in most shades.
  
• The magnet comes separately so if you already have a magnet you like, you don't have to buy it. Alternately, if you don't already have a magnet, you can buy this three-patterned one cheaper than any other brand, and you only have to buy one to get all three patterns.
  
• Magnet has three designs instead of only one. Bonus!
  
• Very fast dry time.
• Best price on magnetic polish I've seen so far, especially since it contains twice as much product as most other magnetic polishes.

What I didn't like:

• Flat magnet is more awkward to use than the kind that are attached to the bottle.
• Magnet isn't as strong as the Nails Inc. magnet. Design takes longer to show up because of this.
  
• If you have very curved nails, the pattern may not show up evenly across your nail. A stronger magnet would help the pattern develop more evenly.

But, overall, I absolutely loved these. The colors, the formula, the brushes and bottles, all awesome. The only true flaw is that magnet could be a little stronger and the design of it could be tweaked a little to make it easier to use, but I really had no major problem with the polish or the magnet. I applaud them for making these full sized bottles instead of minis and also for not charging an arm and a leg for them. Very happy with these. Considering purchasing backups.

(Attraction and Drawn To You were sent for review; the rest were purchased by me.)