Color Club Magnetic Force Magnetic Polish Collection Spring/Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

I feel like I'm up to my eyeballs in magnetic polishes lately, but you know what? Still not sick of them. I no longer feel compelled to own every single magnetic polish that exists, but I still get just as excited when I see a brand release a new magnetic collection, and that includes Color Club and their brand new Magnetic Force collection of magnet effect nail polishes. Six shades plus a wave-pattern magnet included with each bottle.

The magnet that comes with the bottle is just like the Nails Inc. magnet. It's a wavy pattern with a raised step that helps you position your nail and prevent you from touching the magnet.


Also just like the Nails Inc. magnetic polishes, the over-cap containing the magnet is removable and the bottle the polish comes in is virtually identical as well.



Color Club Cop An Attitude. This is a rusty red copper metallic with little sparkly red and copper microglitter. I love glitter magnetic shades. When you expose the polish to the magnet, all the shimmer in the polish pulls into neat little lines, but the glitter stays where it is and always stands out really well against the dark background left behind by the magnet. This polish is pretty even without the magnet:

Color Club Cop An Attitude, pre-magnet.

Color Club Electro Midnight. A nice steel blue magnetic. When you apply the magnet, you get soft waves of navy blue with slight shimmer and lighter steel blue with lots of silver frost shimmer.



Color Club Hipnotic. This one's a dark raspberry shade. I like the way it separates into a blackened mulberry creme and a brighter purple-ish shimmer because not only does it have good contrast between light and dark, the color is brighter than I expected it to be.



Color Club Magnetic Force. My favorite of the bunch. It's a greyed purple-taupe against a dark neutral brown creme. Almost black, but not quite.


Color Club Sci-Fi. A green with gold and silver shimmer plus big, chunky gold flakes. Looks a bit like Nabi Candid to me, just a bit more green.


Color Club Steel of the Night. Sleek, machine-like black and grey. Looks futuristic to me.

These polishes are all very pretty even without the magnet. Look:

Left to right (all two coats): Electro Midnight, Hipnotic, Sci-Fi, Magnetic Force.

And you don't have to use the magnet vertically (parallel to the nail), either. You can hold it horizontally across your nail to create a longer wave pattern as well.

The formula on these was perfect. Smooth and easy to apply, no trouble whatsoever with the formula. The magnet effect is strong, the dry time is lightning fast, the brushes are good and I didn't have any bubbling or weirdness. I did three coats of each. Most only needed two, but Sci-Fi and Cop An Attitude showed a little nail though the design with only two coats.

What I liked:

• Good color selection.
• Nice, strong magnet.
• Magnet included with each bottle.
• Magnet is extremely easy to use due to the cuticle guard which is the perfect height to prevent making contact with the magnet, but is also perfectly centered on the design.
• Good brushes.
• Super fast drying formula.
• Some of these look similar to Nabi magnetic colors, but these don't reek like death like the Nabi ones do.
  

What I didn't like:

• These bottles look full size, but they're actually only 0.33 fl oz.
  
• They're more expensive at $6.00 ($12.oo each if you order directly from Color Club) for a 0.33 fl oz bottle than the China Glaze Magnetix collection ($4.60 online / $10 full retail for a full size 0.5 fl oz bottle). They do come with a magnet on each bottle, though.
• Sci-Fi gets really brittle when it dries and chips faster than the other colors.

These apply like any other magnetic polish, but your success in forming a perfect design depends on your technique. You can check my magnetic polish FAQ for more details, but a few quick tips:

• The last coat should be fairly thin. This keeps the magnetic design more crisp/defined looking than a thick coat of polish will.
  
• The longer you hold the magnet over the polish, the better your design will be. Using the magnet for 20+ seconds allows the polish to dry slightly while still being influenced by the magnet- this acts to 'lock' the design in place and prevent the design from blurring as quickly.
• Don't move the magnet or your hand while forming the design. That will cause an extremely faint pattern or no pattern at all. If it gets messed up, just add another coat of polish and try again.

Overall, I think these are pretty good. They're not the cheapest for the amount of product you get, but they work well, the magnet is perfect, they have good color contrast and the colors are all really pretty. This style of magnet (with the little curved, raised plastic lip) is the easiest type to use because it automatically centers the design on your nail and prevents you from touching the magnet.

(This was sent for review.)