When I first got started in nail art, galaxy manis used to only mean some kind of sponged gradient with stars added on top, but these days there’s such a wide range of techniques to play with. Instead of a gradient, why not use a magnetic polish? Especially a gel that lets you really manipulate the swirls of magnetic particles because you don’t have to worry about the polish drying before you’ve found exactly the look you want. Today’s nail art plays with a beautiful holographic blue cats eye magnetic with some butterflies stamped on top.
Flipside view
And why not add some butterflies underneath as well! A peak on the flipside allows you to see the base polish without the magnetic on it. (The magnetic was not very opaque so different bases change it a lot. I’ve tried it against a dark blue as well and it’s very pretty.)
Nail art products used
- “Flipside Nails“:
- Butterflies stamped in super light grey Hit the Bottle’s “Stonewashed & Windswept“
- Base Polishes:
- Pure Ice’s “Scream” with a magnetic gel polish by Miss Cheering “crystal cat eye 05“ two days later
- Stamping Polish:
- Hit the Bottle’s “Stonewashed & Windswept“
- Reverse Stamping Polish:
- All Mixed Up Lacquer’s “Midnight Oil“
- Stamping Plates:
- Born Pretty “Animal-007“ (butterflies with star fields)
Items in italics are debuting on the blog for the first time.
I will warn you that you probably shouldn’t put a normal polish underneath a gel if you’re making nails to sell or wear for a long time. As a hobbyist, these nails are out while I’m working on them and once I’m done they are dumped in a plastic bag that I imagine someone will throw in the trash when I die. So I don’t have to worry about longevity. But even with that I let the base polish dry for two days before adding the gel on top. Regular nail polish takes a lot longer to fully dry than most people realize and once a gel is on top it cannot dry any more. This means the nail surface is not actually hard and can easily smear or develop a lot of dents.
Aside from that disclaimer, I had a lot of fun with the gel. I used a magnet with a swirl design from those old made for tv magnetic polish sets. It never worked that great with the regular polishes. Not having to worry about dry times netted me much better results, although my index finger’s nail didn’t perform as well for some reason…
@MagneticMagicalNails – blue & grey for Donna
This collab is in loving memory of the Donna (@dwooleybooger), who started this wonderful group. I actually chose butterflies for my subject matter because I used them for the memorial nails I painted for her in 2022. I can’t believe it’s been two years. 🙁
- Instagram Group: @MagneticMagicalNails
- Collab Host: Darlyn @gridqueen
- See post for list of participants
- Next Prompt: multiple/different magnets
Final space butterfly nail art photos
Until next time, friends! 🙋♀️
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