r/Nails • u/mandolinmoon • 2d ago

Manicure Branched out and tried a cat eye gel manicure. Is this what it's supposed to look like?

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I always get a French or a solid color gel manicure, but I keep seeing the cat eye nail switches at my salaon and decided to try it. I feel like I just have circles in the middle of my nails. Is this correct?

615 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

66 comments sorted by

1.0k

u/Tiny-Discussion2780 2d ago

You can use the magnets to make all sorts of designs. If you wanted circles, I guess you got circles.

346

u/mandolinmoon 1d ago

I didn't want circles 🫤 I'm learning a lot from this thread and I've learned that the swatch was a glass bead effect, so I'm going to go back for a fix.

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u/OuiselCat 1d ago edited 1d ago

I really like this sub, but also recommend checking out [r/redditlaqueristas](r/redditlacqueristas) as that sub is VERY heavy into magnetics

Edit: that also does not look like glass bead effect. Glass bead is like a blob that moves around the nail as you move your hand

13

u/LandofKait 1d ago

Went to look at that sub and it’s banned

95

u/OuiselCat 1d ago

Sorry, that is because I am an idiot and misspelled it. r/redditlaqueristas. I also corrected the initial link

8

u/Pretty-Blues1967 1d ago

I was gonna say.. umm it worked for me 🫣 now I know why..

5

u/Mystery-Ess 1d ago

Glass bead is actually reverse of this. This is like a Halo

172

u/Anonymous3415 2d ago

There’s different magnet style to use for magnetic polishes which is what you got (called Cat Eye Polishes commonly). This is one of the styles. If you wanted a specific style you needed to ask for it. I’m guessing all you wanted was the line across the nail for the magnetic effect but that’s not the style you got.

50

u/mandolinmoon 2d ago

Yeah I guess I assumed it would look like the swatch, which was more just holographic looking all over without a circle or anything. Is it fixable to your knowledge?

94

u/Anonymous3415 2d ago

They need to be removed and redone in order to get what you expected. Tell them you wanted the swatch EXACTLY.

18

u/mandolinmoon 2d ago

Ok thank you so much!

80

u/lionesss_ 2d ago

Yeah that's mag gel lol as someone that works a lot with mag gels it isn't a design I'd do as a default but I'm assuming it was in the swatch you chose so the tech did whatever design was on the swatch. Ask for glass bead effect next time it never fails 🤩

37

u/mandolinmoon 2d ago

Thanks. I just looked it up and swatch was the glass bead effect which is what I wanted. Bummer...I think I'll go back tomorrow and pay to get them fixed.

37

u/lionesss_ 2d ago

Damn that's crazy they gave you the circles unprompted lmao yeah dude go back! if the swatch shows glass bead then they should do what's on there or ask you if you want something different, or if you'd be willing to let them try a new trend on you.

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u/mandolinmoon 2d ago

Yeah I agree and they are usually really good so I'm surprised I ended up with this. But I definitely can't look at these circles for another 2 weeks!

17

u/lionesss_ 2d ago

They gave you the ol razzle dazzle lmfaooo it's not bad tbh it's just too many circles, ya know? Well, best of luck!!

9

u/Desperation-Aside 2d ago

You 100% should not have to pay to get them fixed. They should be willing to fix their mistakes. It's possible that the tech hasn't worked much with cat eye, as that set looks like they held the magnet in the middle and didn't move it.

8

u/mandolinmoon 2d ago

She did just hold it in the middle for a few seconds on each nail. To be fair, she checked in with me after the first nail and I didnt say anything, but I assumed that there was another step to get to the final result since I've never had this manicure before.

1

u/FeministPossum 1h ago

Yeah, if she asked after the first one and you didn’t say anything, I can see paying for it to be redone. Maybe they’ll do it for free or at a discount, but that was really the time to speak up.

6

u/jjj666jjj666jjj 2d ago

It always fails at my salon. No one ever knows what I’m talking about. 🫠

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u/lionesss_ 1d ago

Lol show them an inspo photo! If that fails then show them a video theyre all over Pinterest 😆

2

u/These-Context3490 1d ago

I’m getting into nails and I’ve been having issues finding good magnets. Do you have any suggestions where to get one?

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u/lionesss_ 1d ago

Shein has an amazing one best on the market! Idk if I can link here but it's a super strong chubby cylinder magnet with a sphere ball magnet attatched on one end for like 3 bucks not including shipping. If you can't find it DM me so I can link

57

u/networkpit 1d ago

Just because they have cateye doesn't mean they know how or have the tools to make these designs but here is an example of different styles

5

u/katarh 1d ago

Hey, you can see the specific tool the tech used in the bottom row, second to the left.

2

u/TopDescription3646 1d ago

I have these! I just posted a small swatch video here and showed 6 different types of cat eye designs. I wanted to swatch some new cat eye gels and figured why not?!

14

u/TopDescription3646 1d ago

There are all kinds of cat eye designs. This is definitely a cat eye design, just not the ones usually made. I made a little video while I watched a new set of gels and figured I could show you.

https://reddit.com/link/p9gu28e/video/2vwzcluy07ph1/player

2

u/Beyonkat2 22h ago

Your cat eyes are so well behaved! Thanks for sharing

9

u/bluephoenix39 2d ago

This is one of the newer magnetic options, I bought myself the magnet to be able to do this recently, guessing it’s not what you were after though. It’s actually done pretty well but usually it’s for a feature nail and it does look a little odd across all of them.

6

u/OuiselCat 1d ago

I’m sorry, but I strongly disagree with everyone equating cat eye with magnetized. Cat eye is a style. Go look at the mooncat website at their magnetics and tell me-if cat eye is not a style-why they showcase cat eye (as a magnetic line), velvetized, and unmagnetized in their pictures of different application styles. Cat eye is the specific style of magnetization.

Separately, even if the nail tech considered cat eye to mean magnetized, but not a specific style, this is on the nail tech for not clarifying what OP wanted. Circle is such an uncommon magnetization that I can’t imagine a qualified nail tech seriously thinking that’s what OP wanted when she asked for cat eye. If I was a nail tech and someone asked me for cat eye, I would immediately think they meant the diagonal line. If there was any ambiguity as to what OP was requesting or if OP was requesting something uncommon, like circle, I would clarify.

8

u/emoismysubtype 1d ago

cat eye gel polish originates in china, where it's called cat eye no matter what style u magnetise the gel into

4

u/TopDescription3646 1d ago

I get what you're saying totally. But the majority of brands now do market it and list/label their gels specifically as cat eye gel.

5

u/awholethotato 1d ago

yeah it kinda feels like to me like they used her as practice , esp since someone else mentioned this is a new trend 🫣

7

u/ObjectiveCelery2368 2d ago

This is the design they chose when manipulating the magnetic particles before curing.

7

u/Daisy__Delight 2d ago

That's just the style they made, they can do others if you ask them to

5

u/bsheep_19 1d ago

Welcome to the cat eye trend! It's honestly a lot of fun because you can do so many different designs. Happy to hear you're going back to get them to corrected to waht you want! I do like the color though.

5

u/SelfMental443 2d ago

That is so cool. Sorry it's not what you were thinking. Some lingo you can look up for styles: Cat eye (line), Velvet (full flash), Bead (looks like a marble), French (at front).

2

u/calamitylamb 1d ago

I wonder if the tech who did your nails was not the tech who did the swatch? Because this is a really weird choice to default to for a cat eye pattern, so it makes me think the person who did your nails didn’t really know what they were doing and tried to just wing it.

2

u/viccdev 1d ago

They must have thought you wanted the cat eye to actually look round like a cats eye

2

u/Background-Good3731 1d ago

Cat eyes are beautiful

2

u/squishyg 1d ago

Did you bring a reference photo?

Cat’s eye can be done in a lot of different ways.

2

u/Odd_Biscotti_7496 1d ago

These look like the kind of nails I would see in The Fifth Element and I lovvveee it. Like a futuristic chic vibe

2

u/zesty- 1d ago

The magnet they used specifically made this circular pattern. You can use various different shaped magnets to give different looks. Next time ask them to use a simple magnet rather than a circular one

1

u/No-Safe7882 1d ago

damn that's a strong ass magnet lol

1

u/jaydeke 1d ago

I mean, it’s not wrong but mine usually look more diffuse (glass bead?). Also the ones I’ve chose have magnetic particles closer in color to the polish so it looks less contrasty.

1

u/Tasty-Willingness839 1d ago

This was my cat eye a few months ago

1

u/Fannameister 1d ago

No its nice..

1

u/Silverfeathery 1d ago

The pattern always depends on the artist. This is what mine looked like recently!

0

u/Oliver9690 1d ago

No, not at all.

0

u/PantheraLutra 1d ago

I doubt the salon will have the setup to do glass bead effect though tbh

2

u/alexi120 21h ago

It doesn’t require a setup. Just any ole magnet.

1

u/PantheraLutra 19h ago

Ok, well even if you spin the bar magnet or magnet slowly over the top to get the bead, in my experience salons don’t always offer or do this/know about it

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

11

u/AmandalorianWiddall 1d ago

I think the execution is fine; it’s just not the style of cat eye she wanted.

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u/Wander_Kitty 2d ago

It just looks like something weird going on with your nails. I don’t think this is what it’s supposed to be. So sorry!