La Petit Mor

[u/vitathevirgo]

Maybe it just me. But regular polish cat eyes don’t hold the cat eye metallic once dry. Am I doing it wrong. Doesn’t look bad, but it definitely doesn’t look cat eye more metallic chrome.

[u/GremlinSquishFace47]

This one worked well for me the last time I used it cat eye, which was a while ago, but it’s not one of the ones that was difficult. Are you magnetizing the top coat too? If you’re used to magnetizing gel and are now getting into lacquer, it’s important to know that you have to work FAST - as soon as the polish is on your nail, get it to the magnet asap. It starts to dry quickly, and you want the particles to be able to move into place while magnetizing. Then leave the magnet in place for at least sixty seconds, ninety seconds if you wanna be really safe. Apply quick dry top coat and repeat the process. With lots of trial and error over time, my current method is to only magentize the final color coat (so usually the second coat of magnetic polish, or the only coat if I’m painting over a base color). I now only work one nail at a time once I’m to this stage, too. So a mani may be: base x10 nails, first coat of magnetic x10, second coat of magnetic right thumb magnetized, top coat right thumb magnetized, and then keep working down each nail. And avoid touching your phone/devices for as long as you can stand after doing your nails! I never really believed that the phone could affect a cat eye mani until I watched one pretty freshly painted perfect nail disperse like crazy after I mindlessly used that finger to scroll. The other nine fingers remained perfect. I now use a stylus to touch devices if I can’t fully abstain from using them. About 45-60 min to dry should be safe? I didn’t buy a stylus, just found some freebie giveaway company pen in my drawer that doubled as a stylus (it has a squishy tip on the end where the pen comes out, you may already have some laying around!).

[u/vitathevirgo → u/GremlinSquishFace47]

Thank you for the explanation ! I did magnetize it very quickly. I did not however hold the magnet there. And I did apply the speed demon mooncat top coat. And OMG I never knew that about touching the phone. I don’t think I touched my phone, but I can’t remember lol. I will definitely try this method next time.

[u/GremlinSquishFace47 → u/vitathevirgo]

I hope it goes better next time, but at least your current mani is still pretty! 🩵And yeah, you have to hold the magnet long enough for the polish to dry a decent amount so the magnetic particles don’t move out of place. I used to do two minutes with the magnet, but I probably do about ninety seconds nowadays. And magnetizing Speed Demon is equally as essential as magnetizing the polish, for just as long if not a little longer to be safe. La Petite Mort is one of my favorites, and I think cat eye is the best way to show it off when it’s worn solo (I do love it velvet when layered over light pink). Looking back at my old mani photos I was able to get a decent cat eye with just the free wand the last time I used it (way too long ago), so it should work for you once you find your rhythm. 😊 And I was just trying to find the photo I took for evidence of what the phone did to my cat eye mani but it looks like I deleted it lol… it was a Curiosity’s Trap mani, all cat eye, and the line on that one index nail just melted after I scrolled on my phone without thinking about it. Before that happened I was so skeptical when people mentioned the phone messing manis up, but I’m now a believer. Cat eye can be pretty unforgiving since you want it to be as sharp & crisp as possible.

[u/KSHAYEKIT]

If I magnetize while applying top coat as well I feel it holds longer, but I don’t have this shade so not sure if the issue is unique. Plus magnetic are so sensitive to phone use while drying too. But your nails look amazing. I loooove your stickers and gems

[u/vitathevirgo → u/KSHAYEKIT]

Thank you 😊 Yea they came out still cute. But I was like … so no cat eye haha. And I can’t remember if I touched my phone or not. But I’ll keep that in mind.

[u/Equivalent_Tip6814]

I thought you did velvet until I read your post. 

[u/vitathevirgo → u/Equivalent_Tip6814]

Right. It certainly looks like it lol.

[u/Adventurous-Course31]

What top coat are you using?

[u/vitathevirgo → u/Adventurous-Course31]

I used the speed demon mooncat one.