What's in a finish? Specialty Polish

     *Nothing to Disclose*

     Today for the whats in a finish series we take a look at specialty polishes. There are many different types of specialty polishes but the most common are Crackle, Magnetic, and Spotted. While these seem to be passing trends, you still see them pop up every now and then.

     Let's start off by taking a look at the crackle finish. Crackle nail polish is a layering polish that cracks to create different patterns. This is the most user-friendly of the 3 polishes we will be looking at today. The polish cracks all on its own without the assistance of anything else, and from my limited experience with it the thickness of the coat doesn't play a factor.



     Now let's take a closer look at the Magnetic Polish. Magnetic nail polish doesn't require anything underneath for it to work, but I always recommend a base coat. You then put down one layer of the polish but on the 2nd coat you hold a magnet (usually provided in the cap) over the polish for 10 seconds and a pattern is created in lighter and darker parts on the nail.

     It's no secret that there are iron shavings in magnetic polish. That's why it responds to the magnet. But what isn't clear is why the nail polish forms a distinct striped pattern. Most of us have seen metal shavings hanging from the ends of magnets in long 'beards,' so it seems like the whole coat of polish should just pull to a peak right under the magnet. It doesn't because the magnet in the jar isn't just an 'end.'  but both poles going to work on the shavings.

     While not overly complicated to apply, magnetic polish does have a little bit of a learning curve to it. Especially with how long to hold the magnet over the polish, or how close to get to the nail.

     Last but not least we have the Spotted finish. Both OPI and Fing'rs have come out with this type of specialty polish. Just like the crackle finish, the spotted finish is a layering polish. This is probably the hardest finish to work with for most people. It requires an extremely thin layer to be placed over your base color. I actually had huge success the first time I used the Fing'rs Get Spotted polish, but I didn't follow the directions. You can see what I mean by checking out my previous post.

Fing'rs Get spotted over OPI Die Another Day

     There are other types of specialty polish out there also. I know Barry M has one that is very similar to the crackle finish. I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones that I am familiar with. If you know of another one I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

     I hope you have enjoyed this post, and found it helpful in some way. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!