Winter Manicure: Velvet Nails

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I love trying out new manicure products and the most recent one I’m loving is Velvet Nails.

Have you seen this? It’s a manicure that uses special polishes that react to a magnet to create a velvet effect on your nails.

You can create Velvet Nails using either removable nail polish made for this type of manicure, or gel polish created for this purpose.

I decided to try the gel nail polishes, as I love gel nails because they last so long.

These polishes are different from traditional sparkly or glitter polishes. They have a depth to them that you don’t get with sparkly polishes.

They look different in various lights, which is fun. In indoor lighting, they may look very much like a traditional sparkly polish. But once the sun hits them they take on a whole different look.

In indoor lighting, they just look sparkly:

But in natural light, they really do look like velvet. Like you’ve brushed your hand over the nap of velvet fabric.

I was so excited to try this manicure style. I applied a gel base coat, then the first coat of magnetic velvet polish. You apply the polish then gently move the magnet (that came with the polish) around your nail to move the particles in the polish around.

Then you cure that coat of polish. The polish I purchased didn’t come with any instructions so I watched videos online and followed the magnet technique I saw there.

I felt like I left the magnet in place too long and it basically kind of “dissolved” the velvet effect.

So I did a second coat and used the magnet very sparingly with quick sweeping strokes over the nail and this produced the effect I was looking for.

Some techniques show holding the magnet in the middle of your nail to draw all the particles there to create a cat-eye effect. I just distributed them all over evenly.

I like catching a glimpse of them in different lighting. Like the grocery store: 🙂

Or the laundry room:

Or in the kitchen:

Velvet is such a luxurious fabric and perfect for winter. This Velvet Nails manicure is just made for winter and you could do it in yummy winter colors. I tend to gravitate more toward neutrals but that doesn’t mean you have to! 🙂

There are so many colors available in velvet polishes:

If you’d like to try out this type of manicure, just choose some polishes you’d like to try and watch some tutorials if you’re unsure how to use the magnet to create your Velvet Nails.

The biggest challenge I faced was getting the magnet close enough to my nail to create a pattern without accidentally nicking the polish. 🙂 So move cautiously.

If you decide to use a gel polish, I recently found a product that makes removing it SO much easier.

Gel nails have to be soaked off and that means sitting for too long with cotton balls soaked in remover, and wrapped in foil to keep the cotton balls on your nails so that the polish will come off.

I don’t know about you but I just don’t have time for that.

This product goes on just like a polish.

Before applying it, it is important to use a nail file to “rough up” the top coat so that the product can soak in. Then you apply this product just as though you were painting your nails.

It is not thin like a polish but rather thick and “gloppy.”

Be very careful not to get any on your skin. I did so accidentally and can report it hurts. 🙂

The polish on your nails will just magically begin to sort of bubble up and soften. Then you just use a polish removal scraper to easily remove the polish.

No damage to your nails and much quicker than sitting forever with cotton balls on your fingertips. The product instructions say to leave it on for 5-8 minutes. I did that. On a few nails, I found I needed to do a second application to get all the polish off. Still a quicker process than the cotton ball/foil method.

If you like trying out new manicure products as I do, I think you might enjoy Velvet Nails. Give them a try! I’d love to see your results!

And I’d love for you to follow me on Pinterest!