From shatter to nail stickers to magnets to even liquid sand, beauty brands are transforming the way we wear our polishes.  I absolutely loved OPI’s Black Shatter when it came out because it was so fun to play around with, same with the Sally Hansen nail strips, where you can get fun patterns without the effort.

I have yet to get into the magnet phase because, truth be told, I’ve never really been a fan of the effect.  It seemed really cool in theory, you paint your nails, hold a magnet over top, then it transforms before your eyes! Except, I’ve never really liked the pattern it creates.

Essie has been on a roll with their collections recently and their new one, RepStyle, is something a little different.  A play on words, RepStyle is all about using the magnet to create a fun, snakeskin effect (reptile, repstyle, get it?).  I don’t like the wavy pattern that most magnetic polishes create, however, this one intrigued me because I’ll never say no to animal print.

I tried the colours RepStyle, a hypnotic desert bronze;  and Snake, Rattle and Roll, a venomous, oxidized silver.  There are also four more colours:

• Crocadilly – a croc hunter green
• Little Boa Peep – copperhead titanium
• Snake It Up – a pewter pave python
• sssssexy – a striking, scintillating sanguine

The process is simple.  Start with a base coat, then apply two coats of the polish, then hold the magnet over the polish.  Sounds simple right?  Well unfortunately, I found that it didn’t work more often than not.  Maybe I’m not doing it right, or maybe there was something wrong with the formulation, I don’t know because only some nails had the pattern then others didn’t.

RepStyle

I followed the instructions, painted one coat on each nail, then after a second coat I would hold the magnet over my nail for five seconds, then move onto the next finger and repeat.  I would even try holding the magnet a little farther away or right over the nail (which actually got polish on the magnet because my nail would accidentally hit it).  At one point, I even knocked over the polish bottle and got the stuff on my pajamas.   Not going to lie, it was a bit of a messy process.

When the effect does work, it’s really beautiful and almost looks a little holographic even.  I’ve tried it three times now and every time it’s hit or miss.

Snake, Rattle and Roll

Essie: wicked collection in theory but maybe a little more direction is needed on how to actually use it (like a QR code you can put on the bottle that you scan with your smartphone taking you to a YouTube video), or maybe it should have been tested out a few more times before it was released to the public.  Regardless though, both colours that I tried were beautiful on their own without the effect, however, for the extra few dollars you are paying for the product, I would expect it to work a little better.

Have you tried any colours from Essie’s RepStyle collection?  What were your thoughts?

Please note, I was sent these products for review purposes, however, all opinions are my honest own :).

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