Nail glossary

Cat-eye

Magnetic gel polish — a magnet pulls a ribbon of light through the wet colour.

Cat-eye is gel polish containing microscopic magnetic particles. While the colour is still wet, the tech hovers a magnet over the nail; the particles rush toward it and are frozen in place when the gel cures, forming a soft band of light that appears to slide across the nail as your hand tilts — like the eye of the gemstone it is named for.

The effect is strongest over dark, rich bases — emerald, sapphire, oxblood — and the magnet pass is a genuine skill: the stripe can run straight, diagonal, or radiate from a point. Cat-eye requires specific magnetic gels, so it lives in some artists' kits and not others — worth confirming before you book, which is exactly the kind of question Nailly's artist kit answers up front.

Coming soon

Now see it on your own hand.

Vocabulary is the map; the try-on is the territory. Nailly renders any design onto a photo of your actual hand — coming to the App Store for the US and Canada.

Coming soon to theApp StoreRead the FAQ