Spotted: Magnetic nail polish at Anchorage Fred Meyer stores

That’s right, a whole rack of brand spanking new magnetic nail polishes practically hidden away next to the last-ditch buckets of sampled lipsticks and cracked eye shadows. I never expected to stumble across magnetic polish at Fred Meyer, but then again, I never expected to find LED gel polishes there either, and there they are indeed. Fred, you are just full of surprises.

For the uninitiated: Magnetic nail polish contains metallic particles that react to a magnet held just above the surface of the wet polish. A handful of brands produce magnetic polishes, including Nails Inc. (now available at Sephora) and LCN. Some companies (like LCN) make you buy the magnets separately, but on the Layla Magneffect polishes I spotted at Freddy’s, the magnet is built into the cap. Here, allow this charming Italian woman explain to you how you use the magnet-uh in the cap-uh:

Personally, I’m on the fence about magnetic polish. I think my problem is the price-to-variety ratio. Magnetic nail polish is not cheap. Even this brand carried at Fred Meyer is priced at $14.99. Per bottle. And then you’re limited to what you can do with one magnet. I mean yeah, it looks cool. But I don’t see how I can justify spending $15 just to put stripes on my fingernails. I might feel differently if they came with an assortment of magnets to create a variety of effects. Or are there some secret magnetic nail polish hacks out there? Anyone know any tricks?

For now, I’m going to hold off on investing in magnetic nail polish, although I am drawn to some of the LCN polishes after seeing swatches. If you decide to hit up your neighborhood Fred Meyer, though, check out the Layla display and let me know what you think.

And if the display is empty, remember to check beneath the bottom shelves. My Freddy’s already has extra boxes of magnetic polish tucked away under marked-down Jovan Musk gift sets: