Cat Eye Nails in Florence, KY

How the effect is made

The gel is painted on, then a magnet is held close to the wet surface for a few seconds. The particles line up along the magnetic field, leaving a bright band and darker surround, and the lamp locks that pattern in permanently. Every nail is magnetized individually, which is where the extra ten to fifteen minutes goes.

Because the pattern is set by hand, no two nails are ever identical. That is the nature of the service rather than a flaw, and matching ten nails closely is the skill you are paying for.

The patterns you can ask for

• Straight stripe. A single band across the middle of the nail. The classic, and the one that reads best on short nails.
• Diagonal. Pulled corner to corner. More movement, and it elongates the nail visually.
• Double band. Two lines, usually crossed. Dramatic, and it needs a longer nail to have room.
• Velvet. The magnet drawn along the nail rather than held, so the light spreads into a soft sheen instead of a hard line. This is the version most people mean when they say "velvet nails".

Colors that actually work

Cat eye lives on contrast between the bright band and the dark surround, so deep saturated colors carry it best: burgundy, forest, navy, plum, black cherry. Those are also, not coincidentally, the colors it gets booked in most from October onward.

Pale colors technically work but the effect is subtle to the point of invisibility in daylight — if you want light nails with movement, a pearl chrome gives you more for the same money. We will say so if you ask for baby pink cat eye.

Wear, and what it goes over

Cat eye is a gel, so it wears like shellac — two to three weeks on hands. Applied over an acrylic set it lasts as long as the set does, three to four weeks to a fill.

It suits short natural nails unusually well, which is worth knowing if you like the look but do not want length. On a short nail the single straight band is the one to pick.

Cat eye with other art

It combines better than most effects. Two cat eye accent nails against eight plain gel nails is the most common booking. Cat eye plus a chrome tip works. Cat eye plus glitter usually does not — both compete for the light and the result reads busy.

A design is priced separately from the cat eye finish, so if you want art on top say it when you book rather than at the lamp, and we will make sure the time is there.