How to apply Essie magnetic polish

So I was browsing the aisles of Target the other day looking for important things to buy like new nail polish when I came across Essie's new line of magnetic "reptile" polish. I had seen the Sally Hansen version, but since I like Essie more than practically anything else, I decided to fork over the $10.99 and try it out. 

Needless to say (and if you know me, this isn't a surprise), I didn't read the instructions before I applied the polish. So two dried coats of Crocadilly (a nice dark green) later, I'm sitting in front of my TV watching reruns of Girls wondering how I'm supposed to make the polish get all wavy and magnetic looking. Earth to Megan. Obviously the polish will not do anything after it's dried. I so should have read the instructions (which, by the way, are printed in like 2 point font on a sticker on the side of the nail polish). 

Long story short, I started over, then I thought I'd share with you how you're supposed to go about applying it, just in case any of you out there were staring at your dried nail polish wondering how you were supposed to get this snakeskin/reptile look. 

So here you go:

{How to apply Essie magnetic polish}

Apply first coat and let dry. 

Next, apply your second coat of polish one finger at a time. While the polish is still wet, hold the magnet as close to your nail as possible (without touching the magnet to the nail, which is harder than it sounds). Try to slowly move the magnet across your whole nail, so as to spread the pattern out. 

Let dry and apply a topcoat, preferably one that dries fast so you (a.k.a. impatient people like me) don't mess anything up. There's nothing worse than ruining a fresh mani. 

As you can see, my nails don't look perfect (the pattern doesn't reach across each nail all the way and the pattern isn't the same on each nail), but I'm pretty happy with the final result and have already received lots of compliments. And I'm pretty sure I'd even wear the polish by itself without the magnetic effect, too. 

So there you have it. Happy crocadilly snakeskin reptile nails, everyone.