I am very hard on my nails, especially this summer when I refinished my deck and sometime got mineral spirits, Bondo and deck stain on my hands.

However, perhaps due to Nail Magic Base Coat Therapy and their Fast Dry Topcoat, I still have nails left.

It is now too cold to continue my deck staining until spring, so we'll see how my nails look after a toxic chemical vacation. Speaking of which, I try never to buy products containing formaldehyde, toluene or pthalates; I always check labels and I'm thinking that the Base Coat Therapy and Fast Dry Topcoat, at least, are free of those ingredients. I could be wrong, or perhaps some of their products do contain those substances but not the ones I purchased.

Anyway, I do recommend highly the two products I've purchased. I got them on a 2 for 1 special at Sally's so they were cheap, but even at full price, they're not that expensive and they work, so that makes them a good value.

EDIT: I guess I'm losing brain cells--I had forgotten all about this product until seeing it while reviewing my reviews. I must be out--guess I'll get some more. My nails are in bad shape again. Maybe it's because I ran out of the Nail Magic!

I just love, love, love this stuff. I have had nail issues for many moon's, breaking, peeling, weak and have tried just about everything out there, then one day I was in my local Sally store and asked the SA what was the best nail hardener? She recommended "Nail Magic" and it was on sale so I felt completely justified in picking it up. I'm so happy I did! My nails are long and strong! I haven't had a break in 3 months and I have even had to trim them back a little! I'm so hard on my nails everyday, in gloves, tones of hand washing and sanitizers and they have held up wonderfully. I'm so impressed that this is now and will always be my HG nail treatment, I even added the " Base coat therapy" to my nail kit and love it as well! My nail polish goes on smooth and holds fast for 3-4 days which is a bloody achievement for me, and it has the same get benefits as the hardener, double awesome!

Yes this product does contain formaldehyde and there are some health concerns associated with it, but meh...I breathe in a butt load of toxic chemicals everyday that all may, or may not have a negative affect on me later. So if I'm to perish from some type of cancer, tumor or respiratory sickness, who's to say it was solely the nail polishes fault, it could have been any number of things. For beautiful nails I'll risk it :)

This stuff works very well for me. You have to use it continuously for the full six weeks though before it works though.
This contains formaldehyde. YOU must make the decision whether its worth it to try.
If you want to wear polish with this treatment I suggest putting a base coat over the Nail Magic and under the color because this tends to peel off in big sheets after a couple days and will take your manicure with it unless you have something on top of it to keep it on.

Do not get this on your skin! It burns. Careful application is key with this product especially with the possible side effects of absorbing formaldehyde through your skin.

This product smells awful. Worse than a regular nail product. Keep that in mind.

The bottle doesn't last very long..eventually it thickens and becomes unusable..I got about three months out of my first bottle.

Overall I like it and will continue to use it but it might not be for you.

A resounding YES, YES, YES I will buy this product again!!! This is absolutely the best nail hardener I have ever tried. All of a sudden my nails started peeling and breaking and I went to Sally's and inquired about a good nail hardener since I was using Nail Envy but it was no longer working. The SA recommended Nail Magic and so I bought some. That was in the early part of the summer and now my nails on both hands are long and no peeling or splitting. They are hard and beautiful!

All I can say is WOW!!!! I just started growing my nails out last December and as soon as they began to get a little long, then would peel horrible and the edges were extremely weak. Over a few months, the peeling was so bad that all it seemed i was left with was a thin sliver of a nail and nothing would stick to it. I had tried several products that claimed to repair and prevent this from happening but nothing helped. I was in SALLY one day and the sales lady recommended me to try Nail Magic. I bought it and in 2 to 3 weeks, my nails had drastically improved. There was no more peeling, no more thing and weak edges, no splitting, and they were growing fast and strong. It's now been about 6 weeks and I've had to cut my nails back some because they were too long. I will never be without this stuff, it's a miracle worker.

This product has improved my nails, I wear nail polish all the time and I usually use Acetone to remove polish. I had noticed peeling and splitting of my nails so I went to Sally's and saw this and thought I would give it a try. I must say it was the best deicision I made. I use it as a base coat and sometimes as a topcoat (Seche Vete is my holy grail) and I noticed an improvement after a week I will defenitly by this again.

I had realy brittle nails after wearing glue on nails all the time!! When I got tired of them and wanted to go natural my nails were a disaster!! They were thin, brittle, weak, and they just wouldn't grow. I went to Sally's to buy a good nail treatment for my nails and I was recommended this nail product!!
Let me tell you guys that this has been the best product I have purchases for my nails ever!! They chipped at the beginning but I continue using it. I have to say the product work so well that my nails are strong and they grow fast!! So fast and long that I have to trim them often!! If you want strong long nails than this is the product for you!!

***this is not actually a review**** This is in response to the comment about formaldehyde being in bee stings - I believe that it is formic acid, not formaldehyde that is in bee venom. Nonetheless, formaldehyde is still not very good for you - but hey, your nails, your choice!

This is an amazing product which transformed my weak thin peeling nails into the strong long ones I have today.


Something to note: it contains formaldehyde which has been classed as a dangerous chemical and is actually found in bee stings! So if you're allergic to bee stings, this product will probably feel pretty bad if you get it on your skin. I never had this problem but then I'm probably not allergic to bee stings!


It also dries up my cuticles something fierce because of the formaldehyde.


I also noticed after using two thirds of it that it started to peel off, and the product looked a different colour like it was separating. If I used it under polish and took a bath/shower the whole polish would just peel off the finger nail. I never had this problem with my toes being painted as I don't use Nail Magic on them so it must be this and not the nail polish.


I'm going to try using Nail Envy next which is cheaper and doesn't have formaldehyde in it.

Wow. This blew me away since I already have a lot of nail strengtheners and hardners and this tops all of them. Even after showering, my nails became very soft and would sometimes break. I was finally able to take a shower and not worry so much. My nails felt stronger. This gives a good gloss too and my nails looked healthy. Just keep away from your cuticles as this stuff can irritate them. I found this at Sally's and it was highly recommended by the staff there.