The only thing that I liked about the acryllics was how lovely they made my nails, and hands in general look. So now I’m on the look out for something that’ll do a similar job without damaging my nails. The only problem is, being a student I can’t often afford the luxury of getting my nails done properly. This is when my wonderful mother came in - she had a shellac manicure a few weeks ago and really wanted me to try it! So off I went, obviously hating every second of it ;)
Shellac is a brand of gel polish which is basically a really tough nail polish. It comes in a bottle just like nail polish, it’s painted on just like polish and it is hypoallergenic and 3-Free like a good polish should be (I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it!). The difference is that after every coat it is set by a UV machine - don’t worry about it taking a long time though, I had three coats of Shellac and a topcoat and the manicure only last a half hour! This UV technology along with Shellac’s super durable formula, means that you are left with glossy, manicured nails for far longer than regular polish.
In fact, after having the manicure for nearly two weeks I can confirm that other on the actual edges of the nail the Shellac doesn’t really chip so much as begin to lift itself when you would normally get a chip. The only reason that I noticed this is when I was trying to get something out from under my nail, I managed to get underneath the layer of shellac instead. I was quite surprised because you couldn’t tell by looking at it other than the colour looking ever so slightly lighter towards the end of the nail. I really must emphasise that two weeks on the manicure looks almost as good as when I first had it done, other than five chips that I counted. All of them are on my right hand, which is only to be expected as I’m right handed!
The colour that I chose was a baby pink, I really liked it as it was a pastel shade that would go with nearly everything over spring time so it was perfect. The range of colours is something to be mentioned though, Shellac has around 50 available colours. I noticed that there are a lot of pinks and pastels, but not as many darker colours and no mint green/blue (a favourite of mine). This may seem a little limited to some people but they can be layered to your taste by whoever is doing your manicure for you. Another thing I feel I should mention is the way in which Shellac is painted on - both my mum and I noticed that our nail technicians started the colour quite far away from the nail bed. For a manicure that lasts so long this obviously isn’t ideal as you nail grows out even more in this time. Does anybody know why they do this?
All in all I think that I’ll be getting Shellac again in the future, but as it was £25 I think I’ll be saving it for special occasions like going on holiday. I also think that Shellac would be perfect for brides to be as the process is quick, which means that you don’t have to set too much time aside from last minute preparations, and the lovely glossy finish and durability means that your nails are sure to look fantastic for the big day. Shellac is available in a range of salons across the country, so give it a google! Just a quick note to add - I would definitely recommend getting your Shellac removed at a salon or buying the necessary tools that your nail technician recommends. I used Get Em Off by Elegant Touch and it never seems to do the job that well for and leaves my nails feeling quite brittle for a few hours.
