I have to admit, ever since I heard of Shellac I have been dying to give it a try. I gave my mom a gift certificate for a local spa for Christmas and waited to go with her... and waited and waited, haha. She is not normally a nail person but does enjoy it occasionally - but she hates chipping and would definitely not want to redo her nails ever few days so this seemed perfect for her! We finally went near the end of May before our vacation, so we would not have to mess with our nails there. Let me point out that these nails endured not only a lot of use while at work but also a lot of swimming, lake sports and a week with (the most adorable ever) baby! I picked
Tutti Frutti, a fun and bold summer pink. So here we go!
Day One
|
Indoors, artificial light |
This shows my nails late the same night that I had them done. Really wonderful application, smooth and shiny and perfect around the cuticles. I was really pleased!
Day Five
|
Outdoors, Shade |
Starting to see a little bit of growth and a tiny bit of tip wear. And some nasty cuticles (sorry about that, haha). Still smooth and shiny and looking great! Regular polish would most likely have chipped by now.
Day 10
|
Indoors, natural light |
Slightly more growth, just a smidge more tipwear. Still gorgeous and shiny and wonderful! There is no way I could have worn a regular polish this long.
Day 14
|
Outdoors, sun |
Finally hit the two week mark! And got those nasty cuticles from day 5 looking lovely. :) 14 days is how long CND claims Shellac lasts. Day 14 and I am seeing no reason to take this off yet. A bit more growth, about the same (small) amount of tipwear. Still shiny!
Day 18
|
Outdoors, shade |
Time for me to say bye-bye to Shellac on day 18. If I was a normal person, I totally could have worn this longer, but I was just dying to change up my color at this point (and to try the new Zoya Touch polishes!) so it had to go. This would definitely last three weeks if you were okay with the same color and the outgrowth. After 18 days it is still gorgeous and shiny, with just minor tipwear. I did have the tiniest of chips on my other hand, but I am 99.9% sure that this was because of a standing weakness in the top layer of my nail before application.
Removal
Okay, removal was a pain. Rather than get it removed professionally I went for a DIY at home (those Zoya's were calling to me...) and used the foil method. Left foil on for 10 minutes each and it was still rather hard to got off. It involved a lot of rubbing and some light scraping with my other nail (not enough to damage the nail but just enough to get the last bits off). The tough removal was worth it though, for the convenience of gorgeous color for 18+ days!
Overall Thoughts
Amazing. While I will not be doing this all the time (I couldn't stand to have my nails the same color constantly), I will definitely keep this in mind for vacations where I just don't want to mess with my nails. This was a really great experience and I can't wait to try it again on our next trip. My mom and sister were also very pleased with theirs. In addition, I feel like my nails are a bit stronger after Shellac - maybe it was just having that time without me messing with them every two or three days, but they really are growing nicely right now. I'm sure they will break tonight now that I said that, haha. I recommend giving this a try at least once, even if you are a chronic polish changer like I am! It is a lot of fun.
Click
here to learn more about Shellac and find a location near you!
Thanks so much to Tammy, the awesome nail professional that applied our Shellac manicures - you did an awesome job! Expect to see us again soon - we have another trip coming up. ;)