loving shellac manicures

I tried a shellac manicure about six weeks ago and LOVED it! A shellac manicure is supposed to stay shiny and chip free for two weeks. I wanted to document my experience with it, because I had so many questions before I had it done.

Ty and I had spent two weekends getting our house ready to be put on the market and my hands were so dry and my nails were awful. I was worried that it wouldn't last two weeks on my nails, because they were so weak. My nails are never really strong, so this was always going to be a concern of mine and I decided to just bite the bullet.

This is the brand the salon used.

I took pictures of my nails throughout the 3 weeks that my manicure lasted. Yes, I said 3 WEEKS! I wish I would have taken the pictures the same way each time and with my camera instead of using a mix of my camera and my iPhone to give you all more accurate pictures. Live and learn.

Day 1

Day 10

I had tiny chips at the ends of two nails and I just trimmed them down. They were very small and kinda underneath (if that makes sense) and I wanted to cut them down before it turned into a bigger chip.

Day 14, oops!

I pulled the rest of the polish off this nail and painted it a dark purple with regular nail polish. I wasn't ready to take the shellac off of the rest of the nails and this was an easy solution. It didn't look good, but it wasn't noticeable unless you really looked at it. The main thing was the color was the same, so people didn't really look twice at it.

Day 21

The picture above turned out blurry, because I was taking the picture with my left hand, but you can see my pointer finger that I painted with regular polish and how my thumb had chipped.

Day 21

My left hand looked great other than the fact that it had grown out. I didn't have any chips on these nails, probably because it isn't my dominant hand.

It is more expensive than a regular manicure. I paid $30 versus $15 for a regular manicure. BUT, it lasts so much longer than a regular manicure. Getting a manicure regularly is not in my budget, even one that lasts 3 weeks. They are definitely special treats. That being said the next time I get one I will go with the shellac.

The one downside is to get the shellac polish off you have to soak your nails in acetone. My nails weren't smooth once the polish was off, because they drill your nail bed to get it smooth before applying the polish. It did not weaken my nails. I polished them with regular polish to protect them. I think I just rambled for a whole post, but hopefully I answered some questions for someone. :)

Oh, and if you are in my area I would be happy to tell you where I went and also where my bff has gone to get hers done.