If you like it then you better put shellac on it. (forgive the bad Beyonce song pun)

By contributing writer Margaret McConnell

I am not a nail person.  Manicures are reserved for weddings as far as I’m concerned.  I just don’t have the time and when I do, inevitably, I smear/smudge/chip or get the dreaded sheet marks in my newly painted nails due to my can’t-sit-still nature.  So, you can be sure that this is an honest review of the latest nail treatment to hit the salons.  

In preparation for a wedding and subsequent vacation, I opted for the shellac polish at my local salon, Allure, and fell in love enough to go back twice now (and that’s a lot for a relative manicure virgin).  Here’s the deal, Shellac acts and looks like a gel nail but it’s not harmful to the nail whatsoever.  There’s a special drying machine they use in between coats.  

The process: coat 1) bottom coat – dries 10 seconds; 2) color coat 1 – dries 60 seconds; 3) color coat 2 – dries 60 seconds; 4) top coat sealer – dries 180 seconds.  And while one hand is drying your nail tech works on the other hand.  The freakiest – and best – part is when the whole process is done, the tech takes a cotton ball with alcohol on it and rubs your nails clean. Yes, folks, the nail is completely dry and non-chippable/smearable after that process.  You’re in and out of the door with perfectly dried nails in 1 hour.  The polish lasts about 2 weeks (see pic of my nails at 1.5 weeks). You know when it’s time to get another manicure when you see lots of the new growth at the nail bed, and eventually I started to get hair caught in between the polish and nail which was annoying.

Photo: Margaret/LadyBowTie

To remove the special Shellac polish, the nail tech takes cotton sheets soaked in acetone and wraps each finger in foil for 5 minutes then uses a nail scraper to remove polish.

Vacation note: you know how your nails get icky and gross when you’re on a beach vacation due to the sand and suntan lotion combo?  Well, that doesn’t happen with Shellac.

So here’s the downside.  Colors are limited.  The company that makes the product, CND, has the colors on their website.  I like a neutral nail and it seemed like most of their neural colors were not opaque enough for me and came out more as a clear polish.  And the cost is higher.  There was a $15 additional charge at my salon for the Shellac.  Of course, if you’re a non-manicure girl like me, the cost of going for semi-monthly manicures is already obnoxious, so what’s the big deal of adding on another $15 for zero-dry time and no chips for 2 full weeks?

I’d definitely highly recommend you try this manicure process for your next big event, if not sooner. 

There has been a lot of buzz about gel nails so I am happy to hear about a great alternative. Thanks Margaret!  If you would like to hear more from Margaret or be a writer for LadyBowTie send me a message cori@ladybowtie.com 

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