Shellac-a-cack-a-lack-y

I have a confession. 

Don't most of the fun blog posts start out with that sentence?

The drama. 

The suspense. 

The urge to lean closer to your screen and read the latest scoop. 

It's killing you, right? 

You HAVE to know? 

OKOK! I'll tell ya.

I am addicted to getting manicures and pedicures. 

I know, I know. You didn't expect ME to confess to such a girlie sort of thing.

Why does this confession matter to you? Let me share something with you.

My pedicures last 2-3 weeks. 

Manicures on the other hand last maybe 3 days. MAYBE. 

Does that sound familiar? 

If so, read on brave reader!

I went to the salon for my usual mani/pedi, just hoping that my manicure would last for 5 days. 

And that's when it happened.

Life.Changing.Moment.

ok, maybe life changing is a little too dramatic.

I had somehow managed to not bite nor break my (finger)nails

and they had grown out to a nice length.

The bossy bitch My favorite manicurist suggested that I should Shellac my nails.

Yeah. I asked the same thing! 

What the heck is shellac?? 

Well, dear readers, lean closer and let me tell ya alllll about it. 

It's magic.

It's beauty.

It doesn't destroy your natural nails.

And unlike regular manicures/polish, it lasts 2 weeks. 

CND has come up with a shellac hybrid nail color.  It's UV cured, similar to solar/gel nails.

It's a professional nail service for the salons, but I don't know why you couldn't order the materials and do your own, including a UV lamp.

So she talked me into trying it, and (if you couldn't tell) I'm a convert. 

I went for the french manicure style - nude nail with a white tip. 

And I kid you not - it looks just.like.solar.nails. 

But thinner. 

And as I said before - it didn't ruin  my natural nails like solar nails would.

It goes on like polish, 

the only difference being each hand spends 2 minutes in the UV lamp to cure in between layers. 

There's the base coat, polish, and a top coat. 

And it does last 14 days. 

15 actually. 

At that point, I needed to get them redone for my own sanity. 

I'm a little OCD about picking at my nails. 

Here's the pictoral proof: 

Day 2 - Beeeee-yooooo-teeee-ful!

Day 5 - no breaks, no chips, still glassy!

Day 11 - normal nail growth, some tip wear, and a little bit of peel on my pinkie fingers. 

Still no breaks!

Day 14 - you can see the nail growth, and the pinkie finger is peeling a little more. 

The bottom is starting to peel slightly where the nail is growing. 

I will say that the removal process was the typical soak-in-acetone process, which I loathe. It only took a few minutes, and the gel was easily pushed off with an orange nail stick.

CND does offer nail removal wraps, which only put the acetone on the nail, not the entire finger tip. The price is around $3 for 10. As cheap as acetone is, I'm not sure it's worth the price of the wrap to avoid the soak.

So let's review: 

1. Lasts 14 days (check!)

2. Doesn't ruin the underlying nail (check!)

3. Beautiful nails (check!)

4. Goes on like polish (check!)

5. Alternative to solar nails (check!)

The cost for a basic manicure at my salon is $14

and the cost for shellac is $30 - twice as much.

However, the $30 is comparable to a fill of solar nails (without ruining my natural nails). 

I don't think Shellac is for everyone. 

Budget for one reason. 

I do think it's a GREAT alternative to solar nails, 

if you're willing to invest the time and money to maintain them (similar to solar nails)

I got my nails shellac'd again last night. I'm addicted. 

Enjoy your new day!