I LOVE helping husbands decide what to get their spouses for special occasions. Do you want me to tell your husband what to get you for Mother’s Day? 🙂 My cute hubby bought me Shellac for Christmas, and I LOVE IT!! My bestie Jo gave Dan the idea. Let’s be honest, that girl has my back these days!! Thank heaven for great friends!
I took my Shellac set to Arizona for my brother Court’s wedding, and I did 50 sets of shellac in a two day period {ok, that MIGHT be a little bit of an exaggeration}. We had sooo much fun!! If you have little girls, this stuff is especially amazing. BUT…I have to admit, my girls don’t leave theirs on as long as I would like them too. They peel it off in a day or two. DARN IT. But, the great thing is that you don’t have to worry about smudging and with a four year old smudging is inevitable. I love it on my toes because I have a pet peeve that my toes must always be painted {pretty perfectly}. Shellac lasts for at least 6 weeks on my toes!
If you have never heard of Shellac, you are in for a treat, my friend.
Basically you paint your nails with a base coat, cure it with a UV light for 15 seconds,
Paint a coat of Shellac color, cure it for 2 minutes (repeat, I usually do two coats of color). HINT: Make sure you are super duper careful with painting the color on. If you mess up, you need to wipe it off before you cure it. If you don’t, you will cure the polish in the wrong place! 🙂 Take my advice on this one. I am speaking from experience. I have learned that I keep a tooth pick nearby during this process.
Paint your nail with the top coat, cure it for 2 minutes. Then wipe it off with a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol and VOILA your nails LAST and are completely dry. No smudging!!! It takes a little practice to perfect your painting skills, but after you get the hang of it, it is totally easy!
I don’t have a ton of colors, but I want them all!!! My most recent favorite colors (I don’t own them all, but I’ve seen them) are:
The colors are a bit pricey {about 15.00 a bottle, but I think they are totally worth it}. Plus, I know that the Shellac peeps say that you need a “Shellac” light do cure their nail polish, but guess what folks, I got mine on Amazon for about $30.00. It works like a charm, and it even has a timer so that I know when my two minutes are up!
Don’t forget, you will need the base coat and top coat too!
If you need me to send a special “hint” to your hubsters, just let me know! (I linked all of the images above to the best prices I could find on Amazon, so if you want to buy them easily, just click over to Amazon. :))
Do have a favorite Shellac color? Which one is your favorite!?!? I want ALL OF THEM!!
What good timing for this post! I went and got a manicure for the first time in years a little more than a week ago. The lady convinced me to do a "gel coat" on my nails….which was $30 instead of $12. This is exactly what she used!!!
And guess what? For the first time EVER my manicure has lasted more than a day! In fact…no chips or cracks and they are perfectly brand newly painted looking.
For that? Totally worth the investment!
Question….
How hard is it to remove? Do you use regular remover? I haven't had to remove mine yet 🙂
awesome post. My birthday is on mother's day this year and when my husband asked what I wanted I knew I wanted the no-chip set.
I used to own this system, but had to sell it. I have skin cancer in my family and sitting under the UV light to set the "polish" started scaring me because I started getting brown spots on my fingers. I have read that women are starting to show up with cancer on their hands be because the skin is so thin there. With my history, I didn't want to take any extra chances. Sorry to be such a "downer" commenter.
Regarding removal: You have to soak your nails in acetone, anywhere from 10-15 minutes," for the polish to be removed. I would take small cotton pads soaked in acetone and use foil to "seal" them to my fingers.
Do I have to pick just one??? I can't. They're all wonderful. Just had mine done today but now I want to the DIY kit 🙂
Beautiful post and blog!:) Would you like to follow each other?
I still have to try Shellac (I know, I am so late :)). Thanks for sharing!
Mrs. Delightful
http://www.ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com
The Shellac does have to be soaked for at least 10 minutes and can be scraped off with an orangewood stick. The CND brand also make Shellac removal wraps that you soak in acetone and they adhere to your fingers so your not limited to a bowl of acetone.
It is not advised to peel the Shellac off because it will take the top layer(or few) of your nail off right with the polish.
And just to warn you, you need to unscrew the top and check the color of the polish before you buy it, The TROPIX is not the same color as the outside of the bottle.
Hope this helps!!
The girls and I have TOTALLY been eyeballing this for a few months! We will be getting the kind you can cure with LED light. I did notice there is a $50 kit at a few local big box stores that had decent reviews on YouTube. Just have to wait for that $50 to be in the budget!
I LOVE SHELLAC! It has been one that my nail clients LOVE. Asphalt is actually quite popular right now along with Fedora and Tuti Fruiti. It is awesome even for pedicures it last FOREVER on your toes! I love the new colors they came out with, so fun!
@ Angie Shellac is super easy to come off and it doesnt damage your nails at all. I soak my clients off with acetone {nail polish remover} and the CND Pads made especially for Shellac. You totally should try it, you will be HOOKED! :]
Hey I've been following for awhile and think you're tops! 🙂 I literally just got shellac for the first time yesterday on my finger nails and it's amazing! I am totally planning to buy a light and I'm so glad I can get one for cheap!
I LOVE Shellac! I had to wait for it to be in stock when it first came out because they sold out faster than they could put it on the shelves! I watch their tutorials on the CND website, and I went to a beauty school and had a great girl do it there for me for a while (we learned together because it was so new). I think on my hands I like the French Manicure look the best. I use cream puff and clearly pink. Although, I think I'd like to try studio white, it's not such a bright white. But I have to use up my cream puff first. This is an amazing product. It saves my nails from breaking off. Great post!
If you love shellac, then I think you should check out Jamberry Nails. The are the bomb! Let me tell you! Check them out http://www.xoxonails.com!
Love Shellac! One of my favorite colors is HOT POP PINK! The only problem I have with Shellac is, that they don't have a ton of "younger" looking colors. A few of the colors can look a bit "old lady" I have recently tried out gelish colors and have loved them!!! They have way more fun colors including a few glittered, and neon polishes! You do need gelish base and top coat but in my opinion totally worth the money for more color options!
Love your blog,
Savannah
Ladies you don’t have to buy all the expensive special colors! If you want the chip free mani all you need is to paint your nails normally and add the gel top coat. I know it takes longer and you have to wait for the polish to dry still but it still works really well! You can even get special gel brands that dry under special LED lights, it does take longer to cure but if you don’t like the whole UV rays thing it is an alternative.