SHELLAC, OH SHELLAC

CND Shellac manicures have been the talk of beauty bloggers and youtubers for a while now and finally I understand why. CND gives us an innovative nailart formula, a hybrid of a nail varnish and gel nails. The result couldn't be any more pleasing. The pictures above come from my second Shellac manicure, created by a lovely lady in Beautiful U in Hayle, Cornwall. My first Shellac manicure had left me so impressed that I was under no doubt that I was going to go back for another.

I have always had problems maintaining my nail varnish. I would marvel at people whose nails would be chip-free and when asked how long it had been since they painted them they would reply 'ten days', 'two weeks'. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that if I applied my nail varnish in the morning it would be chipped, not just a little, but a lot by that very afternoon. I tried everything I could; high end brands, different top coats and base coats but nothing seemed to make any difference. That's why I looked upon getting my first Shellac manicure as an investment.

One of the wonderful things about Shellac is that after a quick spell under the UV light your nails are completely and utterly dry. You wont leave the salon fearful to rummage in your bag for your keys. Another benefit is that there is absolutely no damage to your nails because, at the end of the day, it is just nail varnish, applied in the same way and removed in virtually the same way. There is no need to buff your nails in preparation or during removal, as is the case with acrylics and gels, and this is the part which is damaging.

What I love most, perhaps, is that they are your nails (Shellac is simply a nail varnish with  a super special formula) and so you dont risk having that false-nail look, which can sometimes be a bit too apparent. With my previous Shellac manicure I found that they lasted a good 3 weeks before the grow-out was getting a bit extreme. To me, though, the grown-out look is far more preferable to chipped nails, mainly because it is a neat line and from a distance it's not actually noticeable.

All in all, I am in love with Shellac. I can't see this changing anytime soon and I'm already excited about choosing my next colour! In the pictures above I am wearing Wildfire red with a glitter top coat and I am so pleased with it. So I definitely recommend checking out where your nearest Salon that provides the Shellac service is. You won't be dissapointed! xxx