First Time Shellac

I am a nail obsessed maniac who always wants to change the colour of my nails the second they have been painted, and so the idea of Shellac has never really appealed to me. It is a type of non-chip gel polish that is set under UV light and can last weeks. The results are gorgeous and glossy, but the idea of committing to a colour for weeks is not one I embrace.

Nevertheless I love having my nails done at the salon, and so when my housemate persuaded me to join her on one of her regular visits I decided I would give Shellac a go. Unfortunately her favourite salon was fully booked and so we took a chance with a new one - this was a bad idea. I was sat waiting for two hours, despite us having an appointment, and the lady who eventually saw me made nearly all my fingers bleed when removing my cuticles!

Despite the terrible experience, I was impressed with the outcome. The actual process only took about 10 minutes, and it was just a matter of applying several layers of the polish after buffing the nail, and then setting each layer under UV. In terms of colours, I wasn't given a great deal of choice. I was presented with about 10 different shades of pink, each as out of my comfort zone as the other, so I decided to go all out with the brightest one out of them all.

Shellac 2 weeks after application

I think it looks lovely, my nails are glossy and have remained perfectly un-chipped for two weeks now. The only giveaway that they are two weeks old is the inevitable growth gap by the cuticles. As I expected, I am fairly bored of the colour by now, but the fact that I paid £20 to have them done (not a spend I usually allow myself) means I am going to leave these bad boys as long as I can.

Overall, I would recommend Shellac for holidays and times where you don't want to have to worry about your nail polish chipping, but I enjoy doing my own nails too much to have it done regularly - it's cheaper too!