Shellac

I love Shellac.

Ive been doing Shellac as a treatment now since August and I must say its fantastic.

One of the most important things about Shellac is the aftercare that you carry out at home.

Aftercare is really important to get the most out of your treatment and extend the life of your manicure.

When you are wearing Shellac you should introduce yourself to CND Solar Oil - you can usually purchase this where you have your Shellac nails done.

The one thing I will say is that it does annoy me when you have a treatment at a Salon and you think they are trying to sell you everything in sight but when it comes to Shellac, Solar Oil will be your new best friend, you should use it twice a day to help keep your Shellac in tip top condition.

Shellac will last around 14 days and is pretty indestructible with normal wear and tear, which means you have to add a little protection to your nails if doing tough jobs like household cleaning and gardening and hobbies which might be rough on your hands.

Something you have to watch for with Shellac is if you are on holiday you have to be careful when using sun tan oils or insect repellent solutions -  many of these products contain solvent oils which will cause major damage to the Shellac colour coat. Some of the more delicate Shellac colours can fade somewhat if your hands are in chlorinated water followed by excessive sun (remember that chlorine is a bleach and sun  intensifies the bleaching action). Dry your hands and nails after swimming and before sunbathing to minimize any colour fading. Shellac is designed to be applied to healthy natural nails so if you are usually a fan of acrylic or gel nails then its probably advisable to wait a couple of weeks after you have your false nails removed till you have Shellac applied to your own nails otherwise you may find the Shellac peels off.

I did my own Shellac on Saturday and its a lovely little cocktail of Strawberry Smoothie and Zillionaire - its really subtle but really pretty. I also wanted to keep it quite light as my nails are really short just now. The other great thing about Shellac is you can paint over it - so if you went for a nice neutral mani then you could use your usual polish over it at the weekend - just make sure you use an acetone free remover to take off the nail polish or you could end up removing your Shellac.

 I achieved this look with two coats of Strawberry Smoothie all over the nail and then two coats of Zillionaire all over the nail. The pictures dont really do this justice - Zillionaire gives the pink a lovely sparkley sheen  and makes your nails twinkle.

With Love

Lipstick Fridays

xx