Shellac'in it up!

Though my nails are pretty much never found without polish, I very rarely treat myself to a manicure or pedicure.  You'll typically see me with near black polish on my hands that I probably re-do every five-seven days after the kids have gone to bed.  I've always wanted to try shellac since it's supposed to last about fourteen days, but never got around to it.

That is, until last weekend when I tried Kelly's home kit that she got for her birthday.  I was pretty intimidated at first, but luckily she tried it the night before & walked me though it.  It was amazingly easy & took about fifteen minutes to do.  The best part is when you do the UV light for your last coat, your nails are 100% dry the moment you take your hand out.  It felt so strange to be able to touch my nails when I'm used to letting them dry.

I am completely in love & know exactly what I'll be asking for my birthday next month!  There are a couple of flaws on my left hand after eight days, but my right hand still looks perfect.  Another thing that I like is that the finish stays super glossy & fresh.  Kelly paid $50 for the UV light, but there are definitely cheaper versions out there.  You need three other things: The base coat, color coat & top coat.  It appears the base/top coat are sold together for thirty dollars as you can see here & the color coat is around twelve to fifteen dollars as seen here.  They sell kits, but I think I'll buy individually since they come with other items that aren't really necessary.  We'll see how difficult it is to remove the shellac but from what I hear, the easiest way is to soak your fingers in a small dish of pure acetone for ten minutes.  To remove & reapply should take less than a half hour which is great since I normally have to sit with my nails drying for at least that long anyway.  The process itself is simple: Apply a base coat & set under the UV light for ten seconds, apply two color coats setting under the UV light for two minutes each & end with a top coat that is set for a final two minutes.  Viola, you're done & ready to go for at least two weeks!  Easy peasy!