Shellac Manicures--Are They Worth It?

Everyone knows that a mani-pedi is imperative on a beach vacation.  As we prepared for our trip last week, we decided to try a little something new.  Usually we do our own nails and we're pretty great at it.  However, we were looking for something with a little lasting power, so we decided to splurge on shellac manicures at a salon.  (Okay, it wasn't a large splurge, since Jess's generous students gave her a gift card!)  We know we're a little late to the party, but we figured we would give you our review of the hits and misses of shellac!

Hits:

• Staying Power:  Boy, did the shellac last!  We can be a little hard on our nails between typing and house work, so a regular manicure never lasts more than a week.  With shellac, our nails were still going strong long past Day 10.  Jess decided to remove on Day 11, but Ry is still rocking hers.  If you're looking for a manicure that will last you for a while, then this shellac definitely the way to go!

Day One--Love that color!

Day Nine--still going strong!

• Color Choices:  The salon we visited used CND Shellac colors and there are so many amazing shades!  We were both looking for something bright and summery, so Jess chose Winter Glow and Ryan chose Be Demure.  

Misses:

• Price: Obviously this varies from place to place, but in our area, shellac manicures will run around $35-50.  This would be a splurge item for us, as we can purchase several bottles of nail polish and use them MANY times for this price.

• Removal:  Most salons provide removal service too, but we wanted to try to do it on our own. With a little help from a regular reader (Thanks, Denali!), I set out to remove her own polish, armed with cotton balls, aluminum foil and acetone polish remover.

This was sadly not as easy as I was hoping.  I think my problem was having an acetone-based remover, instead of 100% acetone (which I struggled to find at Target and Ulta).  I soaked cotton balls in the remover and applied them to my fingers and wrapped with foil.  Then I sat (and caught up on Bravo on my DVR) for about 10 minutes.  After that time, I was able to peel or scrape most of the polish off using my other hand and/or a cuticle stick.  This was kind of a tedious process (especially since I couldn't figure out how to wrap my second hand once the other was done, so I did one hand at a time).  I assume you probably get better at this over time and actual acetone would probably work better, but it was kind of a pain. -- J

Overall, we loved the look and staying power, so we could probably put up with the removal.  We'll probably add shellac in for special occasions and holidays, but stick to DIY manicures on the average week.

Do you like getting shellac manicures?  Do you have any tricks to keeping shellac going strong or removing shellac?  Let us know in the comments below!