Getting It On with Shellac

I usually don't get manicures. I feel like my fingernails grow really fast that I only get to enjoy my painted nails for a few days, because then, they will either chip or the bottom part will show because of nail growth.

My sister-in-law invited us to get our nails done at her favorite nail salon in Grand Rapids. There were four of us -- me, my niece, my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law. We all got the Shellac because of the raves we've heard.

I fancied the color City Scape. It's similar to the color of concrete. I am so into khakis and greys right now that I instinctively got that one. While soaking our feet, we were seated down the most amazing massage chairs/recliners ever. It felt like I was back in Bangkok where manang masseuse was pushing my muscles to their limits using her elbows and hands. The chair even has a remote control so you can adjust the pressure and location.

Oh em gee. I didn't want to get off that chair! I think I pouted when my nail technician asked me to go with her so she can apply shellac to my nails. Haha.

Applying shellac takes twice as long as applying ordinary nail polish. But the results are awesome. After each coat of shellac, your painted nails are exposed to UV light for about a couple of minutes, and it's instantly dry. It's so smooth that it seemed fake to me. Fake in a perfect kind of way. Haha.

Needless to say, the cost was a bit too much -- probably about $70 for both hands and feet. But everything will be expensive if you're used to $5 mani-pedis back in the Philippines.

My shellac manicure lasted about 2 weeks. Kinda gross in the end because of my mutant nail growth. But there wasn't a paint chip in sight. The shellac was still solid as it can be. I tried scraping them off with my nails, which is a major blunder in the world of gel polish. I failed miserably. In the end, I took them off the traditional way. I soaked them with acetone-filled cotton ball and wrapped each finger with aluminum foil to keep them in place, like this photo below.

Will I try it again? Not on my fingers. Maybe my toes again though.