Wednesday, February 9, 2011

*Insert "getting shellacked" joke here*


I did it! I finally broke down and returned back to the nail salon, which is exactly what the fine people of CND wanted when the created the miracle Shellac, isn't it?

I'm going to be honest - I am not a nail salon kind of girl. With a passion for polish like mine you'd think that I would love those havens of hand massages and racks of color, but alas, no. Instead of being a treat, I tend to associate those places with strangely shaped nails and gooey polish and I rely on my own at-home manicures which I think are very nice, thankyouverymuch. Also, I like to humor myself and think that I am saving myself money by staying out of the salon, which then means I can buy more polish. It's a viscous cycle.

So anyway, enter the CND Shellac. I couldn't do it myself, so I found myself in a shwanky salon with incredibly comfortable chairs and lovely workers that kept offering me water. You know how it works, so I'll just show you the fairly awful photo that I took a few days after my manicure. Here's my CND Fedora manicure -


I know, bad photo, right? Right after I received my manicure, I left for an artist residency and proceeded to beat the hell out of it for a week and only stopped to take a photo after several days of work, so I apologize for the crapola image. Here are my thoughts on the Shellac in no particular order:
  • I got a hell of an awesome manicure, I have to admit. I don't know if it was because the manicurist had to be trained to a certain degree in order to be able to do my mani or what, but it was killer. Nice job, Mandy!
  • The color selection was totally limited - I know, old news. Here's the thing, though - CND is all about claiming that you can layer colors to make bold and bright versions, right? Yeah, not so much. When I popped this idea on Mandy, she made me a little sample of the colors I wanted (Fedora with a coat of Tutti Frutti in order to get a shocking blue) and what came out was a color that looked like brown with a coat of pink on it. I ended up just opting for Fedora.
  • The wear was pretty darn good, because I was not being coy when I said I beat the hell out of it. We're talking hands-in-water-for-hours followed by lots of picking at stickers and occasional power tools. HELL.
  • shiny, shiny shiny! This polish retained its shiny quality until the moment I took it off.
I enjoyed the Shellac, I really did, but I was a little disappointed in the wear of it. I really expected to have to chip this crap off, but it started coming off on its own after a week, and I have to tell you, I DID NOT have to do that with *gasp* the Sally Hansen Salon Effects stickers that I put through a similar hell a few weeks prior.

Speaking of taking it off, I'll be honest - I peeled it off. And I enjoyed it. My nails may not have enjoyed it, but I did.

In conclusion - good manicure, shiny, expensive, didn't wear as long as I would have liked it to. I'll pass on the Shellac for now and opt for stickers until I desperately need a manicure AND they come out with more colors. The end.

Happy day, all!

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16 comments:

Poised And Polished said...

I love this color, great manicure!

Donna said...

I thought those were supposed to wear better than that too. You even have a chip on your middle finger in the photo, and this was only a few days later? I think I'll stick to polishing my own nails.

Karla said...

I wonder how it would hold up to toddler car seats?

Honestly, just yesterday I was looking up CND online; thanks for the timely post. And thanks for calming my thoughts of trying it in a salon. I'll pass for now. A salon does too neat of a job anyway - I always spend the day after a fresh mani picking away my sloppiness. Most days it's a much needed diversion from work. ;)

Unknown said...

im the same with avoiding salons haha.
but i do get my toes done because i absolutely despise feet LOL. not that i'm much happier having someone else touch mine.

- kathy ♥

LadyLuck said...

awesome, i have a beauty that is working with that near my house, thx for this post, ill go there and ask about it

extraH said...

Thanks for all of the great comments, ladies!

@Donna - yes, it was only a few days later, but I really did give a beating to those nails. When CND comes out with new colors I think I might give it a go again and see how it holds up to normal wear.

Lucy said...

Beautiful manicure. So darn shiny! I've only had about 3 professional manicures in my life. I'd rather do it myself. It is nice to have the massage.

LJ said...

I went to a salon for the same reason, for the first time in years. I "tried" it out for a week long Thanksgiving vacation & it wore pretty well. That was a test run for moving last month. We moved from Delaware to California & I didn't want to have to pain my nails the entire time. My shellacking lasted 2 weeks with massive grow-out at the bottoms of my nails. Drove me batty by the end when I had to soak it off like they say. Maybe another tech would prep your nails better & it would last longer? love your color choice, though.

Lucy said...

CND are bringing out a whole new range of colours shortly I think: http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2011/02/new-cnd-shellac-colors-choose.html

I so want to get my nails done with Shellac but I keep snapping them!

extraH said...

Dear me in for Rock Royalty, Lucy! From the image I saw at the salon, it looked way more blue than that, but either way, she's my color. Hellllloooooo, sassy shellac.

extraH said...

You know what, after closer inspection, I'm a little disappointed with those colors! Come on, CND, give us some flash!

Georgina said...

it does look SHINY! its beautiful :)

kittytokaren said...

I can't believe how shiny it looks!! I've really been wanting to try Shellac, but no one in my area does it! :(

Sasha said...

I've been wanting to try it too, just because I'm curious.... think I'll pass for now. Thanks for the review.

Barilla said...

I love it when people will admit to the joy of peeling off nail polish in big ol' strips. Something very satisfying about that!

Anonymous said...

I get the Gelish brand of shellac....they have a ton of colors. I got my first set done at the salon, and being industrious, I invested in the stuff to do it at home. If you can paint your nails, you can do this! It cost me $70 to get started, but that's less than 2 salon visits here in Mississippi. I got all my stuff on Amazon, and I even opted to try the UV light that is only $26 (Uspicy brand)..so far, so good! I just watched some youtube tutorial videos, and it's not hard at all!

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