Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Shellac

I got shellac'd today!! I absolutely love it.

I was a little skeptical of its claims and still have to wear it for its claimed 2 weeks to really see if it can live up to all the hype.  I've wanted a shellac mani since I first heard about it from Michelle over at All Laquered Up and I've been looking for a good excuse to get it done.  It isn't terribly expensive, but considering I have almost 300 polishes (who's counting?) and enough base coats and top coats to last a normal girl a few lifetimes, I could never actually justify paying to get my nails done.

But, back in August when my mom asked what I wanted as my college graduation gift (fina11y!!) and I responded with a cruise, I began to think of my polish options.  I figured I would just do my regular mani/pedi myself and take a few back-up polishes just in case something happened to my nails.  But last week I was talking to my brother about it and I totally remembered out of nowhere that the spa he manages (I know) exclusively uses CND and it clicked that they may do shellac and he could hook a sista up with a discount.  Well, he booked me an appointment immediately and told me I didn't have to do the fully mani/pedi and could just do the polish change one for $10 on the fingers and $15 on the toes and I was sold!  He ended up also scheduling me for a nail maintenance as well which was a little more costly that I had anticipated, but my cuticles were in disparate need of some TLC.

Anyhoodle, I knew the color range wasn't super great and a little "nana-esque", but I knew you could layer the colors to create new, fun ones.  I narrowed the option down to four I would like to try, then to the two I got today.  I went with the "neon coral" cream color for my tips and one what I'm calling a "Shellac Scrangie" for my toes  (but now that I think about it, a different color combination would have yielded a better result ie fedora+tutti fruiti+iced coral).

Flash
Sun
Comparison with China Glaze's "Flip Flop Fantasy"
"Neon coral" is a color combo I got from the official CND layering video and mine is two coats of "Cream Puff" and one layer of "Tropix."  The color is ablosultey gorgeous and it is not what I was expecting, but thank god because it is everything I love for summer polish.  I was a little nervous because the lovely lady that did my nails doesn't like applying Cream Puff to the whole nail as the color tends to wrinkle when it gets cured under the UV lights, but it was easliy smoothed out with a second coat of the white color and the other coats of Tropix and the top coat.  As you can see from the third picture, "Flip Flop Fantasy" from China Glaze's summer 2010 collection is a great dupe.  I'm in love and wish that this was my pedi color instead.


On my toes is my wannabe "Scrangie" color.  My friend said it looked like the MAC eyeshadow "Club," but I own MAC polish "Toast of the Town" (Barbie) and that color is "Club" in polish form, but I can see the similarities between this and the shadow as they are both a duo-chromes.  I like it, but I don't love it.  I should have tried a not-so-shimmery color because I think shimmers like this look a little dated, even though it is a funky color.  Maybe it is just the combination, though, because the receptionist at the spa had on "Cream Puff" with "Iced Coral" on top and it looked really cool; it was a fun, funky, nude color.

I loved the experience and, just like everyone else says, the colors dried instantly and they should retain the hi-gloss shine until I remove it, which I love because Seche Vite dulls throughout the week.  I anticipate my flawless fingers and toes will remain that way on my vacation, and hanging out in water and the beach will be a great test.  I'll take pics of the mani and pedi before I remove them in a few weeks.

Hasta luego!! xo

2 comments:

  1. I love the coral nail color! I watched that same video and her coral was definitely more neon. I like your shade better. Does two coats of Cream Puff as the base first help to cool down the Tropix color as opposed to the video's 1 coat of Romantique?

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  2. I was about to get " sparks fly" applied to my nails today as I love the coral color but at the last moment I couldn't handle all the sparkle. I quickly googled " CND" coral and found this blogpost. I requested 2 coats of cream puff and one of tropix. My nail tech had a challenging time as the cream puff is quite thick! The resulting color is a bright beautiful coral.... But a PITA to do. I wish CND had more cream coral colors to offer!

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