Doing Shellac nails yourself

sarah69696pink

Hi all,
I've had shellac nails done a few times in a salon now and love them, but can't afford to have it done very often. I've been thinking of buying the stuff to do them myself, as it looks ok to do yourself. However I wondered if anyone had an experience of doing this?

hilstep2000

No, don't think you could do as good a job yourself! I have my acrilics done every month and don't consider it an extravagance, as I don't smoke or drink!

Finefoot

I have these done on my toes. From what I gather, the kit is quite expensive, so I have someone do mine every six weeks. I take it off myself, and she doesn't do a pedicure, just shape and paint. works out to £2.50 a week for me. Less than a posh coffee in town.x

murie

I saw a gelac (not shellac) kit on QVC last week- think its in the region of £87.
Finefoot- how do you remove it? My daughter had her nails done last week for her prom and I dont fancy paying to have them removed if it can be done at home without harming her nails.

Finefoot

you soak a cotton pad in acrylic nail enamel remover, wrap it in foil for a bout 10mins, and it loosens it, you then use an orange stick to scrape it off.
Have a look on youtube.

moneysavinmonkey

I've recently bought myself the basics off ebay and I'm onto my third manicure. The process itself is easy but there is a skill in getting a neat professional looking paint job. If you are used to painting your own nails though there is no difference to that but you must not get it on you skin/cuticle. I practiced with regular polish first to be confident before I spent the money. My kit cost over £300 (and that was only with 3 colour polishes) so it wasn't cheap but the moneysaving comes in as I was paying £29 every two weeks so will take me a few months until I break even.

You have to be careful with the stuff as it is meant for professional use only and you can develop allergies if you don't handle it carefully and follow the exact instructions. Purse forums has a really good community for helping DIYers out if you want to go ahead. Be sure to read their SOG beginner's sticky thread. If you search for fingernailfixer on you tube as well she is an official CND education ambassador and has loads of how to videos for shellac. You can also find loads of CND pdf literature if you search on google although these are supposed to be on the professional only part of their website you can find them through search engines!

Let me know if you have any questions. I've done a lot of research and absorbed a lot of information in getting myself set up which I'm happy to share!