Shellac

Heard of it? Well I figured since Rachel posted about her nail polish obsession I would post that I as well I have become addicted to painting my nails. It must be in the water huh Rachel? Ha ha. I use to have acrylic nails for years! I finally decided to get them off and let my natural nails grow. Thank goodness I did, they were causing so much damage to my nails I could believe it. So now I have a HUGE nail polish collection and I think if I buy one more polish my husband will leave me. Ha ha. Men don't get it. I decided to try Shellac polish.

Its a gel polish and you do have to go to a salon to get it done but let me tell you, its so worth it. I was a little worried at first because it does last 3 to 4 weeks and I LOVE to paint my nail often. But I figured I could use a break from my husband looking at my like I'm nuts for awhile. I went ahead and got it done. Its amazing! It makes your nails super strong which is awesome because my are so weak. The lady doing my nails even told me it makes your nails healthier too! Its like having acrylic nails without the acrylic! Its a brilliant invention!

To get the Shellac off, you can either go back to the salon or do it yourself. You can decided which you prefer. Some salons might charge to take it off, some might not. But to do it at home you can use this method. You need PURE acetone and an orange stick. Soak your nails for 10 minutes. I know it sounds crazy and I was nervous about my skin at first but it didn't cause damage at all. If you are worried about it you can soak cotton balls and place them on top of your nails and wrap in tin foil. The Shellac will come off and use the orange stick to get the stubborn pieces off.

All in all, in my eyes, its so worth it! Try it someday :)

Amanda

Nailed It

I don't know about you but recently I've become a bit of a nail polish junkie.  I never really cared before.  In fact, I really didn't do my nails because I'm hard on my hands and hate having chipped nails so it wasn't worth it.  But since I've become addicted to Pinterest I've seen all these adorable ideas I wanted to try or new colors that seemed like a good way to add a little something to my normally very reserved, classic wardrobe. 

This week I decided to pick up a new navy polish.  In the bottle it looked amazing.  A shiny dark blue with just a tiny bit of shimmer to it.  I was thrilled with how it came out.  Unfortunately two days after I did them also happened to be cleaning day and my perfect nails got all chipped up.  Since I was too lazy to actually re-do my nails I decided to get creative with a shades of blue french manicure. 

 

I used Revlon Midnight Affair as the base color and Blue Lagoon for the tips.  I am not big on pricy polish but this is good quality and won't bust the budget.  What do you think?