Shellac French Manicure

So, you might remember back in January I decided to do away with my acrylic nails and let my own nails grow naturally.  Many of you suggested I try Shellac- and I did!  I love it and just learned that I can get a Shellac FRENCH manicure!!  I thought you had to go with one of the pre-selected colors only.  The good thing about the Shellac is that it’s actually helped me keep some nail growth and the color does stay shiny for about two weeks!

The French paint you see in the picture below has been on for 4 days, so it’s pretty recent.

Pretty huh?!  Have you tried it? What colors do you like best? 

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Meet Megan

Hi! I’m Megan, mom to a thoughtful teenager and spunky young girl. We call Houston home and recently moved into our dream home. I traded my lawyer hat to become a full-time blogger in 2010. I love sharing my passion for affordable fashion, home decor, organization, & fitness to help inspire you to take care of you!

40 Comments

  1. Looks awesome. The only downside I can see is that it's nearly impossible to take it off at home so then you're stuck going back for another. I'm not sure I want to *have* to go to the salon to get my nails done. It seems like a big investment of time and money over the long haul. What do you think? Or were you already getting your nails done pretty often?

    1. I've actually just peeled mine off…no damage to nail bed. Usually near the base of the nail or tip they will start to lift. I've never paid to have them removed.

    2. Wow people know nothing it's called pure acetone you can get it at a local beauty supply :s soak your nails for ten to 15 mins scrape off with a cuticle spoon or somthing else :/

  2. I love the "american manicure" with shellac. However, my nails don't seem to hold up as well with shellac as they did with a pink and white – and its about the same cost!! At least they are "natural".

    And you can take the shellac off at home with polish remover, it just takes a while. You have to soak it off. I've done it plenty of times.

    1. You don't have to go to a salon to remove shellac…
      Apply 99% acetone (100% if you find it) on a cotton ball, wrap it around your finger with foil really tight and let it sit for about 10minutes. With an orange stick remove any polish left and clean with 99% acetone again and you're done. Hope this helps 🙂

    1. the great thing about shellac is that you can paint over it and when you remove the nail polish you still have perfect shellac underneath. just be sure to use an acetone free nail polish remover 🙂 xx

    2. I love my shellac and was hoping that I could do this (paint over the shellac with different designs and colors with regular paint and non-acetone remover! Thanks for posting!

  3. I love shellac, only problem I found is my nails grow fast! But I love that you can soak it off with acetone remover at home or go back to the salon. Great alternative to acrylic nails. I always choose a pale pink, similar to the Essie Ballet Slippers color.

  4. I love the look of shellac manicures and your nails look gorgeous! I don't want to go all "preachy" on you but are you aware that the uv lights they use are dangerous? Granted, I don't think doing this on occasion will really do any harm if you apply a good sunscreen to your hands before you go for your manicure.

  5. I've had a shellac manicure before but I wasn't that impressed. It lasted two days before it started chipping. I think it didn't work with me because I cook so much. Typically I just stick to painting mine at home. Normally, I can get a week out of my nail polish.

    1. They are not supposed to come out or chip but if it did you should go back to the nail salon you got it done at and get it repaired.

  6. I get the gel shellac french manicure all the time. And I usually go 3 weeks before I get them done again, and sometimes 4.

  7. I just got my first shella manicure three weeks ago and it was a french one as well. I'm in love with them and plan on getting another one this week!!

  8. Katie and I love it! It's the only way we can keep polish on for more than just a couple days. I will have to look for the name of the color I've used a couple of times now. It looks pale gray in some lights and pale lavender in others. Very neutral. There is a new Navy out I am dying to try too.

  9. I love shellac!! I always get a French manicure, and it lasts forever!! So worth it!!! And it helps my real nails grow out!! My nails have never looked better!!

    Sara

  10. Watch out – shellac was the worst thing I did to my nails. They looked good for a few days and then went south. I went back to the salon I had them done in and it took them over 45 minutes to get them off – the actual nail had cracked underneath, they had to scrape so much that I have dents in my fingernails. I'm waiting for them to grow out now – I have about half good nail and half disaster nail. Not worth it in my book! Hope you have better success!

    1. It really depends on the manicurist where you go if you get a good Shellac manicure. No scraping should be needed at all if done correctly. I've tried 3 different places and will stick with one because they last longer and come off easier at this one place. They've been trained on using the Shellac.

  11. They look nice!

    I've been doing the CND Shellac manicure at home now since February. I purchased the UV light from Amazon and then purchased the base coat, top coat and colors from a nail vendor.

    My favorite color for summer is "Romantique". It is an opaque white/pastel color and I'd do the base coat, 2 coats of Romantique and the top coat (with the UV drying in between all coats) and it is a pretty look, much like a french manicure. (I'd compare Romantique to OPI's Sweet Heart). I find I don't have to do the white tips because my own tips are very white and look great.

    I remove it at home with foil and pure acetone. I rub organic coconut oil all over my fingertips before I put the acetone/foil on and it prevents the nail beds and cuticle from drying. Once the shellac is removed, I'll wash my hands, do a manicure (shape my nails) then wash off and put more coconut oil on the nails to hydrate them and leave it on for 5 minutes or so, then wash off and paint my nails with the shellac. Because I do it at home, I can only remove the shellac from one hand at a time. It takes me about 1.5 hours start to finish. I do mine every 7 days because I wash my hands a ton (my son is severely disabled so I wash my hands more than a nurse, lol) and it's about ready. I can go 10 days max but about that time, I have a little chipping on a nail or two so I stick with the 7 days. If my hands weren't in water so much, I could definitely go longer.

    The only issue I have with the CND Shellac is the colors-there are a lot of clear colors and not enough sheer opaque pastel colors for summer, plus I think their colors are a big ugly compared to OPI or Zoya or just about any other brand, lol. CND Clearly Pink is basically clear. Zillionaire is a clear glitter pretty much and can be used over an opaque color. It's o.k. but put your money on Romantique if you want a pretty summer color that goes with anything.

    It helps to use the CND cuticle oil daily otherwise your nails can really dry out. I had that experience in the beginning but the cuticle oil makes a difference and the smell is really nice.

  12. May have to jump on board. I haven't yet. I am a French manicure girl so this may be the way to go. Are you nails still in good shape after it comes off? I don't know how it works.

  13. Anyone being told they are having Shellac put on their nais and it takes ages to remove later on and the nails are damaged underneath are being lied to. Many non standard salons tell you they are using Shellac when they are in fact using an MMA product from Asia which is actually toxic!! Genuine Shellac comes off with genuine Shellac remover in about 5 minutes and there us no damage to nails underneath. So be very careful what salons are actually using on your nails.

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