The Demise of my Shellac Manicure....

Well... I decided this weekend I could no longer handle the grow out and the color of the shellac.  So I took it off... The sad thing is it left my nails looking like CRAP

You can pretty much see how much grow out I experienced over the course of about 12 days.  You can also see that it kind of left my nails a little rough looking.  My friend, Blake got a manicure the same night that I did and I must admit hers looks loads better.  She doesn't have nearly as much grow out, but then again her polish was much closer to her cuticle than mine was. 
I can definitely see why for some this would be something beneficial for them. For me though, I don't see myself getting another shellac manicure unless it is for a wedding I am in or something.  I personally like changing up my polish too much for this to be realllllly beneficial for me.  I'll stick to painting my own nails and in the rare cases a mani is necessary I will for sure get a Shellac manicure... since it's only another 5-10 dollars and it does in fact last MUCH longer than a regular manicure. 

Shellac Manicure Update :)

It has now been 10 days since I got my Shellac Manicure.  I thought I would post a little update on how well it is holding up :)

Sorry that the top picture is a little blurry.  If you look close you notice that there aren't any chips in the color and it's actually holding up way better than I had expected considering what I do on a daily basis.  I do a lot of computer work and I also work with a lot of organic solvents and chemicals so for this to be holding up to all the conditions that usually cause regular nail polish to run for it's life I am impressed. 

The drawbacks for me personally are grow out and the gap between the cuticle and the polish and I am honestly getting a little bored with the color.  That's my update for now :)

I'll post another one next week (if I can keep the color on that long :))

Pretty Addictions Tuesday

I know this will sound really silly, but as part of my efforts to try and show love to all of my cosmetics I try and rotate the brands I use daily.  Today I chose to bust out one of my all time favorite companies, Pretty Addictions.  I wasn't planning on taking a picture of the look, but I loved it so much I decided to anyway.  As always the picture isn't as awesome as I would like.... LAME

I love it! Now, let's talk about what products I used!!!!

Primer: Urban Decay Primer Potion
Inner 1/2 of eyelid: Hero
Outer 1/2 of eyelid: 25 kt Gold
Crease and above crease: Brown Sugar
Inner crease and slight "outer v": Locked & Loaded
Inner 1/2 of bottom liner: Hero
Outer 1/2 of bottom liner: 25 kt Gold
Eyeliner: NYX Liquid Eyeliner in Extreme Coffee
Mascara: Cover Girl Lash Blast Volume in Very Black

I just am loving this look. I wish it looked better via pictures, but I guess you can't have it all!!!

What look are you ladies rockin' today? 

My First Shellac Manicure!!!

I'm sorry my blogs have been incredibly sparse lately.  Graduate school is catching up to me and I have been so busy between doing stuff for school, applying for jobs and maintaining my social life that unfortunately blogging has been put on the back burner.  Plus, I'm trying to not spend as much money so that means I have less products to talk about!
How many of you ladies use these social "couponing" sites as a way to try new and different things in your area?  Have you ever heard of Groupon or LivingSocial?  Well recently I subscribed to another one (like I really needed to) called HalfOffDepot.  During my first week of being a subscriber a local Salon was offering a Spa Pedicure and a Shellac Manicure for only 20 dollars for both! If you have ever looked around you will know that usually the cheapest rate for a Shellac Manicure alone is around $25 so this was a hell of a deal.  I of course had to snatch it up.  I had to see if this was really a 2-3 week manicure or not! Plus, who doesn't need a good pedicure once in awhile!
So, a little insight in to what a Shellac Manicure is.  The line of products that the manicurist at this Salon used was Gelish.  According to Gelish:
"This system uses only a pH balancing agent to stabilize the moisture level of the nail. Then the Mini Gelish Foundation Gel has adhesive properties that attract to the keratin in the natural nail, not causing any depletion, only acting as a 2 sided tape to adhere the Mini Gelish Gel Polish to the nail itself. "
The process for using these polishes is the same as that of a regular manicure with two exceptions the formulation of all the products are different than that of regular polish and you use LED and UV light to set the formula.  The manicure starts with of course cleaning the nails, trimming the cuticles, buffing etc.  A base coat is applied and your nails are then place under a UV or LED light for around 1 minute.  After the actual polish of your choosing is applied you then place your nails under the light again for approximately 2 minutes.  This allows the polish to set as described above.  After this is finished a top coat is applied, some more light time and BAM the nails are dry! There is no sitting around for hours waiting on your nails to dry! How awesome right?
I went with my friend Blake last night to use our halfoffdepot deal.  Let's see the results...

I let the manicurist pick what color was going on my nails since I really had no preference.  She chose a deep purple.  I really love the color.  The only part that stinks is that my nails were short when I went in.  Today is day 1 with the new manicure.  So we shall see how this goes.  I will keep you all updated!!!!

Have you ladies ever had a Shellac manicure?  what did you think?