I love the look of shellac nails, but I don't have money just laying around to get a manicure every couple of weeks. I also don't have the time to do that! So I did some experimenting, and created my own "shellac" effect.
Let me just tell you, it is hard to take a good picture of nails! But trust me when I say it looks thicker and shinier and more professional than my nails usually do.
Here are the products I used:
- 1 coat Sally Hansen "Hard as Wraps" hardener (purchased at Walmart for under $5)
- 2 coats of whatever color polish you'd like -- I chose Sable Collar from Essie's winter collection (A Christmas gift from my mom from Ulta)
- 1 coat Sally Hansen "Advanced Hard as Nails - Strengthening Top Coat" (purchased at Walmart...I can't remember the price).
A couple of tips:
- Make sure each layer completely dries before you add the next.
- I highly recommend this Sally Hansen top coat. I've had more success with it than my Essie top coat to minimize chipping and make the polish last longer.
- Kind of unrelated, but I've been buying my Essie polish in gift sets from Ulta. You can buy 4 out of the 6 colors in a collection in smaller bottles for about $17 + tax. I never use an entire bottle of polish anyway before it dries out and gets gross. So buying the smaller bottle at a lower price works out perfectly for me.
Have you tried a "shellac hack?" What has worked for you?
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This is the best hack I've ever found. I did it for almost a year - and loved it. My only issue was that sometimes one or two of my nails would crack within a day. The polish didn't chip off, but it did crack, and I hated that! But this is good stuff! My husband bought me one of the lights for Christmas so I am now building my collection to do Shellac at home. But Essie is still my favorite non-gel polish and it is my pedicure go-to!
ReplyDeleteLove the DIY shellac! Your nails look great!
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