Pros and Cons of Shellac and UV Gel Manicures - A Girl's Gotta Spa!

Pros and Cons of Shellac and UV Gel Manicures

 
Pros and Cons of Shellac (TONS of comments on this post - good and bad!)
When I first heard about Shellac, UV and LED gel manicures, I was over the moon excited. I could finally have polish on my nails sans chipping and polish peeling for more than 3 days and all without having to apply fake nails. In August, while at Cosmoprof, I received an awesome manicure from CND in Hot Pop Pink (pictured below.) The manicure took just as long as having acrylic nails or wraps put on (an hour) and the result looked just as amazing. I remarked to the manicurist just how gorgeous her own nails looked, as they were long and it didn't even appear to be naturally her own. She told me they were and that wearing the Shellac helped her achieve the length. I believed her, until my own experience has led me to believe otherwise. My CND Shellac lasted me 3 weeks. I was ecstatic. I applied CND's SolarOil to my cuticles and under the tips of my nails on a daily basis as instructed by the manicurist. My nails had grown a bit during this time and I was excited to go for round two of another CND Shellac at my local salon. This time I went for a French manicure CND Shellac. My nails were finally long enough to adorn some white tips and I was stoked. I went about applying the SolarOil again daily, but this time it only took 3 days for one of my nails to peel and the Shellac to come off. Day 4, one of my nails broke and it became clear how brittle my nails were becoming. By day 5, all of my nails were either peeling (the nail itself, not the polish) or breaking.   Looking at my very soft, peeling nails, I decided to not apply any polish at all for 2 weeks, but continued to put the SolarOil on them. But sadly, they didn't seem to recover. In the meantime, I had been sent the complete Red Carpet Manicure LED Starter Kit and as I was about to have my first television appearance, I knew my nails had to look amazing. So I used the kit, which comes complete with a portable LED light and is a DIY home LED manicure kit. Colors were gorgeous, time was still about 1 hour to complete the manicure and I used their Revitalize cuticle oil daily. But by day 3, my nails were peeling and even more brittle. I now had stubs for nails (even shorter than pictured above.) Finally I asked fellow friends in the salon business and fellow bloggers if they experienced the same of gel manicures, and it was a resounding yes.
Pros: Manicure can potentially last up to 3 weeks No chipping Manicure is instantly dry upon last UV go round Mirror finish (nails look wet, but aren't) Can DIY and look just as amazing as at the salon Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous Cons: Very drying to your nails Repeated application (without a breather) will result in brittle and peeling nails Wear time gets less and less with each application If you don't apply the cuticle oil daily, your nails will dry out a lot quicker Costs add up, especially if the manicure doesn't last 2-3 weeks CND Shellac requires it's own Remover Wraps According to some doctors, the UV lamps can cause skin cancer (but the jury is still out on this) So it appears that, at least for me, a CND Shellac or UV gel manicure will only happen for special events (like holidays, TV appearances, events) and cannot be worn all of the time. Unless I want to continue having man hands with my stubby nails. In the meantime, I will be in nail re-cooperation with Qtica's Cuticle Repair Balm and Qtica Nail Growth Stimulator to regain my length.  I'd love to hear from you: what has your experience been with UV gel manicures? Subscribe to A Girl’s Gotta Spa! Watch our reviews on YouTube, see our pins on Pinterest and check us out on Instagram and G+. Got a Kindle? We’re on Kindle tooShannon on G+ *Disclosure: affiliate links

70 comments

Sharon
Sharon
Where to start. I had acrylic nails for 10 years and developed an allergy to the acrylics. Stopped getting acrylics. Had manicures with regular polish for a month or so and then switched to gels. Used gel polish for about a year and again developed more itching and allergies. More regular manicures, then switched to shellac and after a year noticed that my fingers were not only starting to itch, but also my nails were pulling away from the nail beds. I am so saddened by all this as I loved having beautiful nails, but now I have a mess that I hope my nails can recover from. They are brittle, have ridges, curl slightly at the tips and one has the start of what looks to be a fungus. Definitely not worth all my problems. I should have stopped it all years ago.
Preet
Preet
I’ve never actually tried Shellac but I use Gelish all the time. I have never had a problem with my manicure not lasting at least 2-3 weeks, I usually push it to 4 weeks! The Gelish uses a LED lamp rather than a UV lamp so I don’t know if that makes a difference. Before using soft gel, I had soft and brittle nails and was never able to grow them. Now, I have very long nails and people are always shocked when I tell them they’re not extensions. I would highly recommend trying out Gelish at least once! As for removal, you can make your own wraps at home. Simply take a cotton pad, soak it in acetone, put it on your nail and wrap with normal kitchen aluminum foil! Keep it on for 15-20 mins and voila, peels off on its own. Make sure you slightly buff the top layer of the polish so that it soaks in a bit better. I hope this helps!!
H
H
I think an experience with Shellac is highly dependent on the application. Salons where I live are doing “Shellac” manicures but not giving the full CND service even though they’re charging for it. They aren’t using all the CND products to give a proper manicure and they aren’t doing manicures correctly in the first place. If your nail tech is buffing your nails, cutting your eponychium, using acetone, not CND’s nourishing remover etc… you need to find a new tech. I’m not a nail tech but even I knew techs were doing it wrong so I started doing them myself. With the correct products and steps, it’s been a totally different experience. I’d say it’s a system that’s heavily dependent on proper application so it’s relatively easy to have a bad experience.
Leigh
Leigh
I appreciate all the commentary on this thread as it has been very informative for me. I’ve been getting gel manicures for about a year and a half every three weeks with no problems. I don’t apply any oil, just a thick hand cream to prevent wrinkly fingers. Until recently, I’d been seeing the same technician and she did what everyone’s saying the recommended way to apply and remove the gel. She did scrape off the gel after the wraps but it was with her own nail so it was very gentle. However, I got scared yesterday since I moved to a new area and tried out a new salon. The tech soaked my nails for so long in a bowl of acetone that my hands were going numb and then she scraped the gel off so hard my actual nail was being shredded. She didn’t use her nail either. It looked like something you’d see at the dentist. I wanted to share this to highlight there can be good and bad experiences with a new technology. I don’t know how healthy my nails are but they are not brittle and there aren’t any ridges or so. What I will do next time is call ahead and ask how they remove gel. If it isn’t in cotton swab wraps, I won’t go there. I don’t want to tell someone how to do their job when I’m not licensed like they are, you know? Anyways, thank you all for the discussion. I hope you find a type of manicure that suits your nails best :)
monica
monica
If you’re not healthy and don’t get enough vitamins of course it’s going to destroy your nails. I’ve been using shellac for 2 years consistently and not had a problem – but I’m healthy and take care of myself. The bloggers photos show short, uncared for nails to START…of course shellac allegedly destroyed them. You can’t just cover up your nail problems with shellac and expect there to not be consequences to how you treat your bodies.
Shannon Smyth
Shannon Smyth
Hi Monica, that’s a pretty big assumption to make that because my nails are short, it means they’re unhealthy. Due to having 4 kids and typing on my computer for 10 hours a day, my nails are shorter. My nails were healthy prior to shellac – no peeling and they weren’t brittle.
Lise
Lise
Yeah, that is a very rude and haughty comment above. Short nails don’t mean that they’re unhealthy, nor do uneven nails. Ridges horizontally can indicate health issues, or an illness, the flu, vitamin changes etc. But the rest, no. Also some people have naturally thinner nails. I’ve had the best luck with the occasional hardener, taking frequent polish breaks or using a layer of clear half the time, and using lanolin containing balm under my nails and on cuticles. And b vitamins. Over time my nails bent less, grew slightly thicker etc. Polish now lasts four to seven days. Never apply it on wet nails or get fresh Mani’s wet for many hours though.
sinead
sinead
Hi I just got a gel nail set today I bought it from oxendales and its called sugar and spice it comes with the lamp nail varnish and base coat and foil but I haven’t used it yet I’ve never had my nails done before or used the home kit I was reading the box and it seems to have a lot of warning sighns about not letting it touch your skin and that it can be harmful if it does I was just wondering I had an allergic reaction to hair before is the nail set safe for me to use ?
Shannon Smyth
Shannon Smyth
Hi Sinead, it’s hard to say. I’ve never heard of that brand, but many nail brands have kits like that for home use. Maybe do a test patch on one nail to see how your skin and nail reacts. If all is well, then you are probably good to go for the rest of your hands. Good luck!
Shannon Smyth
Shannon Smyth
Hi Gordana, this post was written when it was the original CND shellac a few years ago. I’ve heard people mention Vinulyx and I’ve wondered about it, maybe I won’t have the same experience!

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