Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I'm Back!

Sorry for not having any updates for such a long time. I am back at the swing of things! I have tested out some really cool nail products and the reviews and overviews will be out shortly.

MakeUpAddictLa

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Nail of the Day: Sephora by OPI Domestic Goddess and OPI Teenage Dream

This is another nail combination I started doing and I quite like the finished look!






I really think I just "blings" up the purple but at the same time making it not as in-your-face. It is definitely very eye catching and I encourage you guys to try pairing glitters with different polishes!

MakeUpAddictLa

Monday, January 9, 2012

My Experience with Shellac

I saw a deal in my local salon for a shellac French manicure for $20.00CAD a while ago on groupon. (If you don't know what groupon is, check on the link and find out! It's basically just a website that offers local deals!) I clicked the purchase button in a heartbeat since I have been wanting to try out shellac for quite some time now and they have always been quite expensive and not widely available. I figured, for $20.00 even if it didn't work as well as the claims, at least I got a basic manicure. 

If you are not familiar with shellac, it is basically a hybrid between gel and polish. It is applied like a polish but lasts like a gel but without the damage to your natural nails. It provides incredible shine and is advertised to be chip free for 14 days. I have never had nail polish lasting more than 4 days on me without chipping so needless to say, I was quite skeptical. To my surprise, the manicure indeed lasted more than 14 days on my nails without chipping! Here is a picture of my nails after 17 days:


You can see that my nail has begun to grow out from the nail beds but the tip remained chip-free!


At 17 days, I was quite bored with the manicure so I decided to see if it's possible to remove it myself! I used my regular nail polish remover (containing acetone) and some tin foil. I basically just soaked a cotton pad with remover and held it in place with the foil.




Now the shellac did come off but it took about 10-15 minutes of soaking. Also, it amazingly left my nails without any damage (unlike gel!). 

Overall I am quite pleased with the shellac manicure. Shellac is truely long lasting and protected my brittle nails from breaking. I have never had my nails grow this long without any breakage! The application process of shellac is also quite pleasant since it did not have the chemical smell of a regular polish. 

I will definitely be getting more shellac manicures in the future and probably no more regular ones. I have been converted to shellac!

MakeUpAddictLa