Paola Maritza

Working as a secretary in the office of a prestigious institution means looking presentable from head to toe. However, keeping my nails their ultimate best is not always possible since I not only have an eight to five job but also am a full-time student who keeps an active lifestyle. When you’re pressed for time, trips to the spa become less frequent and polish color becomes less bold since smudges and chips are more visible on bright nails.  After many failed attempts to keep my polish looking fresh, I finally found the solution-SHELLAC!

I first heard about shellac right before my trip to Italy in June, my boyfriend was sweet enough to get me a Gene Juarez gift card and scheduled an appointment for me to get my nails shellac-ed before my departure, did I mention “pressed for time”?….story short–I never made it in to GJ to get my nails done and here two months later, my gift card is still collecting dust.

I tried shellac for the first time when my best friend came to visit me this past Monday.  She came over with her nail kit and gave me a step by step tutorial on the process.  The “no-smudging”, “no chipping” advertisement on the packaging sounded too-good to be true but because my friend had living proof on her own hands, I decided to do my own.  After going through a test run on my toenails, I was simply amazed at how shiny and professional the results were that I proceeded to do my hands.  I’m on day 3 of my color and my nails are just as shiny as the first day and even though I’ve tried to purposely chip the color off, there are still no visible smudges on my nails.  Shellac runs at about $45 at salons and even though I’m extremely pleased with my own application I think next time I will treat myself to the whole salon experience.

Here are some pictures of the final results (the color is actually at hot pink but in the first 2 pictures it looks orange, the one at Starbucks is more accurate)