Gel Polish Is A Girls Best Friend...

'Your nails are like jewels, dont use them like tools' - Essie

I took a gap year from college when I finished school because my first choice of college course didn't work about for me. So instead I worked and I decided I was going to do something I enjoyed during that year, apart from working obviously. So I did a nail technician course. I was 19 when I did the course but I had always had an interest in nails and nail art. As a child I always had my nails painted with crazy designs on them. I used everything from pins to spaghetti to create my nail art designs. So for me doing this course was about furthering my knowledge of nails! I learned how to apply gel & acrylic nails and gel polish (or shellac as most people know it as). So enough about me! I'm going to tell you why I think Shellac is really a girls best friend!!


(1) Your nails remain shiney, don't chip and always look freshly painted. Obviously this is within reason, if you've had your shellac on for more then 2 weeks then of course the benefits of it looking good will wear off, it's called the 14 day manicure for a reason!!

(2)Your nails don't break near as easily. My problem before shellac wasn't that my nails wouldn't grow, it was that they couldn't because they kept breaking. They'd grow really fast and then one would break. I now don't have to deal with the daily devastation of breaking a nail, which was a killer. People say their nails are weaker when their Shellac was removed. I personally only have this issue when my nails have been able to grow longer because of Shellac and when I remove it they break, purely because without Shellac they would have broken beforehand.

 (3) My nails grow really long so I don't need gel or acrylic extensions. I never wear gel or acrylic nails because I think they really do damage your nails. My nails have grown so long and remained in amazing condition because of wearing shellac. You can also have your nails filed into stiletto, almond or squared shapes. If you get your nails done frequently and use cuticle oils you will have long and healthy nails.

(4) You can do shellac yourself! If you can get your hands on a salon services card or even if you have an ebay account you can buy all the products you need for doing your own gel polish. I used to buy all my IBD Gel Polishes from salon services Click Here but they were working out at about €20 a pop which is whaaay too expensive! So I searched the net and I found a seller on ebay that sells IBD Gel Polish so much cheaper, she is based in the USA but ships to internationally. I got my polishes plus shipping for under €10. If I can find her name I will post it below. 

So lastly I'm just going to give you a quick list of all the products you need to do gel polish at home and I'll also leave a link to a youtube video that I found really helpful when learning to apply gel polish at home Click Here. So here are the basics of what you need, initially it does cost a lot of money to purchase everything you need, but if you always have your nails done then it will save you so much money in the long run. Sooo.. you will need nail files, a nail buffer, nail primer, bonder, a gel polish base and top coat, colours of your choice, a UV or LED lamp, cleanser and cuticle oil. 


If you have any questions regarding nails please don't hesitate to comment below and ask me a question because I'll be happy to help if I can. The seller I used was named 'beautyzone2007' and I really reccommend both her products and services. I had no problems with contacting her or shipping and I was delighted with everything I received. Of  course though I can't take any responsibility if it doesn't work out for you as we all know what ebay is like! Thanks for reading...

Lauren xo