shellac.

my adorable turquoise-loving friend, ali has this way cool shellac nail curing kit complete with the uv light and everything!
her nails ALWAYS look amazing and never have any chips. so i finally asked her "ali. what's your secret? do you do your nails all the time so they're manicure perfect?" she of course said "heck no!" [she's wayyy too busy for that. i mean, who isn't, right?] then she continued to tell me about her shellac kit.
i've heard of these since i'm pretty involved in the beauty world being a cosmetologist, but i usually don't chime in on anything nail related too often.
so the other night we finally had time for ali to do my nails! yay!
these lovely ladies won't chip and will last 2 to 3 WEEKS! and it only takes about 20 minutes!

[notice my all different shape finger nails? yuck. thank you mom! i dream of having perfectly long nail beds. *sigh*]

i went with the light pink for more of a natural look. :) she did a fantastic job!

here are the steps! [and dumb-dumb me didn't write down the steps as ali was explaining them. sooo here's a rough explanation..]

step 1: gather all your products. [i forgot to take a picture with the rubbing alcohol and the cotton pads, but you'll need those, too!]

[sorry 'bout the lighting. i'm no professional with my little iphone by any means. ]

-gel curing uv lamp

-rubbing alcohol

-3 cotton pads

-nail file

-shellac base coat

-shellac color coat of your choice

-shellac clear top coat

-a timer

-start by taking of any excess old nail polish with nail polish remover and dry out the nail beds with rubbing alcohol and 1 cotton pad. be sure to get all the cotton fuzzies off!

-then on one hand, do one coat of the base polish and put under uv lamp for 10 seconds.

DO NOT TOUCH SHELLAC POLISH AT ANY TIME UNTIL FINISHED! ali warned me. :)

-then immediately put on one coat of the color shellac and put under the uv lamp to cure for 2 minutes.

-repeat another coat for more pink color. [optional]

-apply one coat of the top polish and cure under uv lamp for 2 minutes.

-immediately rub off the stickiness with a little rubbing alcohol on a fresh cotton pad.

-repeat all steps with the other hand 

and you now have beautifully manicured nails!

thank you ali! i love love looove my nails! they're so shiny. and no streaks at all! 

i'm hooked.