Friday, April 15, 2011

Shellac v Axxium - Follow Up

Ok, so its been about six months since I first discovered Shellac and since my friend and I put Shellac and Axxium to the test.  How have they held up?   Allow me to show you my newly Shellac'ed nails in a lovely spring coral (and yes my cuticles are horrid - we'll get to why shortly):

As you can see I'm still happily Shellacing.  My friend on the other hand quit the Axxium product not too long after my original post.  She felt the process was too time consuming and was thinning out her nails pretty badly.

My biggest hurdle to get past was price.  While my salon was very reasonable with its prices, it was still about $50 each time after tax/tip.  That means $100 a month on my nails and that wasn't feasible long term.  So, luckily I had a birthday in December and asked for the whole Shellac shebang for a gift.  Awesomely enough I got it.  And I had actually tracked down a two-handed light which saved LOADS of time for do-it-yourselfers (otherwise not only did you have to do 2 mins per coat, per hand, you had to just sit and wait while one hand was under the light  "baking").   [NOTE! The light I got is NOT CND or Shellac approved.  However it works just damn fine thankyouverymuch.]    Here is my lovliness:

I did also get the appropriate level of alcohol (99%), the Shellac remover pads, and some Solar Oil (which I clearly have not been using - hello cuticles as mentioned).   So while I don't get the salon level results (as in there is usually polish on my fingers and at least one nail is filed at a wonky angle) its worth it to be able to keep up with a product I LOVE without having a second mortgage on our home.

Up next for me?  I want to try the new Shattered Polish by OPI but integrate it with my Shellac.  What I'm planning on doing is starting a normal Shellac French mani and then putting the Shattered just on the white tips.  After that I'll use the Shellac top coat as normal.  I'm hoping it works... we shall see!  But I think the possibilities are endless here and I'm excited to have the ability to keep at it!

Look for that Shattered post soon - just waiting for that little black bottle to show up on my doorstep.  (And no, I almost NEVER shop brick and mortar anymore thanks to Amazon Prime - but that's another post for another day!)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

what brand light is that? where did you purchase it? I want one!