Love. Shellac is an HG for me.

I tend to be hard on my nails and a bit fastidious about chips, so standard manicures aren't a good choice for me.

But shellac is amazing. As others have said, light cured, said to last 2 weeks.

For me, I find application matters. I had shellac done once (at a certified salon) but they didn't follow the recommended timings on the Uv light. That manicure lasted less than a week and caused my nails to peel so badly I couldn't get another's oxide for a full month.

But the other salons I've been to have been great and I get a minimum of 14 says per manicure. At 14 days there's some 'wear' on the tips and growth at the nailbed. But, they still look pretty good. I've even worn polish for 21 days.

I prefer my nails shorter - so I often trim my nails with a nail clipper at about 10-14 days. I don't file the nails, just a quick clip. I don't think you're supposed to do this, but I haven't noticed any problems and if there's any 'wear' on the tips (especially if I'm wearing a darker color) that makes the manicure look fresher.

For me the main problem is cuticles and nail growth. I have bad cuticles and they need maintenance more than every other week. I am vigilant about applying N aha cuticle reducer. Even so, I do go in a carefully push back and even from my cuticles after about 1 week.

Removal takes some getting used to. You can do it home with acetone, orange sticks, aluminum foil, and some patience :).

Solar oil is recommended. I have used solar oil even before getting shellac, but it is an oil and may take some getting used to. Supposedly, it works better than other cuticle products to strengthen the nail. I can't speak to that since I use it anyway.

So, for me an HG. I think application matters, so I tried a bunch of salons til I found one I love.

Downsides. Application takes 1-1.5 hours. Limited color selections. Expensive manicures. Any flaw in application is with you for 2-3 weeks.

This stuff is amazing. I alternate between UV gel nails, Shellac, and doing my nails myself. CND Shellac was the only "gel polish" that actually did what it claimed on my nails. OPI Gel polish peeled off within a week. With CND Shellac my manicure looked absolutely flawless for THREE weeks. No chips, no peelies. Shiney and beautiful. This is amazing for me, since regular polish applied to my natural nails chips off within 1-3 days. Shellac also helped my nails stay strong and hard since the polish lasted so long and worked as a shield, thus letting my nails grow nice and long. I did notice a bit of nail damage, but nothing crazy and nothing a nice manicure couldn't fix. I wish my nail salon offered more CND Shellac colors. OPI Gel and Axxium did not work for me like lovely Shellac.

I will have everyone know that you can totally paint your nails with regular polish... Let them dry completely, then apply base coat (2 min cure) and then top coat (2 min cure) and they last just the same! (Obviously wiping after curing with a lint free pad and alcohol) I'm a licensed cosmetologist so I do my own at home with the lamp (bought on amazon for 30 bucks) and this product is SO expensive in the professional beauty supply store! I'm so excited that I can still use all my regular polishes (which there are a million options out there) and they don't cost 16 dollars a bottle! Ill splurge on the top and base coat for shellac no chip but the color options just aren't enough! HOPEFULLY THIS HELPS PEOPLE SAVE SOME MONEY AND STILL HAVE FABULOUS NAILS..with ANY color/brand they want:)

I took my acrylics off after 15 years. My nails underneath weren't as bad as I thought they were going to be. I was painting them on my own for a while with good results but decided to go back to the salon for this. After a few months my nails were worse than after I took my acrylics off. They're breaking and snagging on everything. tearing and look like hell. I think it's the pure acetone used to take this system off. Waste of money and time. All of my nails were over an inch long. Now I have to start all over again. Good for special occasions but I'll stick to painting my own nails and saving a few bucks. Hopefully I can get them back to being healthy again.

OMG this is a gift from God I swear. This saves me money and time from having to travel to the salon to get a fresh coat. I don't like the price cause here in NYC salons charge $40 and up if you find spots that charge cheaper than you're lucky just make sure they are using shellac cnd products and not scamming you using some other brand close to it cause it's NOT!!!!! I got the hot chillis shade for the holiday it's like a shimmery pink red color very beautiful. I'm on week 3 and the top of my nail has not chipped even with washing and scrubbing dishes using harsh chemicals the color managed to stay on my nails. I'm going back to get a new shellac mani. They do have tons of colors check out their website.

Love this gel system. I love dark polishes, but ever since having my son, hardly ever done those because my nails usually chip at the tip in the first couple of days and with a kid you don't have or want to spend time doing your nails every 3 days + wait forever for them to dry, only to wake up to sheet prints ; ) But this staff works. Since I am not a nail professional, it does take me a little while to properly apply all the layers (capping the free edge), but at the end without the drying time that the regular polish usually takes, I probably come out ahead in time saved.
Aslo, I have recently tried using shellac base and top with REGULAR nail polish in between!!!. I have so many polishes that are left unused, but now I am looking forward to using them with this system. I have heard that some polishes might not work, but OPI does and I am going on week and a half and have regrowth already and one chip (my fault). The only downside to using regular polish, you still have to let the polish dry before sealing it with shellac top. And after u apply the base, u need to cure it as per instructions and then wipe the sticky layer off with alcohol.

I get my shellac done at the salon, so I cannot really comment on the application and packaging, but I love the results I am getting. On my toes it is bright and perfect for up to a month, which is super convenient in summer. On my fingers I have t renew every 3 weeks, but it still looks perfect except for light shades that do look streaky sometimes. Now in fall I have switched to purples and greys and I love that Shellac accomodates those shades. I wish there was navy blue available also.

i am in love! although if you only like your bare nails you may not be a fan.some say it is not good for the nail but from someone who used to get acrylic where they use an electric drill, and here they just soak the stuff off and reapply, it seems much gentler.

but, it does stay on for weeks and i had no chipping! (i notice a diff between this brand and OPI gel-OPI chipped on me especially at the bottoms once i started getting new growth) but this one stays on flawlessly and is a bit harder/thicker but still looks like polish not plastic (unlike acrylic or powder or other fake nails)

i have naturally crappy nails, they only look nice if i polish them several times a week (even in a few days a regular manicure looks ugly on my nails, chips so fast) and they chip like mad and always break.

so they look ugly unless i resort to a more permanent method than regular polish. first it was acrylic for a long time but they looked so fake not to mention awful for the nails.

with this stuff it looks like polish it just feels harder. you don't have to wait for them to dry. i do not like to change my color all the time i just like my nails to look shaped and polished without chips. two weeks after my manicure there is slight growth but the polish did not chip and my nails did not crack. they look flawless and are actually getting long.

i love it. will keep getting. $25 by me but unlike acrylic i can go 3 weeks with this stuff, apparently because after 2 they still look really good. perhaps even 4 weeks. 25$ once a month is not really more expensive than acrylic, which i had to get twice a month. and it looks so much better than acrylic too. nobody asks me about my "fake nails" anymore.

now they just look like regular flawlessly polished nails that don't chip and they stay shiny.

They don't have a TON of colors like regular polish but I like ordinary colors and I really don't mind my main concern is polish that stays on without chipping and nails that don't break and stay shaped.

I wouldn't do this again unless it was a special occasion such as my wedding or funeral...

I did this twice in a row at a salon. However, unless you keep it up, it will leave your nails damaged. Although it is nice not having to apply polish -and be able to clean and wash dishes without worrying for 2 weeks, the brittle, split nails you are left with unless you keep up with appointments is a pain. Although it did make my nails longer because they were harder and didn't break the tips, once you take it off you can't take a break in shellac otherwise your nail tips will break off. It kind of defeats purpose unless you keep up appointments and it is costly and time consuming even though it saves you reapplication wear-just the trip itself is more time than reapplying polish yourself. It is such a pain to get the polish off by yourself as well. The novelty of super long wear shellac wears off after awhile and it just isn't worth it to me to repeat.

Another thing to think about is that it does get boring having the same color for 2 weeks. Also the color selection is a bit limited. I have quite a large nail polish collection that was sitting unused. When I thought about it, it really isn't too bad to change polish and it is quicker than having to scrape off shellac and deal with the after effect of short and stubby nail..

Another thing to think about is finding a good salon. Not a lot of them are trained properly. Although the removal process is supposed to be better than for gels, some salons will still dip your nails in acetone since it is probably easier for them for removal.

Spending about $120 dollars (2 manicures and 1 pedicure-by the way pedicure really isn't worth it since my pedis last long time without the shellac anyway) with tip for damaged nails was just not worth it in the end. Just think about all the nail polish you could buy with that money instead...

After hearing all of the hype, curiosity got the better of me and I headed off to my local salon to get my first Shellac manicure. The process was fairly simple- base coat, a few coats of colour and a top coat were applied like normal nail polish, and my nails were placed under the UV light machine for around a minute between each coat. My nails looked extremely shiny and were dry immediately (didn't stop me from instinctively walking around like a zombie, trying not to catch them though!). I chose a neutral pink colour which looks nice, although there was lots of colours to chose from.

I am usually very lazy when it comes to my nails. I rarely apply polish and when I do it is usually chipped by the next day! I was so impressed by my Shellac manicure. After one week, they looked just like they did when I walked out of the salon, still very shiny and chip free. After week two, there was some slight wear at the end of my nail and some visible nail re-growth, but nothing terrible. I am now half way through week 2 and will probably have to remove the polish soon. What impressed me the most was how it withstood my weekend job as a cashier. Usually dipping my hand in and out of the till causes my polish to chip immediately, not Shellac though! Would definitely recommend.