.i sh'love shellac.

i love to have my nails painted and do so all the time. mainly, my real nails are something awful. minorly, (yeah yeah) i am a wee obsessed with personal variety. i'm not the kind of girl who likes wearing the same thing a bunch, except for my favorite jeans, and that concept goes for my nails too. there's just one problem with me and nail polish. we don't get along. i've bought every brand out there...under coated, top coated, in between coated and still i will begin having chipped polish within 18 hours. it is an exact science.

i don't dig worms out of the ground for a living or soak my hands in scalding acid every night. my nails just want their freedom i suppose and i fight them every step of the way with reds, pinks, purples and grays. when i heard about shellacking nails for the first time last year, i was intrigued. however, it wasn't until a few weekends ago that i decided to finally fork over the green stuff and give it a whirl. let me show you my sh'journey with shellac.

there are only certain colors available from shellac, unlike the regular manicures with a whole wall of possibilities. this may be a good thing for someone like my nail-obsessed girlfriend who likes to ponder and question every color. and even knows their names. after looking through my choices, i went for an orange hue. just because. the process involved layering on coats of clear and colored shellac, much like a regular polish really. but, i had a drying process under a special light between each layer.

here i am on my first night. as you can see, the shellac is shiny..shiny, shiny shellac. that's fun. on this eve, i'm working on writing a blog about something sugary i'm sure.

on day two, i'm working out at the gym. i post this picture of my every day life and you must be impressed with my physical drive. don't be. it was the first time i'd been in weeks and i only lasted through half an episode of glee on my iphone. i measure my workouts in glee. not really, but maybe i should. i'm getting back on track though...really, i am.

here my nails are on day three grading papers. there are two things you should take note of at this point. thing one- my life
revolves around algebra much of the time. thing two- there is not even one teeny chip in any of my nails! hip, hip, shellac!

ok, so my picture a day project went a little off and i forgot to take one on day four. take my word for it that nothing exciting happened with my nails. but, here is day five. i am drinking raspberry crystal light which is a detour from my usual lemonade crystal light. more importantly, i am drinking it out of my tervis cup. this is a miraculous creation. trust me.

on day six, my shellacked nails are driving home from work. notice that they are way cooler than i am. evidently, they enjoy hangin' loose, dude. i have no idea how this happens.

on day seven, my nails rested. however, here they are on day eight getting ready for an outing. a little bronzer, anyone? take notice that they still look amazing. there isn't a chip. nope. they're in awesome shape.

stay tuned for the second installment of shellac sh'love where you can see the dramatic conclusion of how well this stuff holds up...or doesn't...you must be on the edge of your seat to find out!