Quitting Shellac Nails

quitting shellac nails
For the last two years I’ve been visiting my nail place almost bi-weekly for a shellac manicure. There were a couple of times I let the time between visits extend to three weeks, and I might have taken a one month break last December, but otherwise it’s been pretty consistent. 

Truth be told, I love my nail lady, and my salon is dirt cheap, so there was no real desire to quit until a few months ago. Earlier this year Zara really got into doing nail art. She slowly moved all of my old nail polishes into her room and set up a little station to conduct experiments. Over the summer she spent hours practicing and perfecting her skills, and it was adorable. Sadly, every time she offered to do my nails I had to decline – because it would mess up the shellac. 

Zara’s daily nail art attempts also reminded me of how much I used to love trying different types of nail art on my own fingers. So, I was inspired to quit. I followed the directions on my friend Kendra’s blog for removing a shellac manicure, and once my nails stopped throbbing a few days later [they were so weak and damaged], I was ready for my first manicure by Z. 

[If you look closely in the video you can see that Z has given herself a marble manicure. Also, why can I never remember to turn the camera when making videos!]

For the last two weeks I’ve really been enjoying painting my own nails. Every few days I stop what I’m doing, make myself a cup of chai, earl grey tea, coffee, or even pour myself a glass of wine, and just focus on my nails. It’s strange, but it took painting my nails to realize I’m rarely ever in the present moment. But there is no other way to do a good job on your nails – you have to focus on what you are doing, or you’ll make a mess!
dsc_1668adquitting shellac nails[Polish shade: REVLON Cherries in the Snow]

An added bonus of doing my own nails is that I’m experimenting with different colours. I love red nails, but I’d pretty much stopped getting them because two weeks with red tips was a bit much for me. Instead I’ve been picking safe, and ‘photo friendly’ colours for nearly two years. 

Here’s to fun manicures, cheap drugstore polish, and many nail art adventures with the babe in the future!

Images by: Aziz Dhamani

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4 Comments

  1. November 8, 2016 / 10:32 am

    That’s a great reason to stop. Maybe next time I’m over Zahra can do mine. 🙂

  2. Pooja
    November 8, 2016 / 10:46 pm

    I remember the first nail polish I took from my mom was Revlon’s Cherries in the Snow, it holds a special place in my heart!!!!

    Try rubbing some vitamin e on your nails to help with the growth!

  3. May 24, 2017 / 8:59 am

    If you have weak nails then it’s a good thing to take a little break from nail treatments.

  4. April 8, 2020 / 8:26 pm

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    They are really convincing and can certainly work.
    Nonetheless, the posts are too brief for beginners. May just you please extend them a bit from
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