My first shellac manicure!

So I was at the Mall of America today and for some reason, I decided to get a manicure. The nail lady talked to me about shellac, and since I had read a lot about it, and wanted to try it, I decided to go for it!

After cleaning up my cuticles she started the shellac procedure. It takes a bit longer than a regular manicure, but hopefully the results will be worth it. She showed me the colors to choose from. I was trying to pick between a light orchid-y pink and a hot pink with sparkles. I was a little disappointed with the relatively small color selection (I think they had 12 Shellac colors to choose from), as I really wish there had been a light pink with sparkles. In the end, sparkles won, dark pink and all. I just can't resist.

The shellac procedure goes like this:
1. base coat
2. 3 minutes under the UV lamp
3. first coat of polish
4. 3 more minutes under the UV lamp
5. another coat of polish
6. 3 more minutes under the UV lamp
7. top coat
8. Guess what.... 3 more minutes under the UV lamp
9. She cleaned off the nails really well with alcohol. They were already shiny, but this seemed to really make it extra-shiny.

And that was it! No paying before the end, because at the end I was able to get my wallet and do pretty much anything without the polish getting all messed up, it was completely dry. That was pretty cool. Now we will see how it lasts.

Close up of the pretty sparkles.

I am actually considering buying the stuff for shellac manicures for myself at home. The only thing I am not sure about is that I like to change my polish a lot. But at the same time, I despise chips and sometimes I just want to wear a mani for more than 2 days without them. I'll take a look and think about it some more.