Day 77: Nailed it

• Stripey jumper: Gap
• Black Tshirt: H&M
• Jeggings: Marks and Spencer
• Boots: Monsoon

As I have mentioned before I am a long term nail biter but have almost kicked the habit. I have been nibbling for as long as I can remember and I have tried everything to stop but to no avail. For whatever reason over the last couple of years I have gone for a few months at a time without biting and during that time I spoil my nails rotten to make up for all the abuse I have inflicted. I wish I could stop for good but it is something I do subconsciously and am not sure I will ever completely quit. At the moment I am going through a period of not biting but, my nails aren't in great condition. They are thin, they flake and split easily and when they all start to break is often when I start biting again. I have worn false nails and acryllics and whilst I love the look they ruin my nails. When my nails are good I wear nail varnish but I am lucky if it lasts 24 hours before chipping which I find really frustrating. Then I heard about shellac which is a highbryd between a varnish and a gel which applied like a normal nail polish is then set under UV light. It appears like a polish but it claims, wait for it, to last 2 weeks! Sounds like a mini miracle to me!

Last week I was concious that my nails were getting weaker and starting to flake and I was worried that if I didn't take some drastic action I would be back to biting before I knew it.cOn my way home on Friday evening I passed my local nail salon and though I'll pop in and ask them to give me a quick manicure to give them a boost. When I was waiting I noticed they had the shellac polish and I decided to give it a go. It is more expensive than a normal manicure but less than a set of acryllics or gel nails. The choices of polish were pretty limited and they had nothing particularly subtle and nothing very dark and vampy wich I like. I decided to go for the classic red although was slightly anxious at just how bright it was. It didn't help that the manacurist kept saying how bright it was and I worried it might be a bit too much for work. Still, it was by then, too late to change my mind. The manicure didn't go particularly smoothly and they actually didn't use the UV lamp to start with and it wouldn't dry so it had to be started again. The second time they used the lamp and it eventually set but I had to wait 45 minutes for it to set which I don't think was right, but they didn't charge me the full price.

So, here is the manicure, 2 days on and showing no sign of any wear which is unheard of for me. I'll keep you posted on how it goes and would love to hear any of your experiences of shellac?