Well-groomed hands - one of the essential components of the image of a girl.
However, not every girl wants to spend a lot of time on manicures.
After all, if you paint your nails with ordinary varnish, a fairly common problem arises - the varnish quickly erases or chips off. Therefore, acrylic came to replace the usual varnish coating.
Acrylic nail extension was popular for quite a long time, but the acrylic coating had its drawbacks - after removing the extended nails, their nails became brittle, brittle and required a long recovery.
Yes, and the procedure for nail extensions is complex enough to cope with it on their own at home.
Therefore, the beautiful half of the world's population needed an innovative tool that can be applied to nails easily, like varnish, but so that the resistance of the coating is not inferior to the resistance of the grown nails. Such a tool already exists and is very popular among girls. This coating is called shellac or gel polish. Read more about what kind of coating it is and how to apply shellac correctly - later in the article.
What is shellac?
Gel-resistant and easy to apply as varnish, this is how shellac can be characterized. This coating was developed in the United States. Shellac absorbed the best properties from ordinary nail polish, and from gel for building. Gel polish coating is easy to hold on nails up to 4, and in some cases even up to 6 weeks. That is, the need to update the manicure arises only because of the growth of the nail, and not because of the fragility of the coating. This is one of the most important, but far from the only positive quality of this popular coating. Consider the other advantages of shellac:
1. Easy coating. As mentioned earlier, shellac is applied as a regular varnish, there is nothing complicated in the application procedure. It is not necessary to cut off the top layer of the nail before applying the coating; gel polish is applied to the nail plate without any special preparation. Therefore, shellac can be applied independently, without outside help, at home.
2. The coating is easy to remove. To remove shellac, you do not need to cut it off and spoil the nail plate. A special liquid for removing shellac will cope with this task.
3. Gel polish allows you to grow your own nails and does not impair their quality. However, many girls use cheap gel polishes, which include aggressive components, so the quality of the nails after the procedure leaves much to be desired. But if you get a high-quality gel polish and know how to apply shellac on your nails, there will be no problems with the condition of the nail plate. In addition, shellac protects nails from environmental influences and mechanical damage.
4. Shellac dries quickly under the influence of a UV lamp, unlike acrylic. Therefore, the process of applying shellac takes from 40 minutes to 1 hour maximum. Compared to the nail extension procedure, it is very fast, because the extension, as a rule, lasts at least about 2 hours.
5. Shellac coating does not fade over time. This means that the nails will look like a manicure was done recently, even after a couple of weeks have passed.
6. A variety of colors. On sale there is a huge number of gel polishes, completely different shades, including glitter gel polishes. Shellac, unlike ordinary varnish, does not “smear” when applied, so creating patterns on nails using gel polish is much easier.
7. There are no allergic reactions to shellac. Therefore, it is possible to apply this coating even to pregnant and lactating women.
Shellac has many advantages, therefore, it is so popular among girls. But, there are also disadvantages:
1. The need to purchase a UV lamp (LED lamp). Such a lamp is not very cheap, but without it it will not be possible to apply shellac.
2. It is difficult to apply a coating on the right hand if you make shellac yourself. This is more nit-picking than minus, because when applying ordinary varnish, every girl faces such a problem.
3. The need to purchase a special tool for removing shellac.
Shellac has fewer minuses than pluses, and they are not so significant. Therefore, this procedure can definitely be recommended to all girls. But far few know how to apply shellac at home. Therefore, the technology of applying this coating will be discussed further.
How to apply shellac: sequence of actions
In order for gel polish to last on the nails for as long as possible, it is important to know how to properly coat shellac. If the sequence of actions is not followed, the coating may peel off. Detachment can also occur due to the low quality of gel polish, so it is better not to try to save, but to get a quality gel polish.
In order to make a manicure using shellac coating, you need to purchase the following things:
1. Nail file, manicure brush and other manicure tools
2. Antibacterial agent
3. Nail degreaser (bonder gel)
4. Basic gel polish
5. Color gel polish
6. Fixing (finishing) gel polish
7. UV lamp (LED lamp)
8. Fluid for removing the sticky layer (clinser)
9. Cuticle oil
10. Cotton pads
Of course, to get all these things home, you need to have an impressive amount of money. But the amount spent will pay off in a few months, since the services of a manicurist are not cheap. If there is no desire to purchase such a large set, it is better to contact a trusted master who uses only high-quality materials. However, if it was decided to learn how to independently make a manicure with a coating, then you definitely need to learn how to properly apply shellac on nails.
1. Before coating, the nails must be prepared. To do this, it is enough to make a regular trim manicure or give the desired shape of the nail with a nail file. Be sure to push and cut the cuticle so that the manicure looks as neat as possible. After this, it is better to sand the surface of the nail with a special grinding file, and then, remove the dust after sawing and grinding with a manicure brush.
2. Next, it is necessary to disinfect the surface of the nail with an antibacterial agent. This will increase the adhesion of the gel polish to the nail plate, which means that the coating will last a long time.
3. But disinfection alone is not enough to keep shellac on the nail very firmly. Therefore, a very important step is degreasing. To degrease the surface and remove moisture, it is necessary to apply a special bonder gel with an even thin layer on all nails. If moisture, grease, traces of cream or oil remain on the surface of the nail, then shellac may simply peel off and all labor will be in vain.
4. If artificial nails in the past did not hold well and subject to all points, then the next step is to apply a primer. It will help to avoid detachments. Apply the primer with a thin layer on the nails and dry without LED-lamp for two minutes.
5. The preparatory stages are behind, now you can start applying the coating itself. Correctly apply shellac in 3 layers. The first layer is the base gel. This gel is transparent in color, without a pungent chemical smell. After applying the base gel, the nails must be dried in the LED lamp for one minute. The sticky layer that will be on top of the coating does not need to be removed, otherwise the shellac coating will last on the nails for a fairly short time and peel off quickly. The sticky layer allows between the base and color gel to increase the resistance and strength of the coating.
6. Next, you need to apply color gel polish in one layer. No need to smear a large amount of gel polish, like a gel for building. A thin layer will be enough. The main thing is to paint over the entire nail, especially you need to pay attention to the edge of the nail. After applying, the nails must be dried in a UV lamp for two minutes. And, similarly to the previous stage, the sticky layer does not need to be removed. This procedure will be performed at the very end of the manicure.
7. To smooth the color, make it more saturated and paint over the “imperfections” of the first color layer, it is necessary to apply a second layer of color gel polish. Next, the nails need to be dried in a UV lamp for 2 minutes.
8. The next step is the application of the final coating. After it, you do not need to apply anything. The color layer is covered with the top (top) gel polish. It should be applied as carefully as possible so that there are no stains. The thickness of the top coating should be slightly larger than the color layer. Fixing gel polish should lie evenly, especially you need to pay attention to the edges of the nail. After application, the nails must be dried in the LED lamp for two minutes.
9. Only now it is possible and even necessary to remove the sticky layer from the surface of the nail. It is better to do this with the help of a special tool - clinser, but some use alcohol at home.
10. Then you need to moisturize the cuticle with a special oil. It is better not to skip this step, as the cuticle was exposed to ultraviolet rays during the procedure and hydration for it is now necessary. On this, the process of applying shellac is finally completed.
It’s not difficult to figure out the correct way to apply shellac, because the process of applying this coating is very similar to applying ordinary nail polish, except for the moment of drying the nails in a UV lamp. But there are some tricks and subtleties in this matter that professionals know better than "self-taught girls."
How to apply shellac: professional advice
The first and most important rule is no flaking nails! Before applying shellac, it is necessary to cut off the detachment, since under the coating, the detachment of the nail will not go anywhere and even more so it will not “heal”. The exfoliating nail will not be able to "adhere" to the coating normally, as a result of which shellac will quickly peel off.
In everyday life, women often use cleaning products containing alkali in their composition. It is after using alkaline products that shellac should not be applied. Hands must first be thoroughly washed, only then proceed to the application procedure.
Degreasing is extremely important, without this stage the manicure will be very short-lived. Therefore, special degreasing agents must be used!
Regarding the choice of UV lamps, 36 watts lamps are usually used. They are easy to find in specialized stores. You can buy a UV lamp and 9 watts, only in this case you will have to increase the drying time of the nails from 2 to 3 minutes.
