The joy of shellac nails (and Ted Baker’s Beauty Spot)

It’s taken me a while to learn about shellac nails and now I’ve had my first shellac manicure, I’m wondering what I’m going to do with all my ordinary nail polishes, as clearly the only way forward is shellac. Lisa Eldridge, she of the remarkably informative Lisa Eldridge beauty blog  featured  shellac nails 18 months ago and gave them the thumbs up, so at least my instincts are sound, if a bit slow. I had my nails done at Ted’s Beauty Spot, well a pop up version of it that happened during LFW, the real one is in the new shopping centre next to Saint Paul’s cathedral in Cheapside. 

Nathalie from Ted’s applied the fedora colour on my nails on Monday and it is still sparklingly perfect five days later. Not a chip, smudge or scratch, apparently it will stay like this for two weeks or longer….it’s like a modern miracle. Shellac, rather unglamorously, is a natural resin secreted by the lac bug, it was once used to make LPs before vinyl came along and is a well known floor varnish. It is a lot less harmful than gel nails are, and easier to remove, although the catch is that it’s only sold through salons, so you are trapped into going back to get the polish taken off and presumably get tempted into redoing them again in another fabulous colour. The Shellac manicure is £35.

Ted’s Beauty Spot is a collaboration between Ted Baker stores and Benito’s Brow Bar and I LOVE the way it looks. It’s like the love child of Orla Keily and my local barber shop and refreshingly non pink and girly. There’s only one so far, perfectly positioned for the city girl, but perhaps if it’s a success (Nathalie say’s it’s busy most days but quieter on Saturdays) we’ll see more. 

 

10 Comments

  • April says:

    They look lovely, but longer term do ruin your nails (took me a few months to recover)

  • Monix says:

    Agree totally with April – love, love, loved how they looked but the removal process is so harsh that my nails were not able to take more than 2 removals and then they became so soft I could feel my nail bed through the nail.

    Monix

  • Lizou says:

    Find the decor very creepy: a cross between the dentist’s and some sort of death-chamber!

  • Amanda says:

    Hmm perhaps not the answer to our prayers then if they make your nails go a bit weak, haven’t had my polish removed yet so I’ll let you know what happens.
    I love the death chamber dentist chair image Lizou but still love the look! It must be the goth in me…..Ax

  • Jacqueline says:

    My nails – never good – are still very weak and flakey 3 months on. However am tempted to have them done again when I become “mother of the bride” in late June as they did look fab.

  • Anna says:

    Can we see a picture of your lovely nails? Does the shellac just add colour or length too?

  • amanda says:

    Anna I tweeted them, if you follow us on Twitter you’ll be able to scroll back and see them on our images! Ax

  • Anna says:

    Ah haven’t quite got to grips with Twitter yet – will give it a go. x

  • amanda says:

    Tonight, 7 days in, I have my first small chip. A

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