Manicures!

Tara A.

I've been thinking a lot lately about getting my nails done, but I'm unsure of what to get. If researched different types like gel, acrylic, shellac, and solar. I've never really had them done before, except once, and I just got a color. I have very thin and brittle nails, and they chip and break easily. I have been leaning more towards gel nails..

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION??

What are some pros and cons?

13 years ago

General

11 replies

Latest reply was from MsMary

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

I am not a fan of fake nails At ALL. I think they alwasy LOOK fake, and from what i've gathered with ruin your already delicate nailes even further! If I were you would would just keep them trimmed short to avoid breakage and keep a nice color on them.

13 years ago

Elly

Veteran

I'm not a huge fan either--- fake nails trap bacteria and sometimes fungus and are very hard on your regular nails. For the most part long nails are not really fashionable at the moment and most ladies that wear long nails do it because they have nice natural nails. I would say shellac is a nice option but have recently had a friend who had an issue with it being harsh. You definitely have to go to someone that is good and also probably have the salon remove it because the at-home acetone and heat soak is harsh on nails.

If regular polish isn't your thing, you always have the option of buffing short nails to a shine.

13 years ago

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

I received a gift certificate for shellac nails for Xmas. I had them done and my nails are still splitting and unhealthy. I used to have really hard strong nails. I agree that just a nice short nail with a pretty color.

13 years ago

Carole

Veteran

I have had gel, solar and silk, I got tired of the "fake" look and while it was nice to have nails, I much prefer my natural nails and just go for a regular manicure evey 2 weeks or so. The smells, maintenance, costs etc just didn't make sence to me anymore.

13 years ago

Victoria

(website)

Veteran

I only had fake nails done couple of times and they seriously ruined my regular nails. Took a long time for my nails to get back to normal so I would never do fake ones again.
If you have thin, brittle nails, I would get regular short manucure with natural light color because that won't show chips as easily

13 years ago

bj1111

Veteran

shellac nails, also called gel polish. cured under uv lights. last forever chip free, abt 1 month on me. grows with your nail so the new growth is polish free. i didn't mind, but next time i'm getting a more natural color.

won't do that often,. uv lights can increase risk if premature skin aging and melanoma, just like sun exposure.

13 years ago

Deborah

Veteran

I don't recommend fake nails. I had acrylics done a couple of times (out of laziness really as my nails have always been very good) and my nails took so long to return to good health. And I now seem to have a fault in one nail which causes is to split vertically..and it just wont grow out and repair.

I would suggest you look at your diet and how you can get your natural nails into shape.

13 years ago

Anonymous

Mostly cons to fake nails- They look good if you keep them up but that is very expensive and like others have said they WILL wreck your nails further and you will be in worse shape if you decide to stop having them done.
I tried Shellac and it also caused my nails to peel. You have to soak your nails with acetone to get the shellac off.

I too feel the best is look at your diet, get manicures and try dry buff polish.

13 years ago

JulieinMI

Active Member

I had the shellac polish once and just did not like it. I'm not sure why; for some reason it seemed to make my nails feel heavy. I agree with the short nails and pretty polish.

13 years ago

rute

Veteran

I've done shellac for a couple of months and i loved it! Very natural, you can go for short nails, natural colors!
The problem is that it's expensive, but it's perfect for special occasions and it lasts 15 days!

13 years ago

MsMary

Veteran

I don't like the gel nails because I want to be able to remove my polish myself. Also I worry about the UV lights.

I have have had spectacularly good success with Cnd Nail Sticky Base Coat and Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. I could never get my nail polish to last more than a few hours, but with these products my nail polish looks good for 4-5 days. It's like a miracle! I'm having all kinds of nail polish fun these days!

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13 years ago

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