Stowed Stuff - Adventures in Mommyhood: Removing Shellac Manicure

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Removing Shellac Manicure

Look at the price tag. You can tell it's OLD.

So ya, I did it. I've done a lot of things this fall that have made me smile inside. I have managed to stop biting my nails (for the season, anyway), I ran my first 5K and just last week I had the easiest cleaning of my life at the dentist's office. Who is this girl? Now, if I could just exercise more and keep up with the running, maybe I would lose my muffin top. But at least for now, when I put my hands on my muffin top, at least my nails look pretty.

So, I paid $30 for a shellac manicure. How much do you pay? I'm pretty new to all of this stuff, so when she told me it would last for 2 weeks and make my nails stronger, I bought it. And all in all, she was right. My nails held up pretty well and didn't chip. And in all my little manicure feats of the past (maybe 10 max), my nails have never been as strong as they seem to be now.

So how the hell do you remove this shellac stuff? I was told to soak cotton balls in acetone and individually wrap each fingernail with aluminum foil to hold the cotton balls in place. (Hold in place for ten minutes.) But do you think I'd have cotton balls and fancy nail polish remover in this house? Nope. Instead, I had to use cotton cut up cotton pads and ancient nail polish remover from the early 1900s. I did my best.

This better work.

My E.T. look

It was difficult to wrap my fingers with the pads and the foil, so I needed the hubs to help me. It was hilarious. "The things I do for you."

I left everything in place for 15 minutes. I really wanted it to work. I was hoping for a peel-off. It didn't really happen until I got to nail #10, left pinky. For the most part, the tops were loose and sticker-like, but I had to scrape the bottom end of my nails with a toothpick! That can't be good for my nails, I know. So I'm guessing I need more up-to-date nail polish remover, cotton balls, or an entirely new method. What has worked for you? Annie's got nails. And she's not about to bite them.