Shellac manicure: photo ideas and step-by-step video on how to do it

Types and ideas

Shellac is a gel polish that can withstand almost all known aggressive factors. It can stay on the nails for 2 weeks, sometimes longer, it all depends on the speed of nail growth. At the end of its life, shellac should not chip or flake off - it’s just that the hole near the nail demonstrates the transition from the natural plate to the painted areas, which is not an aesthetic sight.

Shellac comes in matte, glossy and glitter. Now some companies have also introduced original varnish, in which the coating changes texture after hardening. It becomes velvety, grainy or sandy.

Shellac manicure options are so varied that it is almost impossible to single out one of them. Every day new ways of decorating nails are being invented. Let's look at the most popular types:

Classic . This includes a monochrome coating using one color, French and other familiar options;
Design is a very broad subcategory. It includes decorating one nail with polish, two or all, creating patterns with sparkles, rhinestones, knitting techniques, lace and patterns;
Non-standard ones are matte, textured options, patterned technologies and with a pattern (cat's eye, liquid stones) and other types of Shellac manicure that attract attention from the outside.

This type of varnish has a huge number of advantages . Firstly, you can easily grow your nails with it. Together with the varnish, plate strengthening technology is used, which prevents the appearance of peeling and eliminates brittleness and flaking. Secondly, it does not require maintenance. You painted your nails and walked like that for two weeks, not worrying about their appearance at all. Thirdly, any girl can do a beautiful manicure at home. All you need is a set of varnishes, an ultraviolet lamp and a little patience.

But there is one drawback. Many girls like the eclecticism of the water design style, but, alas, it is impossible to do a water manicure with gel - it sinks in water due to its high density.

Let's take a closer look at the various shellac techniques.

The consequences of using shellac

As a rule, it is considered a safe material and strengthening of nails after shellac is not required.

But like any varnish, it can have a negative effect on nails:

The coating blocks air access to the nail plate;
Extended exposure to acetone when removing polish can damage your nails.

If you notice that after a manicure with gel polish your nails begin to look worse, you need to take the following measures. Use special nutritional strengthening agents. Wear gloves when using household chemicals. It is recommended to make whitening strengthening baths with lemon juice and salt.

Manicure for short nails

Ideas for designing small nails are very diverse. You can draw a pattern, glue liquid stones, add rhinestones, sparkles, stripes, etc. to the plates. Let's look step by step at how to make a delicate gradient manicure with shellac (ombre) for short nails :

We suggest using white and red, which are very suitable for festive gel nail designs. First, a degreaser is applied to the nails, then they are lubricated with a base and dried in a lamp;
After this, the most interesting part begins - drawing the gradient. The peculiarity of working with gel is that each shade will need to be dried in a lamp;
First, apply the base and let it dry. After this, the extreme gradient is painted over. To do this, apply a few drops of varnish to the sponge. Then dry again. This is repeated until the moment of complete sketching;
The materials can be applied immediately - if, for example, the gradient is not complex. In other words, spread all the polishes one by one onto the sponge, and then apply it to the nail. This will save a lot of time, although the pattern will not be as beautiful as when drawing each gradient level separately;
Afterwards you need to fix the design and dry it with a lamp. The sticky layer can be wiped off with alcohol.

You can also make a mirror shellac manicure, it is perfect for a wedding or just a festive one. This is the easiest technique for beginners. To make it yourself you won’t need anything other than a lamp, foil and varnish fixer. The nail is cleaned with a buff, then a base is applied to it. Foil is glued to the base. It is trimmed around the perimeter and leveled. The second layer should be applied with a fixative. Afterwards, the nails are dried in a lamp.

Application technology

Having found out whether shellac can be applied to extended nails and received a positive answer from specialists, every girl will ask a completely logical question about the application method? It turns out everything is extremely simple.

Shellac on extended nails

To apply shellac to the extended nails in the photo, you should proceed in the same way as applying gel polish to natural nail plates. The sequence of actions is as follows:

Considering that extended nail plates can be perceived as a high-quality base, they do not need to be treated with a buffer or coated with a primer.
You can begin work immediately by applying the base. This layer is necessary to obtain high-quality adhesion of shellac to an artificial base.
After drying the base, you can begin applying colored gel polish.
To get a flawless manicure, dry the first thin layer of shellac in a lamp and proceed to apply the second layer.
After drying the second layer of colored shellac, we fix the result with a topcoat.
Finally, dry the top and remove the top sticky layer.

Lunar manicure with shellac

The lunar version of nail design never goes out of fashion. It can be done on nails of any length, and the holes can be located at the tips or in the hollows of the nails, painted over or not. To choose the right type of hole, you need to look at the examples and take into account some features:

An unpainted hole grows less noticeably than a painted hole. This means that such a manicure will last longer;
During the application process, several transitions are formed, so if 2 or more holes are made, the last one will rise slightly above the rest - not everyone likes this;
It is best to do this design in contrasting colors: red - black, blue - white, etc.

How to make a moon manicure using shellac at home:

You need to clean the plate and apply a base on it, then dry it under a lamp;
The outline of the future hole is drawn. This is done either with a thin brush or with a stencil. The first “frame” of the hole is made of the main color;
Afterwards drying is carried out;
A hole appears. Professionals prefer to work “live”, without stencils;
All that remains is to fix the varnish, dry it and wipe it with alcohol.

This technique is performed by any salon, because of all the design options it is the simplest and most elegant. You can do a pedicure in the same way.

Video lesson: how to do a shellac manicure at home

French shellac

French manicure coated with shellac is a recognized classic manicure. It is suitable for any season and holiday. Let's look at how a classic French manicure is done using shellac varnishes:

The nail is treated with a buff and base. Then it is dried under the rays of a UV lamp;
The main part of the plate is painted pink or beige. Of course, you can use black or red, but it is recommended to leave dark colors for the cold season (autumn-winter), when the contrast with the skin will be more noticeable;
Next, the tip of the selected shape is drawn with a brush. It can be straight, oval, triangular. Drying is in progress;
You can stick rhinestones along the contour or draw a pattern. Afterwards the fixative is applied.

You can complement this style with any pattern or stickers.

Shellac

In order to perform a beautiful manicure, you need to purchase high-quality shellac. It is recommended to have in your arsenal several bottles with contents of different colors. This video uses red shellac from the same company, which inspires great confidence not only in the author of the video, but also in many women around the world.

The advantage of the shellac used in the video is that it has a not entirely liquid consistency, so that just one stroke of the brush will be enough to apply the coating.

Winter and New Year's

New Year's and winter shellac is a stylish holiday manicure that seems to bring the holiday closer to us. Its difference from other options is variations on the theme of drawings. Patterns can be very different: Christmas tree branches, cones, balls, bows and others.

Let's look at how to make a cool beaded manicure for the New Year:

The beads are made of black, red and white varnish. The base is applied and dried, after which the base is painted white;
Use red dots to draw a kind of moon at the base of the nail. Also, the point is located in the center of the plate. Everything is dried;
Then take a brush and black varnish, with which you need to evenly draw petals around the central point. Inside these petals are painted white, but so that the black edging is visible;
Dots are drawn around the petals;
This is done on one of the fingers. The rest are decorated with dots. Your goal is to draw a diamond-shaped dotter pattern where the four tops of the diamond are larger than the side points;
If desired, this manicure can be used for summer or spring, just with different colors.

If you prefer to draw patterns, then you can make a simple jacket, and then draw a Christmas tree or a snowman along the edging of the white tip.

Knitted

Photos of knitted shellac manicure surprise with their beauty and grace. But it seems almost impossible to accomplish it. In fact, this is a very simple technique that you don’t need to be a super manicurist to implement. You will need polish, brushes, lamp and powder (sand for nails). Steps:

Gel polish is applied to the prepared nail. The first strip should be thin, but voluminous, i.e., rise above the plate. If the varnish begins to spread, then you need to quickly apply a strip and sprinkle it with powder or sand;
The following patterns are located symmetrically on both sides of the plate. Draw several letters “Z”, how to draw them becomes clear after watching the video;
Next, powder is poured onto the shellac. It is very important that the varnish is not dried;
The nails are dried and then cleaned of any remaining powder using a brush. That's it, no fixings or re-patterning required.

The price of shellac depends on where and by whom the manicure is performed. Naturally, the services of fashion salons will cost much more than home craftsmen. Novice specialists often offer to design their nails for free or literally for consumables, which is relatively inexpensive. But if you buy yourself a lamp, you can conduct sessions for free.

A little about shellac

Shellac appeared on the nail industry market in 2010, combining the properties of gel and varnish, and immediately earned the recognition of manicurists. The product has many names (biogel, gel polish, shellac gel, Shellac). Recently, strengthening nails with shellac gel, as in the video, has become popular. Shellac is made from a special resin and contains natural ingredients.

Strengthening nails with shellac

This material has many positive qualities:

Shellac is quick and easy to apply;
Retains color and durability for up to three weeks;
Has no characteristic odor;
Does not injure the nail plate when removing the coating;
The gel structure of the material gives any color a more saturated shade;
The natural composition allows the use of shellac on nails prone to splitting and brittleness;
The coating can be used for pedicure.