No pain, no gain. It's the philosophy behind a lot of beauty treatments. Gel nails, for instance, are long-lasting, but they can make you want to scream when you have to file them down to remove them. Enter Shellac. An innovative nail treatment using specially formulated nail polish cured by ultraviolet lamps promises to give two weeks of smooth and chip-resistant nails without the harsh removal.
A relative newcomer to Hong Kong, Shellac manicures and pedicures have been popular in America and Japan for more a year. The name comes from resin found in Asian trees, which has long been used as an industrial product to create a high-gloss varnish on hardwood floors. The beautifying version for nails made by Creative Nail Design (CND) has a patent-pending formula using the all-natural ingredient.
Shellac marries the easy application and natural finish of nail polish with the durability and shine of professional gel and acrylic. Whether you're a dedicated gardener or a mum with active children, Shellac is supposed to stay on shiny and scratch-free. And all of this in 30 to 45 minutes, with no reapplication.
We headed to the Feel Good Factor salon on Wyndham Street, Central, to see whether it lives up to the hype. The process is smooth and painless, as promised. First, your nails get trimmed and gently buffed, as in a standard manicure. Then the beautician cleans any excess surface oil off the nails to help the polish bind. Applied next is a base coat, two layers of colour, then a top coat, all made by CND.
Each layer is dried and cured under a UV lamp, binding the formula. An alcohol disinfectant to clean the fingers and oil to soften the cuticles completes the job.
A manicure costs HK$400 and a pedicure HK$500, which include the removal. A French Shellac will add HK$80. You can pick from a couple of dozen shades, some iridescent.
