**Guest Post by Megan McDonald**

I have terrible nails. They break, chip, bend and rip. No matter how much cuticle oil I use, or how much Sally Hansen nail hardening polish, they remain in disrepair.

I had come to terms with the fact that I will never have nails like…drum roll please…a Kardashian. Kim has recently been sporting the Minx trend, which shrink wraps a foil to your nail and supposedly stays on for about a week. Since this procedure costs about $60 per application, getting this done weekly would run you over $200 a month! No thank you.

Then the clouds parted and a beautiful ray of sunshine beamed down in the form of Shellac Nail Polish. It’s actually quite remarkable. It’s all the good parts of gel nails meaning you get long-lasting colour and strong nails.  But Shellac has none of the bad elements, such as filing down your nails until they are paper-thin which starts the process of weak nails all over again once it’s removed.

When I decided to try Shellac I called DoveSpa and as usual they were great with booking me quickly. After the initial application ($20) I came back 2 weeks later excited to have it re-done. My nails had not chipped at all, and the only sign that two weeks had passed was where the colour had grown out a little.

Here’s how it works:

You start out with nasty nails like this

They shape your nails, and add a coat of UV gel base coat.

You put you hand in here for literally 20 seconds.  This hardens the gel instantly.

Then they add whatever colour you would like, I chose a light pearl shade. Next they add another layer of the UV gel and back goes your hand into the UV light contraption thingie for 60 seconds!

Voila! Instant rock hard beautiful nails that last for 2-3 weeks. They applied a lot of cuticle oil because my cuticles/hands are always so dry, hence why my nails look so shiny. Then they finished off with a quick hand massage using one of the lotions from their new holiday line. So relaxing!

These are just a few of the colours they have. I wanted something neutral, but they also have amazing holiday reds, plums and a ton of other pretty shades.

Removal is $10, as it is a gel base. But if you get it removed and then re-applied the price is still only $20 (the same as application alone).

I am totally addicted to this, my nails are strong and whenever I decide to remove it my nails will be in better shape than when I started. I’m going this week for my third application!

Some final words from Miss Piggy (this is on the wall at DoveSpa)

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