DIY Shellac Manicure: Forget The Salon

Figuring out a DIY shellac manicure is a lot easier than you may think. For years I would pick at any hangnail or a small piece of skin that came up around my nails. They were ugly and I hated it, so I figured it out for myself.

When I got my first manicure I was in love! My hands were so beautiful after hearing the lady scold me for picking so much and advised me to have my nails done every 2 weeks to solve my bad habit.

I thought it was a great idea.

After realizing it was going to cost me around $40 every two weeks I decided that was just not happening.

So I got to looking into giving myself a manicure and going through the same steps they did.

It does take a lot of time in the beginning, especially learning to conquer painting that right hand by using your left hand. But just like learning anything else it can be done.

Luckily gel polish is easy to work with and easy to fix if you mess up. Whether you’re going to start doing your own nails to fix a bad habit, grow your nails out, or save money, I know you can use your left hand.

Don’t let it scare you, it’s easier than you think.

DIY Shellac Manicure. Do It Yourself! #shellac #diymanicure #diynails

DIY Shellac Manicure Items:

Shellac Manicure Steps

Step 1: Starting With A Clean Slate

You want to make sure all old polish is off and you’re starting fresh.

Have a bare nail with nothing on it. Use acetone and a cotton ball to remove old polish.

You make have to soak your nails if you have glitter polish. The cleaner the better!

Step 2: Removing Cuticles

Push back cuticles either with another fingernail or a cuticle pusher if you don’t have long nails.

I suggest doing both hands at one time since shaping the nails can be messy. After pushing everything back we need to remove the excess with a cuticle cutter.

Be careful and watch what you’re doing. You don’t want to cut too far back.

Luckily you’re in control so you only want to take off the excess that you pushed back.
*You can also use this tool to cut off any loose skin around the nail bed.

Step 3: Shaping Nails

Start off by trimming nails to a length you are comfortable with.

Next, we will file them to remove sharp edges, any points and round out the edges to the side of the nail.

Be sure to file the side of the nail to strengthen the nail. You don’t want to file back the nail to the appropriate length, this can weaken the nail.

Be sure to use nail trimmers if you want to take more length off.

*You can take a file to the surface of the nail, very lightly, to get polish to adhere to nail even more.

Step 4: Paint

Take an alcohol-soaked cotton ball to nails on one hand. We’ll do one hand at a time at this point. It’s a lot easier.

So apply alcohol to nails getting the surface clean and give a few seconds to dry.

Then take the base coat and apply one layer to all five nails starting close to the cuticle and continue with smooth strokes down the nail covering the entire nail.

You don’t want your brush soaking with polish, use less and you can always dip brush again. When the entire nail is shining with polish, continue to next nail.

After covering all 5 nails, go back with a dry nail on the other hand or nail cleaner and scrape the edge of the cuticle to remove stray nail polish off of skin.

Place a hand under light for 5 seconds or as directed by the polish company.

Do the same with color polish. I recommend 2 coats, using light after each coat.

Last, topcoat. You can put this one on a little thicker as it protects and strengthens the nail.

Place under light for 30 seconds to make sure polish is cured through. Topcoat will be sticky, that’s normal.