Is Shellac Luxe as Lux-urious as they claim?

It's no surprise to most people that nail technicians tend to go ham for new nail products and when things are hyped as much as new Shellax Luxe was the urge to say "Challenge Accepted" is unavoidable. So of course I, glitter lover and gel polish hoarder, simply had to check it out. After all, no base coat or primer? A single minute of soak off time? No filing of the natural nail needed?

Yes Please!

So I took myself to my local beauty supply and got myself a bottle of color and the top coat (my bank account testifies that I am not being paid to say any of this). After taking about fifteen minutes to pick my color (and boy, do they have some NICE colors!) I settled on Shellac's Dark Diamonds, a lovely black with silver sparkles.

Please excuse my cuticles, I've been cleaning all day! Dark Diamonds applied the 6th of September. This is them on the 10th of September. Still looking good!

Here are my first impressions:

Bottle size 8/10

The new Shellac Luze bottles are now considerably bigger than the predecessor with .42 oz instead of the previous .25 ounces, which is obviously good. However, they still have less product than other professional sized brands which have a standard .5 ounces.

Color Line 8/10

With 80 colors currently on offer Shellac Luxe has a color to suit most anyone. However, as it is a new range and CND brand focuses on "7-free" polishes with more natural and safe ingredients it's range of neons and holos/special effect colors are extremely small or non-existent. They do also have a few effect coatings to spice up the regular colors, like glitter or pears.

Price X/10

Shellac has been and continues to be one of the more expensive brands. However, because Shellac Luxe claims to not need a base coat or primer, if it's longevity does indeed live up to the hype, it will be worth the higher price tag because it gets rid of the need for pricey base coats and primers. I'll let everyone know my final opinion on if the price is right after two weeks to see how long it *actually* lasts.

Consistency and Forumula 8/10

Shellac luxe is a thicker product and isn't nearly as thin and watery as a lot of others resulting in less pooling around the sides of the nails. However, because it is a bit thicker you'll definitely need to make sure to apply it nice and thin so you don't get bubbling. The glitter colors also have fairly large chunks, so can leave a bit of a ragged feel on the free edge (which can be typical with some glitter polishes).

The formula is also 7-free as all their products are, so it's healthier and concidered to be "hypoallergenic." Shellac Luxe does not contain any of the following: Formaldehyde, Toluene, DBP, Formaldehyde Resin, Camphor, Xylene or Parabens.

Opacity 9/10

Two coats of Dark Diamonds was enough to give nearly full opacity. There were only a few spots that were a smidge transparent. Very nice!

Brush design 8/10

The Luxe brush has a curved brush for getting into corners on the nail. However, perhaps i just had a weird brush, but the bristles on my Dark Diamond polish were shorter on one side and kind of choppy making it hard to get into some areas. The bristles on the top coat brush were perfect. The brush is also a little wide so it can be difficult to paint smaller thin nails.

As you can see the upper part of the brush has bristles that have been cut much shorter than the others making polish application a bit harder. The other bottle I bought was fine though.

Packaging 10/10

The line is beautiful! The bottles no longer come in individual cardboard and plastic boxes, which in my opinion, is a good thing. Less waste! The bottles are classy, simple, professional, and have a certain luxurious appearance.

Smell 7/10

The line does have some sort of smell. It isn't nearly as bad as some other brands, but it doesn't have an almost fruity odor. It's similar to the original Shellac smell and kind of reminds me of fermenting fruit.

Education 10/10

Shellac has always had great information regarding their product and it's application. You can find a FAQ from CND HERE, and instructions for application and removal HERE.

4 Day Update

After four days of wear the polish is still good looking. The top coat is still glossy and there is no peeling. However, because of acetone use (being a gal who does nails hahaha) I did have to repair the tip of two nails but I won't hold that against the polish when it was my own fault. It is also worth noting that it is around this time regular shellac begins to peel on me, so we'll see how it goes!

I'll post an update article after two weeks to let you all know how well it lasted!

Stay gorgeous everyone <3