Fake Shellac Warning! Look out for your nails.
We all know that Shellac is a wonderful product and it’s been hugely successful for CND since it’s launch in 2010. We’ve practically done away with chipped and smudged nails for that special occasion and it’s been fabulous.
Unfortunately with any wildly successful product come the cheap imitations and knock offs not just in terms of the products themselves but also in the training given by the manufacturer in the application, removal and client education for these products.
Lately we’ve had quite a few customers come to us who have made the unfortunate error of trusting someone to do “Shellac” nails and finding out that it isn’t really Shellac at all. Many of these have unfortunately ended up with extensive nail damage and it falls to us to explain what the original nail technician or salon wouldn’t, “I’m really sorry but, no, this isn’t Shellac”. In some cases nails have been so damaged that we’ve had to tell the customer that their nails need time to heel and to come back in a week or so.
How to spot them
Spotting who is pushing you these types of fake products is simple enough. First of all CND usually only deal with actual salons and well established nail technicians and they are often on the CND Shellac salon locator. That’s not necessarily a hard and fast rule though so the best thing to do is to ask directly “Is this genuine CND Shellac” and walk away if it isn’t something you are happy with. Plenty of irresponsible salons love to tell you “it’s just the same” but almost universally this isn’t true.
It’s important to note that Shellac is a registered trademark of CND and as a product is Patent Pending so, no, other products are NOT the same. People who advertise a “Shellac” service that isn’t genuine Shellac are breaching CND’s trademarks and trying to fool you. More importantly for you as a customer, they are guilty of false advertising and creating an expectation for you, the customer, that you will get the quality and durability of a genuine CND Shellac polish while ensuring your nails won’t be damaged by inferior products, something that, in our experience, you just can’t get without the genuine product.
Don’t take our word for it
Here’s a great article on Fake Shellac from Cosmopolitan talking about last years “Fake Britain” program from the BBC on the subject of fake Shellac nails.
There are also multiple places around the web talking about fake Shellac polishes or other products that claim to be the same as Shellac and the problems they create for professionals and for customers. Here’s one from a beauty professionals forum but feel free to Google “Fake Shellac” and you’ll find loads.
Genuine Competitors
Now don’t get us wrong, there are competing products that are quite similar and that are very good, and some people even prefer them to Shellac. They sometimes have a larger colour range and sometimes it’s just a personal preference of you as a client, or the nail artist or Salon which one is available. Do your research on brands though and the positives and negatives. We still prefer the genuine CND Shellac at Sinead Perez and recommend it for long lasting nails that look fantastic.
Give it a try
Most importantly, if you’ve never had a genuine Shellac polish please go to a reputable salon or nail technician and give it a try, there are several in the area and all of them will gladly talk to you about the treatments. Remember though, always ask if it’s genuine CND Shellac you’re getting, because fakes could cost you more in the long run.