The best nail tech in Melbourne! I went to Andrea after reading all the fantastic reviews. It's great to see that after all the bad experiences Andrea has restored my faith in nail techs. She takes the time to explain the process and educates you on on how to spot fake shellac products. It's great to find someone who is passionate at what they are doing and it shows at the end result, my Shellac nails look perfect even after 3 weeks!

Approximate cost: $40-$45

I don't normally write reviews but I think Nail Couture by Andrea is worth the time and effort. I was referred to Andrea by a lady I had complemented on having gorgeous nails and she gave me Andrea's card and told me that she was the Shellac specialist of Melbourne. I have had what I thought was Shellac and my nails were damaged as I had fallen victim to 'gellac and gelish' which are not a Shellac product. It is a fraud/fake that is acrylic based and has harmful toxins which Shellac does not. The nail salon that I had been tricked by would file or soak the product off in a bowl of acetone hence severely damaged nails. Andrea from Nail Couture has restored my faith in loyalty and good service. My nails are now strong and healthy and I have the 'real' Shellac on not a fake. I would recommend Andrea to anyone that wants a great job and gorgeous looking nails.

Approximate cost: $45

This is the first occasion I have used a business that I found entirely via WOMO, and it has been a very positive experience.

I'd been wanting to have my nails done professionally for some years, but had been reluctant because of all the horror stories one hears. Choice Magazine did an article on this subject a few years ago, spelling out all the things that can go wrong if you are unlucky enough to be serviced by an inadequately trained or careless nail technician: over-trimmed cuticles, fungal infections, and other assorted nasties. Yeechhh. Reading that article almost put me off nail salons for life. There are several nail salons in my suburb, but no way was I just going to choose one at random. I decided I would only visit a nail salon which came with not one, but several recommendations - and that's where WOMO came in. I chose Andrea's business because the reviews on WOMO were universally positive.

First impressions were good. Andrea's website is well laid out, with clear and detailed information about the services she offers. The site is also very upfront regarding prices. One thing I felt was lacking on the site - and I told Andrea this during my first appointment - was a direct comparison of Shellac vs Bio Sculpture. (Things such as: which one gives a neater result, which one lasts longer, which has a greater range of colours, which one is better if your nails are short / long / bitten / thin / flaky / ridged, which one leaves your nails in a better natural condition after the product is removed, and so on.) This would help customers like me who are not familiar with either product, or have experience with one but not the other. In any case, I decided to put myself and my nails in Andrea's hands, and let her use her professional judgement to decide which was more suitable for me.

Andrea was friendly and welcoming when I arrived for my appointment, and she maintains a spotless and comfortable work area. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that there were none of those pungent acrylic fumes that just about knock you over when you go past the doorway of most other nail salons. (Pity the poor people who work in those places.)

On seeing my nails, Andrea recommended shellac, which is the cheaper of the two options, and she did a beautifully neat job. I was very pleased with the result, and astounded at how quick it was. Each coat of shellac literally dries in seconds under the UV lamp, so there is no chance of smudging.

I would have liked a greater choice of colours. Shellac only comes in about 25 colours, several of which I did not like at all (blue, purple, teal, brown, black). Some of the remaining colours were nice enough, but none was exactly what I was looking for. However, Andrea says that the manufacturers (CND) are continually increasing their colour range, and in time we should be able to expect several more colours.

Andrea gave me some advice on aftercare (nothing too difficult: mainly, be careful using suntan oils and personal insect repellants, because they can eat into the shellac). She said that if the aftercare instructions were followed, she was confident the shellac would last two weeks. Often it lasts longer, but anything after two weeks should be considered a bonus.

She was absolutely correct. For two weeks, the painted areas of my nails looked as beautifully neat and perfect as when I stepped out of the salon. Lovely and shiny; not a chip, not a dent, not a scratch. On Day 14, a tiny crack appeared at the edge of one nail, followed by a tiny v-shaped fragment of polish flaking away, and I thought - is this the beginning of the chipping that usually happens with conventional nail polishes long before now? But I was wrong. An hour or so after that chip of polish came away, a chip of the nail directly underneath it also came away. In other words, the flaw was not in the polish, but in the nail; that nail had been in the process of breaking, and it showed up in the polish first.

I went back for my follow-up visit exactly four weeks after the first appointment. By then the colour was very slightly faded on the nail tips, and the finish not quite as glossy as it had been for the first two weeks, but apart from the tiny bit of broken nail, the painted areas of my nails were still as perfectly neat and tidy as they were on Day 1. Still no chips, no dents, no scratches - and that was after four full weeks of normal wear and tear. I have no doubt that if my broken nail had stayed intact, the polish on it would have stayed intact too. This is a very robust product.

And I haven't altered my usual activities in any way to protect my nails either: I've grabbed at keys, played the piano, lifted ring-pulls on the lids of cans, peeled prawns, dug away at those annoying foil and plastic seals that are cemented on to so many condiment bottles these days... the shellac polish has stood up to all of that and more. I'm not sure whether it's the product itself or the skill of Andrea's application, but I've found that shellac really is every bit as hard-wearing as it is claimed to be.

Since it stands up to normal wear and tear exceptionally well, the main determinant of how long the product will last appears to be your rate of nail growth. If your nails are already the length you want them to be, and are very slow-growing, then consider yourself lucky: you may be able to get many weeks out of a single shellac manicure. Not I, alas. Mine grow very rapidly, and the regrowth area was noticeable after as little as a week, especially on my thumbnails, and extremely noticeable after two weeks. And the thing is, you can't just touch up the unpainted area, or even remove the whole lot, as you could have if you'd done the job yourself at home with conventional polish. Even the removal of the shellac needs to be done professionally with (I presume) special products; it's not something that is recommended for you to attempt yourself with ordinary nail polish remover.

If money were no object, I'd have my nails done every week, to avoid the regrowth. Since I can't afford that, I'll probably be looking at every two to three weeks from now on. So if your nails are as fast-growing as mine are, this is something you need to take into account. If you need your polish to last a long time before your next appointment (for instance, if you're going away on holiday), perhaps a colour that's close to your natural nail colour might make the regrowth a bit less noticeable? I went to a job interview on Day 24, and I was very conscious that my nails were showing a lot of regrowth. I just hope that the fact that the colour was a very pale pink made it not quite so obvious. (Normally I would have had them redone before Day 24, but Andrea was taking a couple of weeks off over Christmas/New Year, as she's perfectly entitled to do, so it wasn't possible to get an earlier appointment.)

But this regrowth problem is neither a criticism of the product itself, nor of Andrea's skill with it. It's just a fact that you need to consider: nails grow, you can't deal with the regrowth yourself, so if you want nails that always look their best, you should be aware that you'll be committing yourself to a series of regular appointments. I will definitely be doing so, at least for a while yet. The end result is so good that I think it's worth it.

UPDATE 18 April 2012: I've now had six manicures from Andrea, and I'm still just as happy as I was after the first one. Two more things about her service are worth mentioning:

(1) She has a great loyalty program. After you have had a certain number of shellac manicures, your next one is free. Fantastic value.

(2) If you have a nail that is starting to break across the nail bed, don't panic - make an appointment with Andrea ASAP. She can't do much if your nail has completely broken off, but as long as part of it is still attached, she can perform what's called a "silk repair" to reattach the broken section. It's amazingly strong; so far, all my silk repairs have stayed in place long enough for the broken bit to grow out. And what's more, a silk repair is close to invisible; viewed side-on, the polish is sometimes very slightly thicker than on the other nails, but viewed from above, it looks just the same, so much so that I keep forgetting which are the nails that have had the silk repair.

On my most recent visit, 8 days ago, Andrea reattached a nail that had already broken two-thirds of the way across the nail bed. It was hanging by not much more than a thread. I thought it was beyond hope, and told her she might as well cut it off, but she said "no, I think I can save this one." The result is just beautiful; you now can't tell that it had ever been broken, and I have every confidence that the silk repair will last until my next visit (13 days away). Top marks, Andrea.

UPDATE 21 Aug 2012: Twelve shellac manicures to date, including two freebies (under the loyalty scheme I mentioned above). Still delighted with the product, and with Andrea's first class service.

A small correction to my earlier review. I wrote, "Each coat of shellac literally dries in seconds under the UV lamp, so there is no chance of smudging." Not quite. It's certainly fast, but only the FINAL coat is guaranteed smudge-proof; until that final coat goes on, don't be fooled by how dry it seems. Be careful not to absentmindedly touch your clothes or your hair until the whole process is finished, or you'll deposit a layer of lint onto the not-quite-set polish. Also be careful when inserting your hand into the slot of the UV lamp. The opening is big, but it's still surprisingly easy to misjudge it, bang a nail against the plastic casing, and smudge the polish. After one visit when I managed to do all those things and make a mess of Andrea's lovely work which she then had to fix up, I've learned my lesson. I now pay attention to where my hands are until after that final coat of polish is dry.

Approximate cost: $40 for shellac

Andrea is very professional and a gorgeous young lady. Since discovering Shellac I have not a had any good experiences with the other salons offering this product until I discovered Nail Couture by Andrea. She has restored my faith in Shellac! Shellac now lasts a good 3 weeks for me which is fantastic as it didn't pass a week with other salons. I highly recommend Andrea, she always does a perfect job on both shellac and Bio sculpture. I would never consider going to anyone else again! Thanks for a brilliant job every time Andrea!

Approximate cost: $40 to $60

I love my Shellac nails! I live in Adelaide but come to Melbourne every 3 weeks for work and since discovering Andrea and her services no one else will do! My shellac manicure always lasts the 3 weeks without any chips. I always get complements on my nails since Andrea started to do my Shellac manicure.Thanks Andrea for a great job every time xx

Approximate cost: $40 to $45

Really love my gel nails. Andrea is lovely and very professional. I have had this service done once before and the woman left me with bleeding cuticles - the experience was very unpleasant. Andrea has restored my confidence in manicurists. I travel from Warranwood - it's so worth it. I love that my nails are chip-free for so long!!!

I was impressed by Andrea's website, so decided to travel from Donvale to have shellac manicure. I will certainly be going back to her. She is a really lovely young woman who has a lot of pride in her work. She explains everything about the product she is using and gives handy hints to make the shellac nails last for as long as they can. She doesn't tell you that you must come back at 2 weeks, just leaves that up to you. My nails aren't a great shape, or my fingers as well, but she made them look the best they ever have. Thanks A, you are the best.

Approximate cost: $40

andrea is always flexible with appointments and her shellac nail polish stays on for up to 3-4 weeks

Approximate cost: $40

I have tried Shellac at other salons and they never lasted the promised 14 days until I met Andrea of Nail Couture by Andrea. Now my Shellac manicure stays chip-free and shiny for up to 3 weeks..amazing! I have also tried bio sculpture gel with Andrea and highly recommend her service. I will never try another nail tech again, there is no better then Andrea!

Approximate cost: $40 to $60

I get my shellac manicure at nail couture by andrea and absolutely love it. Andrea really is the best! I always get 2 to 3 weeks out of my mani and people are always complementing on how fantastic my nails look. Thanks heaps Andrea, you really are the best nail tech out there!