If you've ever paid any attention to the Nails by Laura D Lee homepage you'll have noticed that halfway down my Services section I advertise all the brands I use by displaying their logos. I am proud of every brand I've invested in, and each one has been selected as a result of careful research & glowing reviews, so I thought I'd share the reasoning behind why I've chosen each of them in this blog series.
Without a doubt, my most prominent brand is CND™. If you've ever had a Nails by Laura D Lee treatment, I will have used at least 1 CND™ product. CND™ (which stands for Creative Nail Design) is an American company which specialises in professional nail, hand and foot beauty. In the UK, its professional products are only legitimately available via SweetSquared; the CND™ items I use can be split into 5 main categories - CND™ Shellac™, CND™ Vinylux™, CND™ Spa, CND™ Plexigel™ and CND™ aftercare products.
CND™ Shellac™
CND™ Shellac™ is the high-shine, long-lasting, Gel Polish system which dries instantly & provides 14+ days of high-performance wear with no natural nail damage. It is quick and easy to remove, and there are currently over 160 shades to choose from. Given that you can also layer different Shellac™ shades to create new colours, the options are limitless! CND™ Shellac™ is responsible for starting my nail journey and despite the 100s of other brands out there, for all the reasons above I have never found reason to stray.
Fun fact - 'CND™ Shellac™' itself is a brand name, so well known that people often use 'Shellac' interchangeably with 'Gel Polish' (much like 'Hoover' and 'Vacuum cleaner').
CND™ Vinylux™
CND™ Vinylux™ is an innovative fast-drying, chip-resistant, long-wear polish, needing no base coat. Whereas genuine CND™ Shellac™ is only available to qualified professionals, CND™ Vinylux™ can be enjoyed by anyone. It paints on like a regular polish, making it super easy to use at home, but it also has the added benefit of ProLight Technology in the top coat which becomes more durable with exposure to natural light, meaning the coverage actually gets stronger as time goes on. I also love that it is available in identical shades to CND™ Shellac™, making it perfect for matching your toes to your fingers or for touch-ups at home. To try it out yourself, click here.
CND™ Spa
After completing my CND™ Shellac™ training, I was hooked on the quality of both the products and the education, so I looked into further certification and completed both the CND™ Spa Manicure & Spa Pedicure courses, which enabled me to widen my treatment options to include a Spa Manicure, Transformation Pedicure & Luxury Pedicure. The Spa Manicure is perfect for when you want to treat someone (or yourself!) to an extra-special mani experience, whilst both Spa Pedicures are ideal for transforming your feet while simultaneously enjoying an indulgent pamper.
The CND™ Spa products are available in a variety of gorgeously scented collections - my Spa treatments currently use either the Bright Citron or the Sugar Vanilla ranges, both of which smell absolutely divine - and include a scented soak, an exfoliating scrub, a sumptuous masque and a rich moisturising lotion. All of the CND™ Spa products feel exquisitely decadent, making them the ideal accompaniment to a luxury treatment, and they're fully compatible with CND™ Shellac meaning that they won't contribute to any product breakdown or lifting.
CND™ Plexigel™
CND™ Plexigel™ is the newest CND™ revelation - an amazing new product which allows me to fill, fix, sculpt, shape, lengthen & strengthen your nails! I was 1 of only 2 nail techs in the UK to complete this qualification when it was released in October 2020 - right before Boris then shut us all down again. Plexigel™ is fully compatible with CND™ Shellac™ & CND™ Vinylux™, but can also be used as a stand-alone service to shape, build and protect natural nails, all with no nail damage.
CND™ Aftercare Products
Finally, the CND™ aftercare products, available for at-home post-mani upkeep and nail maintenance, are nothing short of wonderful. There's a reason that the award-winning
SolarOil™ is used in every single nail treatment NbLDL has to offer (you can read all about the importance of using SolarOil™ here), or that RescueRXX™, which is clinically proven to strengthen weakened nails, is my go-to recommendation for anyone who wants an at-home product to prevent their nails from splitting and peeling. Similarly, the effectiveness of their Cuticle Eraser® in preventing cuticle build-up & hangnails is unparalleled. At-home aftercare is a key component in making your mani last as long as possible, and the CND™ products give us the tools to be able to do this easily, quickly and wildly effectively.
In short, I have been blown away by both the professional and the client-friendly items produced by CND™ - the quality, the range of choices, and the science that underpins the foundation of each and every product - making them an obvious choice for Nails by Laura D Lee treatments.
Want to find out more? Click here for Part 2, which focusses on innovative field-leaders IBX™ & Footlogix®, & here for Part 3, detailing the favoured nail art brands Lecenté, Magpie Beauty, :Yours Cosmetics and Moyou London.
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