Kell's DIY Nails

Dollish Polish, Penny... Penny... Penny... 4 coats. Outdoors, Full Sun. Indoors, Natural Light.  This past Tuesday was one of my little dogs', Penny's, 4th birthday! Of course I had to wear a 'Penny' polish, and it wasn't easy choosing one; I have so many. This one is actually quite perfect because I even had this set as my ring tone on my Android Smart phone; sadly, I can't find the ring tone for my new iPhone. First we will cover the details of this polish; this is from Dollish Polish's The Big Bang Theory Collection . I really just wanted this polish but after seeing the others in the collection I decided to treat myself and get the entire collection. I'm not a huge glitter person but I really like the variation used for these glitters so I actually can see myself using them all; I've already used I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested and it will be up shortly. Penny... Penny... Penny... is a pale peach shimmery milky base wi...

Julie G, Crushed Candy. 2 coats.  These texture polishes are great; I seriously did not expect to like them so much. I don't have any of the Zoya PixieDust collection but the Gumdrop Collection by Julie G has got me. They all apply so beautifully and look great. Crushed Candy is a light red toned lavender. This particular polish has the fine texture of typical texture polishes but they added some hexagon glitters in silver and lavender in there too. It gives it a little more sparkle and makes the matte texture less noticeable.  I've also worn Hot Cinnamon from this collection which is vibrant berry red. I will be posting that one soon but Hot Cinnamon does not have the hex glitter in it and I actually liked that one better but it is a matter of which you personally prefer. I still like Crushed Candy; it looked more textured in real life than it does in this photo. It's so blingy it made the photo blur; couldn't get a single photo where it wasn't blurred. Of...

OPI, Suzi & The 7 Dusseldorfs. 3 coats.  This is from OPI's Germany Collection. A big part of my heritage is German and I just had to have the entire collection so I bought it for myself at Christmas; I even bought the display. Yes, I'm that crazy. Moving on... I had read quite a few blogs about this collection and everyone exclaimed how nice the formulas were but this one wasn't so nice. Maybe it was because I didn't use a base coat but it was really thin, runny, streaky, and I had problems with dragging. I had to use 3 coats to get it all evened out and I still see an uneven finish. I will give this another shot (probably this fall or winter) with a nice base and top coat. I do see some possibilities in this though; it's almost a metallic... it's so, so, reflective. I like how it changes personality because it looks so dark then a little light hits it an it just lights up. This is a red toned purple that's vampy and sexy but not one of those alm...

Cult Nails, Seduction. 1 coat over: Cult Nails, Flushed.  Could Flushed get any better? Put this iridescent flakie top coat over it and... Yes, it can. Seduction was the cousin to Clairvoyant or Unicorn Puke as it was originally known. For a while there Cult Nails was owning the Flakie Glitter market. People were clamouring to get them. Me, I kind of just sit back and wait for something comparable to come out. I hate trying to buy the popular polish; it ends up being such a drain mentally, physically, and monetarily. After all the excitement died down they were completely sold out of Clairvoyant (AKA Unicorn Puke) and it had been discontinued. However, they still had Seduction in stock and then they had a pretty good sale so I snapped this lovely up. The formula is amazing and really easy to apply. This was one coat with a few extra swipes here and there. It gives great glitter payoff and its not thick, goopy, or gritty. A fantastic flakie glitter. I lo...

Cult Nails, Flushed. 3 coats.  Here's a stunning beauty for you all... Avibrant purple jelly with an intense pink shimmer. For those of you who are quite familiar with Cult Nails you know that a lot of them are jelly types due to the fact that it gives the polish incredible depth and an incredible shiny finish. It's also a much easier to apply. The formula on Flushed did not disappoint; excellent self leveling. A few seconds after polishing I would find a little polish pooled on the side of my nail; the good thing is I always use an orange wood stick to clean up after polishing each nail. I was able to clean it up quickly and easily. I'm thinking it's a result of the self leveling formula. The first coat was pretty sheer but that is to be expected with a jelly. I could have gotten away with two coats but I added the third just to increase the intensity of the color... and it is so beautiful. The brush works well but mine was a little wonky. Dry time was average. ...

Misa, Frozen in Time. 2 coats.  Coming to you from my new Apple iMac! I posted on Facebook that it was the best day of my life and then quickly corrected myself and wrote 'the second best day of my life.' LOL Here we have a very pretty soft purple cream with a hidden pink shimmer. The good news is it definitely translates onto the nail and doesn't just appear in the bottle. The formula was a little sheer and a little goopy. I wonder if goopy is the right word... It's not thick but for some reason I kept having to dip back into the bottle to finish each nail. Kind of like it didn't want to evenly coat the nail. It did have a crelly like consistency to it and I'm pretty sure that's why we get such a lovely shimmer on the nail. Even after 2 coats I have some areas that are kind of sheer. Dry time was average. While the formula was a little lacking I still love the color and decided this was the color I wanted to wear this week so this one was done with...

ManGlaze, Mink Mitten. 2 coats. How to begin? How about... This is freaking awesome! I love this silvery lavender foil; I didn't think I would like this color on me but I really love it. I seriously wanted to keep it on. Screw all the other purple posts. No, No, I can't do that! (Bummer!) ManGlaze is the king of all matte polishes; the formula is butter and they all apply really great. I have never had a bad ManGlaze polish. I know matte polishes don't normally have the greatest of staying power but I still love them. This one is a perfect foil finish; not a brush stroke in sight, just shimmery shiny goodness. The other great thing about mattes is they dry super quick so if you need a speedy mani just go for a matte. On this I applied two coats really quickly with no dragging or anything. I also appreciate that the formula is the perfect viscosity so it makes application pretty much goof proof; the brush is good too. I got a perfect line up to my cuticle and no clea...

Duri, Grape Swirl. 2 coats. This is a great shade if you don't happen to be a 'color' person. This is a muted down lavender and it is very unique in my stash. It has a lovely micro shimmer. There are some visible brush strokes in the photo but they were unnoticeable in real life. The formula was nice, but a little thin. The thin formula makes for easy application of thin coats but you will also want to be cautious of pooling at the cuticle and sides of your nail. The first coat went on pretty opaque with just a few bare spots so my second coat evened it all out. Dry time was pretty fast but I didn't use a base coat or top coat either. This polish does translate a little darker on the nail than in the bottle, in shade it looks like a dark grey but when the light hits it it lightens up to this mink lavender. Very pretty. Since I'm such a nut for neutrals this will definitely be a polish I will wear in the future. I bet it would be even prettier with a coat of ...

Hard Candy, Pixie Pink. 2 coats.  I finally got my hands on the Hard Candy Sprinkles! Yay! I wasn't having any luck finding them locally but when the hubby and I went to Needles, AZ for a wedding we stopped at the Wal-Mart in Bull Head City and I found these stocked there! I did a little happy dance right there in Wal-Mart; which by the way is a pretty awesome Super Wal-Mart that is very clean. Pixie Pink is one of the ones I picked up. I also got Sweet Tooth, Pink Taffy, and Cocoa Smore. Cocoa Smore is the one I really wanted but for some reason Pixie Pink called to me when I decided to do my nails this time around. It's a pale pink/lavender base with small hex glitter in teal, silver, and light pink. It's very squishy looking and you could call this a Jelly Sandwich in a bottle - I'm pretty sure you could call all of them that. Formula was pretty good; it was easy to apply and the brush is nice too. My first coat went on easily but a litt...

Lynnderella, Connect the Dots. 1 coat over: Barielle, Sweet Addiction & Cosmic Kiss.  Did I really just post a Lynnderella?!? I did! I did! I bought this sooo long ago (back before it was a chore to purchase) and then the drama hit and it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. If you don't know about the drama that ensued; just do a little digging and you will quickly find it - along with a lot of opinions. Me, I'm gonna keep my opinion to myself. While, you won't see me buying any more Lynnderella creations I did buy some back in the Early Indie years (not that long ago; I'm just being silly) and I've since used the other two I bought but this one was waiting... waiting for the right moment. That moment is now. Whenever I do an accent nail I feel I need something to pull it together; in my last post I mentioned this color combo reminded me of the 90's.... Well, now it's even more 90's... add a little black and white and it looks like the p...

Barielle, Sweet Addiction. 2 coats. Barielle, Cosmic Kiss. 3 coats. (Ring Finger Only) Here I'm showing you the other two Shades in Barielle's Summer Brights Collection. Sweet Addiction is a great creamy teal that could easily be a one coater. The formula is super easy to work with and applies like butter. Dry time was average and I didn't experience any issues with dragging or bare spots. I then decided to add an accent nail of Cosmic Kiss; a vibrant fuchsia pink. Its almost a neon pink. Formula on Cosmic Kiss was not as great as Sweet Addiction; there's a little more sheerness to it and its a thinner consistency. I had to use a bit more caution in my application to avoid pooling at the cuticle. After 2 coats there were still bare patches so I added a 3rd coat to get it fully opaque. I also have this color on my toes because it is a perfect pedi color. Again, dry time was average. I finished my mani off with a coat of Gelou...