Kell's DIY Nails

I've got two of the new Neon Collision polishes from Salon Perfect. Kaboom. 3 coats. Shocked. 3 coats. On a trip to my local Walmart I got super lucky and found an enormous cardboard display the size of a SmartCar full of these Salon Perfect polishes. Because it is so rare to find a full collection/display at my particular Walmart, I went ahead and bought all 6. For me that's really not that crazy because I love matte glitter. Plus, the price point is excellent; $3.99 ea. However, I did post a picture as I was standing in the checkout line stating I needed an intervention. Soon after that I put myself on a No-Buy. No polish purchases until July 12th. Then, I will reward myself... Hee Hee Hee. The formula on these is tricky. Let's start with Kaboom; an awesome mix of blue and lime green matte glitters. This resembles a popular indie we all know and love called 'Floam' . It's probably the Holy Grail of polish. I don't own it but I own some of the o...

Pomegranate Lacquers , Fit For A Prince. 1 coat. Wait, did I type that right? Yep, this one's a one coater. Pretty cool, huh? Pomegranate Lacquers sent this to me for review along with Pennywisher . I have way too many untrieds at the moment so I had Penny make a pick for me and she chose Fit For A Prince. You can see Penny making her choice HERE ! Fit For A Prince is what I would call an 'exact blue' meaning there's nothing else here; no undertones of purple or pink, it's just perfectly blue. When comparing it to my other blues in my stash the only one that came close was Essie's Mesmerize which is very very similar but just a touch darker. This is a perfect replacement for Mesmerize in my stash. When the 4th of July rolls around I will be using this as my blue. It's also very creamy and opaque. It is a little thick but what bothered me most about this polish was the wonky brush; I had a very hard time getting a nice clean line at the cuticle. The ...

There's a brand new monthly subscription beauty box that's vegan, which also means you can be sure all of the items inside the box are cruelty free and never tested on animals. Finally! A subscription box I am comfortable signing up for! I read about it over at Phyrra 's blog and without hesitation I signed up. Sadly, the June Box is already sold out. If you watch the video at the link below they revealed two of the items; a little cosmetic/change purse and a gorgeous LVX Polish called Deco (It's a close dupe to Essie's Tart Deco). I really wanted that polish! Oh, well, I went ahead and signed up for the August Box. $19.99 a month. That's even a price point I can handle. Check it out: http://vegancuts.com/beautybox

Crazy Polish Lady, A Whole New World. 2 coats. Who me? A crazy polish lady?!? Well, yeah, I guess I kinda am but I'm talking about an indie polish maker who goes by the name Crazy Polish Lady . I happened to stumble across her Facebook Page and I saw she had a collection of Disney themed polishes. I'm a Disney Fan of course but I'm picky at the same time. I have seen lots of Disney themed polishes but they just didn't translate for me. These ones did! Of course the whole reason I even placed the order was for Hakuna Matata, a Lion King inspired polish. Because the Crazy Polish Lady isn't in the US, shipping was a little more expensive than normal so I figured I would buy a few other pretties. This was one of the others I picked up. A Whole New World is based off of Disney's Aladdin. It's a baby blue base packed with various sized matte hexagons in red, pink, purple, blue, and green. I am very sorry about the condition of my dried out fingertips; I wa...

Apparently Google is shutting down Google Reader and GFC effective July 1st. I was really hoping they would change their mind but that didn't happen. I found this great blog post that shows you a way to quickly and efficiently move all of the blogs you follow from Google Reader to Bloglovin'. http://www.thekimmiechronicles.com/2013/06/replacing-google-friend-connect-with.html I went ahead and tried it and while it didn't work on my mobile, it did work on my desktop, so go ahead and give it a shot! I'm going to remove my 'Subscribe by GFC' button from the margin now too. Good-bye GFC!

China Glaze, Infra Red. 2 coats. Infra Red is from China Glaze's Hologlam Collection . It's not a red as the name implies but more of a deep magenta. I really like the effect of these holo's; it's a smooth foil like appearance due to the use of smaller holographic particles. Some people don't like the effect of these; they liked the larger particle holos but I'm very happy with the appearance of these. This particular shade has a very strong holo effect but my photos don't do it justice. The only downer is the actual formula when applying. Before using this polish I knew I needed a good base coat that would work well with holos. So, I went online and did some research and found some rave reviews about Glisten & Glow's Stuck on Blu! Base Coat . So, I went ahead and bought it. I applied one thin coat of G&G Stuck on Blu! and allowed it to dry thoroughly. I then applied a thin coat of Infra Red. I found that it's not good to overwork t...

Dollish Polish, I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested. 1 coat over: Julie G, Hot Cinnamon. Here is another one of the polishes from Dollish Polish's Big Bang Theory Collection . This is a hot mess in a bottle; it contains multi sized hexagons and multi sized squares in various colors; some are matte and some are shiny. It also has long white bar glitter and large black circle glitter. It's a really crazy and fun mash up of glitter. Formula was pretty great for a glitter bomb like this. The suspension base is thick enough to suspend the glitter yet applies very easily. I didn't need to dab or worry about glitter placement. As you can see I got excellent glitter payoff with just one thin to medium coat. It did take a little extra time to dry due to the thicker base but I didn't mind. I love that I can take the big square top off the bottle and use the smaller cap when polishing. It wasn't too gritty but I still finished it off with a coat of Gelous and...

I've finally decided to liquidate my Essie stash since they are no longer cruelty free. Kinda sad since it was the brand I fell in love with and turned me into this polish hoarder. I also figure that by letting you take my Essie's off my hands you are not buying them from Essie (and lining L'Oreal's pockets). So, that's a good thing too! So, I have listed the HTF (Hard To Find) & VHTF (Very Hard To Find) polishes on eBay. There are four of them: Bright Tights, Sag Harbor, Barefoot In Blue, and a mini Pink Parka. http://www.ebay.com/sch/blkvelveteen21/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686 I have listed all my other Essie's on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/blkvelveteen20/essie-for-sale/ Please feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions or would like to purchase anything. :-)

Index & Middle: Duri, Cognac XO. 2 coats. Ring & Pinkie: China Glaze, Solar Powered. 3 coats. Stamping done with Bundle Monster Plate BM-301 and Konad Special Polish in Green. Here in Corona, CA (Inland Empire, Southern California) we have a Mexican Restaurant that started as  a hole-in-the wall local favorite and pretty soon grew to be a very well known Mexican fast food chain here in SoCal. It holds particular importance to me because I remember frequently going there with my best friend and her family back when we were teenagers. Back then it was in a building that was very unassuming and set back from the main street. The prices were low and the food was hearty. These days there is now a very fancy building, custom made, that houses Miguel's Restaurant. There are several Miguel's Jr.'s throughout SoCal and many more are in demand by their fans. I don't go to the restaurant much anymore (although, I was just there yesterday for $4 Margaritas & A...

' It’s human nature to want a life like someone else’s. Even if we know in our hearts that another person’s world isn’t perfect, it doesn’t stop us from our superficial longings.   This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A desire for bigger things is good if it propels us to nurture the blessings in our own life, and to do the work necessary to create even more.  The grass isn’t greener on the other side. It’s greener on the lawn most cared for.' - Adonna Connell I have a friend on Facebook who is incredibly good with words and also very balanced in mind and spirit. Lately she has been posting some amazing words and they are really speaking to me. They seem to convey a thought or feeling I have or something I am struggling with. Basically, they are just what I need to put on my smile and face the day. I told her she needed to start her own blog but until then I want to post her inspirational wisdom here to share with all of you. I love that her thoughts are not a...

Barielle is releasing yet another summer collection called Brilliant Colors... This set is another collection of vibrant creme Shades. The name is a play on being Smart 'Brilliant' and the colors being Bright 'Brilliant'. Cute but I was hoping for something unique (which this collection is not) but there is one Shade in here that I really love and we will get to that in just a moment. Instead of swatching them all on a nail wheel and choosing one Shade to wear I opted to do a Skittle mani; this will be the first time I am posting one on my blog. I haven't done a Skittle mani since I was in my early 20's (that would be 10 years ago). Smarty Pants Pink (Pinkie) - A chalky bubble gum pink. Formula was thick and streaky. In comparing it to others in my stash I don't have anything quite like it; it's much lighter than my favorite Orly, Basketcase and darker than Barielle's Pink Flip Flops. Straight A Coral (Ring) - A bright pink/red coral that w...

Julie G, Hot Cinnamon. 2 coats.  I don't know why it took me so long to post this... Well, actually I do... I've been stretched a little thin lately between my hubby and my other activities. Also, back when I was posting my 7 Days of Purple for Cancer Awareness & Prevention I had to hold off on posting my other swatches. Since then I have decided to start The Insanity Workouts and O.M.G. it is some serious work to do them. The 1st few days made me so sore and I was exhausted. I literally just aimed to take care of my pets and do some minor but necessary housework. Are any of you into The Insanity Workout? Are you just beginning it like me or are you a seasoned pro by now??? Hot Cinnamon is one of the new(ish) Gumdrops Collection by Julie G. It is a beautiful berry red texture polish with micro glitters in pink and gold. It's so gorgeous! I posted it on twitter when I initially applied it because I was so darn impressed and in love with it. It's my very fav...

I also wanted to give you a heads up on a new Barielle Sweepstakes starting June 10th. You can enter to win one of 10  Barielle  Kits . These kits consist of: 2 -  5 Pack Nail Color Sets, Summer Brights & their new collection, Brilliant Colors  (Retail $50.00) 1 -  Nail Rebuilding Protein Base Coat  (Retail $17.50) 1 -  Nail Strengthener Cream  (Retail $17.00) 1-   No Chip Speed Dry Topcoat  (Retail $12.50) Total Retail Value of $97.00! There will also be One Grand Prize Winner who will receive a  Barielle Kit  and a  Blue Leather DKNY Handbag;  A Retail Value of over $175.00. Isn't it gorgeous?!? Be sure to visit and 'Like' the  Barielle Fan Page  so you can enter. Sweepstakes ends on June 30th.