Kell's DIY Nails

It's the 1st Day of Fall today and I have been eagerly anticipating this day! The only thing better will be the 1st Day of October!  As you can see the blog got a little background change; I'm digging these birds; they look like crows or ravens. Before fall comes the spooky holiday Halloween so you will be seeing lots of Halloween on the blog for October.  If you follow me on Instagram or Pinterest you have been seeing how I am gearing up for my favorite holiday. Sourpuss Zombie Cameo Dress Check out this awesome dress! I love zombies so this is the perfect dress for me. Check out my Halloween Board on Pinterest to see more of my macabre picks! Milani Color Statement Lipstick in Sweet Nectar   /   Pomegranates from my tree Target has Dunkin' Donuts Pumpkin Spice Coffee now   /   Neutral Eye using Urban Decay's Vice 3  I have a mix of everything (including my cat & 2 dogs) on my Instagram account. I love posting on IG; it's probably my favorite o...

Do you ever finish a mani and realize you just weren't feeling it? That's what happened to me with my last summer mani. I thought I would really love to use these two Illamasqua's with a glitter I had lusted after for quite sometime. Illamasqua, Jo'mina & Cameo with Lumina Lacquer, Pinball Wizard on top. On my ring & pinky: Illamasqua, Cameo is a perfect periwinkle blue (that leans purple) creme. I used this for some nail art in this post and loved the color then too. The formula is great; a perfect 2 coater. For some reason I got horrible bubbling; I believe due to the heat & humidity. I will definitely give this another spin to see how it performs outside of 106 degree weather. On my index & middle: Illamasqua, Jo'mina is another great polish; this lilac purple creme has a little bit of shimmer in the bottle but it doesn't translate onto the nail. No worries though because a color this good stands alone. Another great formula and 2 coater. A...

I'm just over here trying to blast out some summer polishes. Seriously, why wasn't I wearing these sooner?!? Shade (This is color accurate for Pearly Brights) Nina Ultra Pro, Pearly Brights is a hot pink neon and a good one at that! My picture shows 3 thin coats (no undies) on my ring and pinky. Of course my camera had a hard time picking up the color because it's so bright. It's a warm toned pink and leans coral. It's amazing; one of my very favorite neons I've ever used. The formula was really nice and easy to apply. It dried quickly to a matte finish. This was an impulse buy from a stash sale. I seriously love stash sales. You wanna call me a hippy for being cruelty free and recycling? Go right ahead! LOL Sunlight (my camera freaked out on Pearly Brights) Love & Beauty, Coral (love that shimmer) I layered 2 coats of Love & Beauty, Coral over Pearly Brights on my my index and middle nails. This is a sheer shimmery polish and is best layerd over other ...

I bought this after seeing The PolishAholics' Formula X Spam post . I've been looking at the gorgeous bottle for ages and since summer is quickly winding down I wanted to get this on my nails. One problem though; the formula stinks. Not smelly stinks either. It's probably one of the worst formulas I've ever worked with. Kapow! is a bright and bold electric blue with shimmer that changes from blue to pink and then to purple depending on the light and angle. It's seriously gorgeous. A lit from within glow with the intense blue is really special. The formula was very sheer and it actually cracked on top of my base coat as it dried; the weirdest thing ever. I even tried starting over with a different base coat but the same thing happened. Both were ridge filling base coats though so maybe that was it. It took 3 coats to get it to even out and to give me some opacity (though you can still see some light through my nails at certain angles). The good news is it dries very...

Barielle asked me to create a tutorial using their products and I was happy to oblige. In fact it was quite easy since they have such a great selection of colors in their Shades line. I was actually trying to decide what to do for my World Suicide Prevention Day post and it worked out perfectly. Let's get started! Materials Used: Barielle Hydrating Ridge Filler Barielle Shades in Designer's Shoes Barielle Shades in Soho At Night Barielle Intensive Nail Renewal Oil Barielle Ultra Speed Dry Manicure Extender Chevron Tip Guides Prep your nails as usual; remove old polish thoughly, push back cuticles, cut and file if necessary. Wipe down all nails with a swipe of acetone, polish remover, or white vinegar. Any of these will work well to remove all the oils from your nails. Apply one coat of Barielle's Hydrating Ridge Filler to all nails being sure to wrap the tips. I like using a ridge filling base because I don't have to buff and weaken the integrity of my nails. I also l...

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day and I wanted to help drive awareness and save lives with IASP (International Association for Suicide Prevention) . In a recent post for Depression Awareness I touched on my personal battle with Depression. What I didn't talk about is that my depression started as a young teenager; I had severe anxiety and low self esteem that often left me with feelings of hopelessness and thoughts of suicide. I always imagined myself taking a bunch of pills and never waking up. I didn't have the nerve to cut myself or use a gun; I didn't have any confidence in myself that I could do either of those without messing it up. I often felt no one cared about the things I battled on the inside; like I was invisible. My mother treated me as though my moping and sadness was simply laziness. If and when I tried to talk to her she often redirected the conversation. I could never talk to my dad about my feelings because he was too busy with work or his hobbies; ...

I spotted this on Instagram via Kellie Gonzo and instantly had to have it. I have a soft spot for Coral and Gold. I stuck it in my Pinterest Polish & Makeup Wishlist Board and started regularly checking Storenvy & eBay for it. I found it about a month later for only $5! Awesome!  Super Orgasm is a soft peachy pink coral with tons of fine gold shimmer and small gold hex glitter. It's very sheer. I originally thought I would simply build it up but this was only available in a mini (5 ml) and I didn't want to use it all up. I applied a base color of L.A. Girl Polka Dot in coral (No name). This came in one of their Polka Dot Nail Art Sets . It's really opaque and creamy; perfect for dotting and nail art. Not so great for polishing your entire nail; while it's super opaque it's streaky. But it still worked for my base color. I applied one coat and allowed it plenty of time to dry. I applied applied 2 coats of Super Orgasm over my base color. I did 2 coats be...