Kell's DIY Nails

Barielle was kind enough to send me their Natural Essential Eye Shadow in Black so I wanted to give you some swatches, a review, and an eye look I did with it. This is what it says on the Barielle Website: DESCRIPTION Get the perfect neutral eye make-up look with this gorgeous palette featuring six eye shadow shades in a variety of natural/nude hues. Give your eyes more dimension with these six must-have shades with a subtle shimmer for a perfect naturale eye. Contour, line and highlight to create just the right amount of definition for spectacular natural eyes! Includes precision brush for perfect application and blending.  DETAILS Size:  6 Pans - Total Weight 0.21 Oz (6g)  Ingredients:  Talc, Mica, Magnesium Stearate, Dimethicone, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Polybutene, Synthetic Wax, Mineral Oil, Tin Oxide, Methylparaben, Propylparaben. May Contain: Mica (CI 77019), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Ferric Ferrocyanide ...

Where have I been... I went crazy. Not like clinically insane but I kinda put a little too much on my plate. I think I'm having a bit of a 'What am I doing with my life?' crisis. Is that also known as a mid-life crisis? I don't know because I'm only 35. Could 35 be mid-life crisis time? Someone please let me know. I've slacked a bit on my nails because I either don't feel like doing them (Gasp!) or I just don't have time. I've been really pushing myself on some other projects of mine so some things had to fall by the way-side. Towards the end of June and through the beginning of July I did these really cool 'Mermaid' looking nails. Both of these glitters are by Barielle ; from the Bling-It-On Collection . The Teal with large gold hexagons is called Sea Urchin . It's a frost and the formula is a little thick but I didn't have any application issues. It also has a duo chrome shift to gold. The other hexagon glitters are teal ...

Hey Gang! I've been back from vacation for a week now and I'm ready to go back! Anyways, whenever we go to the river we always make several trips to the Walmart in Bullhead City, AZ to grab necessities and snacks (oh, and water too!). I also love to check out their Cosmetics Department because many times I find things there that I don't see at my local Walmart stores. Every trip I end up picking up something and this trip was no different. I actually found all three of the Hard Candy Eye Palettes in Sassy Eyes, Smokey Eyes, and Neutral Eyes (FYI: These are really great little palettes that remind me of the Tin Palettes from Too Faced; check 'em out if you get a chance!) as well as Salon Perfect's The Manicure System . I hadn't spotted this locally so I thought I would give it a go and we can see how well it works together! Sound like FUN?!? This system consists of a Nail Cleanser, Bonding Base Coat, and High-Shine Top Coat. The Nail Cleanser is ba...

It's time to mix things up, gang! Say 'Goodbye' to my  12 Days' Giveaway . Now, it's  WIN-ter Wonderland . Over the next 3 weeks I will randomly post giveaway posts that will show you a new prize that will be added to the pot. Each post will also give you additional ways to earn extra entries. I am keeping with the one large prize tactic because 1) It saves me money on shipping and 2) one big prize is just really fun to win! At least in my mind. NOTE: I apologize for the confusion on yesterday's post; I was under the impression that I would be giving away the Jetsetter Collection but when I received the product it was slightly different than I was anticipating. Any entries submitted yesterday will still apply; no need to re-enter if you already have. Barielle's Me Couture Collection , Nail Rebuilding Protein , No-Chip Speed Dry , and Nail Strengthener Cream , You can see my review & swatches HERE . From Dec. 1st through Dec. 18th I will randomly (Mondays...

CORRECTION: The Giveaway is for the Me Couture Collection. See Tomorrows post for corrected photo and Giveaway Post; Sorry for the confusion! Barielle sent me their newest collection, Jetsetter , to review and a set for me to giveaway. They also sent some of their awesome nail treatments as well . I love the mix of colors in this collection; they are all right up my alley. All are shown with 2 coats and I didn't have an issue with formula on any of them.   Kiss Me Kate is 'A creamy beige/pink' but I see it as a peachy nude. It's very opaque and easy to apply. It is a thicker formula but not enough to be bothersome during application. This is a nice palette cleanser but on me it made my skin take on a red tinge.  Autumn In Seoul is what Barielle calls 'A deep, copper shimmer'. I find this to be more bronze. It's beautiful; it seems to glow from within. The formula is very thin and seems to be sheer but after 2 coats I found it to be plenty opaque.  I wore ...

So that title just gave me a genius idea for next year (It's too late for this year); tiny handprint turkeys. Look for it next year. The husband and I love that How I Met Your Mother episode . This year I went with 2 of Barielle's Shades from their Jetsetter Collection ; Autumn In Seoul and Kiss Me Kate. On my ring nail I applied 4 tiny leaves from Jane's Tiny Things , Leaf Me Be Decals. Barielle, Autumn In Seoul : I was very plesantly surprised with this polish. When I first applied it I thought it would be really sheer, streaky, and show brush strokes but I was wrong. This does look sheer on the 1st coat but I was quite satisfied with 2 coats. The formula is thin but applies very easily (just be sure not to over work it). It dried quickly and hardly shows any kind of brush strokes. This warm bronzy brown seems to glow from within. Its quite beautiful on the nail and I love it. Barielle, Kiss Me Kate : This light neutral creme applies very opaque. I used 2 coats but some ...

Hey Gang! Barielle sent me one of their newest collections for Fall to show you. Since I'm not one to do a swatch-a-thon (seriously tough on my nails) I did some nail art. I was inspired by Let Them Have Polish when she did this with a Zoya Collection recently. Index and Middle: 2 coats of Boho Chic as my base color; dotting done with Vintage Gown. Ring and Pinky: 2 coats of Moda Bleu as my base color; dotting done with Taupe Notch. For the dotting I used different sized dotting tools; you can pick up a set here . After it was completly dry I added one coat of In A Hurry Air Dry Top Coat. The Me Couture Collection consists of 6 colors; 5 cremes and 1 creme with slight shimmer. These all have a very consistent formula and are easy 2 coaters.  From Left to Right: Boho Chic : The bottle shot looks teal but on the nail its a forest green creme. Moda Bleu : A dark navy blue creme. Brighter than Milani's Enchanted Sapphire, deeper than China Glaze's One Track Mind. Taupe Notch...

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; ...

We are now on our very last challenge; Week 8 of the Polish Swap Society's Nail Art Challenge is  WHO'S THAT HOMBRE? Create an ombre/gradient look with the help of this tutorial   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQe6jGUkVQA . When I swatched Barielle's Keys Collection I instantly knew I wanted to use Hawaiian Sunset , Topless In St. Tropez , and Panama Piña Colada for this challenge. I instantly saw a sunset on my nails and that's pretty much how it turned out.  Here is my base color of Barielle's Panama Piña Colada. 2 coats. No top coat. The only thing I didn't like about this technique is my latex sponge actually started disintegrating as I used it. Pieces of the sponge were being transferred to my nail. Not so nice. So, I ended up trashing the sponge and instead I used a piece of clean white cotton tshirt material. I folded it up to get a thick square which actually worked great. Just make sure it's not fabric that sheds. I have no idea why my sponge s...

Week 7 of the Polish Swap Society's Nail Art Challenge is Pattern!   Find a dress, pattern, painting to inspire you to create a mani to match. Please also post a photo of the inspiration. I had made a previous attempt that was a FAIL . I thought I would try a different pattern but after some thought (& time on YouTube) I wanted to try the same pattern. I've been hearing about the Led Lighting Technique for about a month. This video helped me to better understand what exactly it is. It's a stained glass effect. Why they call it Led Lighting makes no sense to me but whatevs. In case you didn't see my FAIL post my inspiration is my new Victoria's Secret Forever Sexy Convertible Halter Bikini in the Blue Paisley print. Not the easiest print to replicate but I love the colors.  I applied 2 coats of China Glaze, White On White to all my nails and let it dry completely. I stamped on the Paisley Print Image from Bundle Monster Plate BM-315 using Barielle's Tres C...

I've got the latest collection from Barielle for you today; The Keys Collection. A warm, sun-filled, tropical collection. Perfect for your paradise vacation! Top to Bottom, Left to Right: Hawaiian Sunset, Topless In St. Tropez, Panama Piña Colada Miami Heat, Paradise In The Tropics, Barefoot In Bermuda Let's start with my favorites: Hawaiian Sunset - A vibrant saturated orange with gold shimmer. 2 coats to opacity; great formula. Gonna love wearing this one! It's no secret I love orange and I've been waiting for Barielle to give me a polish like this. Fire Me Up is slightly deeper and lacks shimmer. Topless In St. Tropez - A pretty coral that leans more pink with a very soft silver shimmer. Another great formula that was opaque in 2 coats. I also love corals so this is another I will love wearing. It's a pinker version of Blossom . Panama Piña Colada - A creamy, soft yellow creme. Swatches show 2 coats but I did them on the thick side because yellows have a typi...

Due to circumstances outside of our control the Polish Swap Society's Nail Art Challenge will experience a bit of a delay. The last two challenges will be done every two weeks. That turned out to be a good thing because I had an idea to try a new stamping technique as seen here but it turned out not so great!  I was lucky enough to get a new Victoria's Secret Swimsuit  (in zither Blue Paisley print) and I loved the pattern so much I wanted to try to replicate it for the challenge. Using Bundle Monster Plate BM-315, the paisley print image, I stamped Barielle's Tres Chic onto my stamper and let it dry. Tres Chic is a very dark navy blue with a touch of purple to it. It's a cream and very opaque. I filled in parts of the image using my smallest dotting tool with Barielle's Peach Popsicle which is peachy coral cream and Illamasqua's Cameo which is a periwinkle blue cream. I then allowed this plenty of time to dry on the stamper. I painted my nail stick with on...

Week 5 of the Polish Swap Society Nail Art Challenge is Cornucopia of Fruit! Create a fruit themed mani. Watermelons, fimo fruit, whatever you chose! I didn't use a tutorial; just kind of had an idea pop in my head and I ran with it. We have a Tangelo Tree in our backyard and twice a year we get a bumper crop of these delicious sweet tarts. Tangelos are a hybrid of the orange and grapefruit, so they are a sweeter version of an orange. They are a good sized fruit leaning towards the size of a large orange. They are also easier to peel than an orange (much like a tangerine). So, as you can see they combine the best qualities of all the citrus fruits. The easiest way to identify a Tangelo is by the little nub on the top at the stem.  My base color is Barielle, Teaser . Fantastic formula! Applied like a dream and I didn't have any clean up. I used 2 coats for opacity and dry time was average. I love this green; it's absolutely beautiful and it's a very close dupe of OPI,...

Week 4 of the Polish Swap Society 's Nail Art Challenge is a heart-themed spring mani using this tutorial.  These little hearts are harder than the video looks; at first I was concerned because I don't have a nail art brush like the one used in the video (flat with a pointed tip) but then I remembered I had my mom's box of acrylic paints with a bunch of paint brushes. I quickly found one quite similar.  I then had the daunting task of choosing my colors. I've been dying to wear orange lately so I knew I was starting with an orange. I also had Orly's Starburst from the Galaxy FX collection which has orange glitter in it. My vision was coming together. I knew I wanted to go with white dots but what color should the hearts be? I didn't want pink or purple, nor black. After staring at my colors for a bit I had an idea to go with peach and yellow.  I painted my ring, middle, and thumb with a base color of Barielle, Fire Me Up  from the Vibrants Collection . I love t...

The Polish Swap Society Facebook Group is having an 8-week Nail Art Challenge and I decided to join in. Week 1 is Party Animal Theme. Basically you choose an animal of your choice. I decided to do my 2 Dogs and my Cat!  I used 2 different tutorials and adapted them to fit my vision: Cat: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QsRnVDhY5bo Dogs: http://www.nuthinbutanailthing.com/2013/08/dog-nail-art-tutorial.html I practiced fine tuning my idea on some swatch sticks. Translating the colors of my dogs was the hardest part. My tuxedo cat was easy-peasy. I started with a base color of  Essence Nail Art Twins in Bella . These are HTF and I recently got lucky and got them from a stash sale. My main reason for choosing this color is that it is easily a one coater and it would dry quickly so I could start the nail art. I also knew I would be using the glitter in Edward on a few of my nails. (No, I am not a Twilight fan; I just love the color of this set) Thumb: My cat...