Kell's DIY Nails

We're back with another Wear Test! I told you I would be trying China Glazes' new EverGlaze Extended Wear nail color and that's exactly what I did. This wear test actually turned out quite a bit better than my last. I'm sure you can already see that from the above photo. So, let's get to it.

Applying for jobs is a full-time job ya'll.... I've been hitting it extra hard lately. I've had some success (which has been a long time coming) so I'm really hoping good things come of it. Meanwhile, I did manage to paint both my finger nails and toe nails this gorgeous summery shade. Zoya, Myrta is described on Zoya's website as: 'a warm medium orange coral with red undertone, gold and silver metallic shimmer, and a foil-like finish. The coral color of Myrta is soft, but the foil finish gives it added warmth and glow.' I think that description is dead-on accurate. I love these types of corals for summer. It's no secret that one of my all time favorite nail polishes is Essie's Escapades which is also in that same color family. It's a shame that Essie is no longer cruelty free. The formula on this polish is ideal; it's buttery smooth and applies with ease. 2 coats and done. Very little clean up needed. Zoya polishes ar...

I incorporated all of these items into a full face look so I could throughly test them out and show you what they look like when worn. To create this purple smokey eye I used the Mineral Eyeshadow Primer , Essential Smudge Pot in Poppin Party , and Studio Baked Eyeshadow in Burnt Plum . I started with a base of the Mineral Eyeshadow Primer all over my lid, brow bone, and crease. I've been using this stuff for about a year and I think it is comparable to the Urban Decay and Too Faced primers. The texture is really nice; it had a light and creamy texture that is easy to blend on the eye but try to avoid over blending it. It sets pretty quickly to a soft velvety texture. I like to blend it out over the lid, then the brow bone, then the crease. This prevents you from getting too much product in the crease which will then crease later in the day. A little goes a very long way and I always finish application by patting with my fingertip to avoid flaking. When applied correclty this will...

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 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...

Back in the early 90's I was in Jr. High and among all of the trendy and popular brands was Maui and Sons . They make board shorts, tshirts, tanks, hoodies, etc.; it's all beach inspired wear. A trademark of theirs was a shark called Sharkey. They used either neons or washed out colors in their designs so I thought I would close out Shark Week with a Maui and Sons inspired shark mani. Thumb & Pinkie: I used 3 coats of Julep, Nadia . This soft golden yellow shimmer isn't bad; I was expecting it to be sheerer than it is. I also thought it would be streaky and plagued with brush strokes but I was pleasantly surprised. The formula was easy to work with; I actually used my Plié Wand for the first time doing this mani and it worked pretty well. Dry time was average. Do you know what type of shark this is? Index & Ring: 3 coats of Julep, MacKenzie . I really like this bright lime green shimmer and it would probably look even brighter over a white base. It's a lot...

I'm back with another quick & dirty mani and of course it's another texture. Life's been a heck of a ride lately so these quick drying and durable texture polishes are just what the doctor ordered! I think this is the only one out of the Summer Gumdrops Collection I hadn't gotten around to wearing. It's a very pretty orangey pink coral with a very heavy golden shimmer. This particular one is a little on the sheer side. I'm currently trying to grow our some stained nails so it took me 3 coats to cover my staining but otherwise I think you could get away with 2 coats. And I have to admit these polishes are even great for refreshing; I had originally applied just the 2 coats then realized I could still see my staining a little. I was so busy that I couldn't add the 3rd coat until a couple of days later. I had obvious tip wear (no surprise considering my occupation as a tax preparer) but I was able to quickly & easily wrap my tips and layer on my 3rd coa...

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...

I recently found out The Body Shop discontinued one of my favorite lipsticks: The ColourGlide Lipstick in Rose Pink (07). It's a great 'My Lips But Better' color that I reach for over & over.  The Body Shop introduced a new line to replace the ColourGlide line; Colour Crush Lipsticks . I thought I would try out a few of the new lipsticks and see if I could find a close match for Rose Pink. ColourGlide Shine Lip Color in Iced Violet (05) Colour Crush Lipstick in Coral Blush (110), Red Hot Raspberry (201), & Coral Kiss (315) Lip Liner in Beech (02) Lip Line Fixer Some ColourGlide Lipsticks are still available on the website (although I don't know for how long) and I picked up one from the ColourGlide Shine Collection which is Iced Violet (05). This is a gorgeous soft plum (cool toned) with gold shimmer. So pretty and unique in my lipstick collection. You can wear it sheer or build it up. It's very glossy and applies smoothly. It's definitely not long wea...

This is a great collection from Barielle; they're almost all your typical pastels but with a little something different. For example Sour Apple isn't just a typical grass green or mint green, its a bright lime green. Lilac Jelly Bean isn't just a pale lilac, it's a murky lilac that also does double duty as an edgy neutral. Then there is Blue Cotton Candy ; a blue green packed with irridescent micro glitter. I even like Orange Parfait (which is an orangey coral) and Banana Drop (a pale yellow). You can see swatches of these here . One lucky winner will get the Sweet Treats Collection , Nail Rebuilding Protein , and No-Chip Speed Dry Top Coat . A $55.00 Value! Giveaway is open to residents of the United States and must be 18 years of age or older. Due to shipping restrictions I cannot ship Internationally. However, I do have something in the works for my international ladies so don't give up hope just yet! Fill out the Rafflecopter Widget below to enter. ...

February is always a busy month for me and this year was no exception. I didn't get a chance to post my manicures but I did take photos. Please forgive the terrible condition of my hands and the bad photo. CND's Shellac is great for me at tax season; my nails look great for 14 days straight, my nails get the added strength of a gel manicure so they are less likely to break, and application time is much quicker than traditional manicures because you don't have to wait for each layer to air dry.  This is how the color translated most of the time. For February I decided to wear Tropix which I initially thought would be a vibrant coral but in reality it ended up looking fluorescent pink most of the time which I really dug. The picture above was taken after about 4 days of wear. I had a bit of an issue with the color coat pulling away from the edge of the nail as well as trying to wrap my tips but I found a few things to try next time to eliminate those issues. It's importa...