Kell's DIY Nails

Shade Last Saturday I went to Knott's Scary Farm to see Elvria and her show, Elvira's Asylum . I'm a HUGE Elvira fan so my main goal was to meet her in her Boo-tique but I quickly found out it wasn't all that simple. In order to get a ticket to the Meet & Greet you had to be there when the park initally opened and bought $50 worth of Elvira merch. I have never been to Knott's before so I had no idea that it would take an hour and a half just to park. Needless to say we didn't get inside the park until 10 minutes before 9pm. Luckily, we got into the first show just in time. Incase you're wondering about the show it consists of Elvira's usual shenanigans (I mean that in a good way too). You will get a lot of her banter, wit, and jokes along with dancing skits with her team of dancers and an arial trapeze artist. She even does a little rap number. It's a pretty short show but I'm a fan of B Level Entertainment and raunchy humor so I a...

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 ...

Prepare yourselves for Holographic Goodness... Bear Pawlish, See You Next Tuesday This lovely polish comes to you from Bear Pawlish ; one of my very favorite indie polish brands. This is called See You Next Tuesday . Are you familiar with the acronym? I am a bit (ok, a lot) of a sailor when it comes to curse words. I find them to act as seasoning to my vocabulary. Many misconceptions exist about women who enjoy a peppered paragraph; for example 'It's not ladylike' or 'it's uneducated'. In my book a lady is an independent woman who sticks to her convictions and doesn't get hung up on the little things. If a curse word prevents you from getting to know the real person under it then you may be a little narrow minded. Ok, moving on... See You Next Tuesday is a purplish pink holo. It also has some duochrome to it when it shifts from fuchsia pink to coral and then to purple. It's a linear holo. I applied a base of Bridge The Ridge (my favorite right now) and...

Ever since I saw Lacquer or Leave Her post this polish I've been dying to wear it. It's so unique; I love the combo of the duochrome and scattered holo. I've gone a little Julep Mad as of late. I took advantage of their Black Friday Sale, their Christmas Sale, and then their After Christmas Sale (Warehouse Sale). If you follow me on Facebook you saw all the haul photos. I bought 1 on Black Friday, 2 during the Christmas Sale, and then completely blew the doors wide open when I bought 9 from their Warehouse Sale. It's been awhile since I bought any Juleps so I figure I was just getting it all out of my system. It doesn't hurt that the prices were deeply discounted. I just don't buy Julep's at full price; it's too expensive. I'm not stupid; there's significantly less polish in those stylish bottles. The formula on Reece was a little bothersome; it was thick and sticky. It also had a tendency to be on the sheer side and I experienced some drag. I...

I remember the day I saw Jen of The PolishAholic post her swatch of Toxic Avenger (by Dollish Polish) like it was yesterday... It's been almost 2 years since that day. When I saw it I knew my existence would not be complete without it. A bit melodramatic??? Yes, but it's exactly how I felt. I loved it like it was my first born child.  Then, the wait ensued... There was a delay and Dollish Polish was working on it. Then, the bad news hit; no more Toxic Avenger. Oh, Sweet Baby Jesus, NOOOOOOOoooooo... Alas, Toxic Avenger was not to be.  I googled, I binged, I eBayed, I scoured Polish Groups on Facebook. Then, I stumbled upon a comment; it mentioned a recipe to franken your own Toxic Avenger. I can't find the original comment but I punched it into my phone back then and I left the gates at a full out run to collect the components.  1) Hard Candy, Beetle (You can find it on eBay). 2) Wet n Wild Fast Dry, Gray's Anatomy (At a drugstore near you). 3) Spectraflair Holographi...

1 coat over Finger Paints' A Grape Catch w/ In A Hurry Top Coat. If you love dark, mysterious, and interesting nails then you need to add this polish to your lemming list. Kingdom of Shadows is an appropriately named polish and fitting for the time of year as well. The base is a very dark vampy reddish purple with icy blue shimmer. The shimmer has a duochrome effect to it; at some angles you will see the shimmer turn magenta. It's pretty sheer. I layered 1 coat over 2 coats of Finger Paints' A Grape Catch . I used 3 coats on my swatch stick and it still looks sheer. Its one of those colors that looks different every time you look at it. The consistency was great and it applied very easily. I especially love the brush; a flat tipped brush that fans out over the nail nicely. Dry time was average and I applied a coat of In A Hurry to finish it off. It didn't dry gritty at all I just like to use a top coat for durability. I picked this up online at www.duricos...

I love it when I get some unexpected nail mail... Especially, when it's from Barielle. When I opened up the box I was pleasantly surprised to see some new shimmers and duochromes. Two of these are game changers and the other three are good staples for any polish lover. Since my fingers have been super dry due to the cooler weather I opted not to do full swatches on my actual finger nails. Instead, I chose to wear one of the new colors on my nails for a few days and I swatched the others on a nail wheel.  Green Opal, Wanna Samba?, and Holiday Madness.  Green Opal, Wanna Samba?, and Holiday Madness,  First is my absolute favorite; Wanna Samba? Yes, yes, I do! Especially with you! This is a wicked shimmer that shifts from teal green to purple (It's the middle swatch in the above photo). I'm so in love with this; it just might be my birthday polish (Jan. 19th). I used 2 coats for the swatch. It's got some brushstrokes in it but it's less noticeable in...

Lilacquer, Roo-Bee Rhod!. 1 coat over: Tip Tip NailChic, Peach Crisp (907)  The Indie polish makers love to do lines based off of their favorite movies, books, TV shows, etc. I think it’s a great way for them to express themselves and make unique combinations. Lilacquer’s Fifth Element Collection really caught my eye; they are unique in that they are shimmery duochromes and don’t contain any glitter. To be honest I’m kinda over glitters at the moment. I think we were so submersed in them that I made myself sick, like when you eat too much cake. LOL More after the jump...

Stamping with Lilacquer, Zorg Industries. Bundle Monster Plate 315 Base Color: Nina Ultra Pro, Sailor I always experiement with stamping on old manis so please excuse the condition of this one...  I received my two lovely Lilacquer polishes in the mail (Zorg Industries and Roo-Bee Rhod!) while I was wearing Nina Ultra Pro, Sailor. I immediately thought Zorg Industries would look great stamped on top of it. As I shuffled through my Bundle Monster plates I zeroed in on this paisley design stamp. This attempt went much smoother and I was able to keep a pretty uniform stamp on most of my nails. I did notice that Zorg Industries dried really quickly on the stamping plate so a few times I stamped without any transfer; but I think this could be due to the hot weather. You can find Lilacquer on Etsy HERE . I really like the effect Zorg Industries created; it’s very subtle but still noticeable. The few mistakes (lack of transfer on areas of the nail) a...