Kell's DIY Nails

Hey Gang! Last Monday was my little dog, Nikki's, 8th Birthday. To mark the occasion (along with a Wag.com Haul) I had the perfect nail polish. My #sweet #BirthdayGirl! #NikkiTheNailNut #Maltepoo #Maltese #Poodle #PoodleMix #dog #dogs #dogstagram #dogsofinstagram #HappyBirthday #TheBig8 #EightYearsYoung A photo posted by Kelly Tomlinson (@blkvelveteen20) on Nov 16, 2015 at 1:19pm PST Sunlight. Algonquin is an amazingly unique color that was released for last years' holiday season. This dusty purple loaded with iridescent micro shimmer and flakies also has a very unique 'lit from within' glow to it. It is absolutely ethereal. The formula was a little on the thick side but not difficult to apply. I applied 2 medium coats to achieve opacity. If you prefer thinner coats you will probably need 3 coats.  Dry time was average and I added a top coat of In A Hurry. This particular polish was LE and is no longer available through most retailers but you c...

I hope you all are enjoying your Christmas (or other holiday) festivities!  I've got another Christmasy mani for you today... I applied 2 coats of Zoya's Veruschka which is one of the MatteVelvet shades that dry matte. This is a deep evergreen with beautiful shimmer. It applied very nicely and since it is a matte it dried quickly. These MatteVelvet's might not be around for long so I suggest getting them now while you can; they are some of the most beautiful mattes. Then I dabbed on one coat of Lumina Lacquer , Hooked On Christmas . Sadly, this particular polish is no longer available but there is one called Jingle Bells that you might like. I love circle glitter and this is various sizes of circle and hexagon glitter in red and various shades of green. There's also a variety of matte, metallic, and holographic finishes. The clear base is a very thick suspension base which required a slightly longer dry time. It also dried a little bumpy but a few coats of ACI's I...

Today's post is one of my very favorite! Every year I like to include an epic Christmas polish; one that I think is all of Christmas rolled into one bottle!  I give you... X-mas Me Silly from Polish Me Silly ! From their website:  ' It is meant to look like a christmas tree with a rainbow of ornaments and yellow, pink, and bright green stars floating throughout it to top it off.... It consists mostly of hexagon glitters and star glitter. It has a jelly green base to make it less transparent and tiny holographic green glitter to represent the tree. All of the colors of the rainbow are in this polish! lol The colors in this polish look beautiful together and it is absolutely stunning on. This is the perfect X-Mas polish...' X-mas Me Silly can be built up to opacity but I opted to layer one coat over Hard Candy, Crush On Ivy. I've had this Hard Candy in my Untrieds for ages and I love how it looks with XMS over the top. Formula was really great and easy to apply; just be ...

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...

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 ...

Are you wearing your green today?!? I sure hope so or you just might get pinched!! The month of March has been very inspired for me and I've done more nail art this month than usual. I did some Mardi Gras Nails that I adored and was very proud of.  I also did a few different green manis earlier this month that I still need to post, but first I want to show you the nails I am wearing today.   Shade. Sun. I started with 2 coats of Jessica, Lime Cooler . This fantastic pastel lime green creme is from the Summer 2012 Gelato Mio! Collection. I picked this up from Ninja Polish quite a while ago because it made me think of Essie's Navigate Her. It's no dupe but I like it even better. I used 2 coats. The first coat was pretty streaky and would drag if you over worked it so I gave the 1st coat plenty of time to dry before adding the 2nd. It then became nicely opaque. Formula was a bit thick. I also got a wonky brush with this polish; the brush is nice and fans out over the nail ni...