Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Strawberry

Opulent Essences - Strawberry has been quite the hit on Instagram. Sharon & Zoe, the girls behind Opulent Essences, even  shared a little video that I had compressed from the Live Swatch that I did over at my YouTube Channel 

A video posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on Mar 28, 2016 at 1:00pm PDT

I have therefor decided to do a nail art using Opulent Essences - Strawberry first.

Opulent Essences - Strawberry

Whenever I get my hands on a new polish, the first thing I always wonder about is whether or not they stamp. That's why I grabbed Opulent Essences - Lemon and Bundlemonster - ChitChatNails - BMXL202 and BM-219 and tested this theory.

I did not stop to think about what I was stamping on top, I think I should have done that, because I would have realized that stamping neon over neon might not be the smartest idea. Never the less, I did. So that you don't have to.

Opulent Essences - Strawberry  with stamping done using Opulent Essences - Lemon and Bundlemonster ChitChatNails - BMXL202 and BM-219 as accent. 

It was incredibly hard to capture on camera, with the neon stamping on top, to the naked eye, it looked really cool. I decided to change things up a little, to get a nail art look I would be happy with.
I grabbed Barry M - Superdrugs Limited Edition - Yellow and went back over the Opulent Essences - Lemon. I repainted the accent nail and placed some golden studs instead.

Opulent Essences - Strawberry with stamping done using Opulent Essences - Lemon and Barry M - Superdrugs Limited Edition over with Bundlemonster ChitChatNails - BMXL202 and golden studs for accent. 

I am super happy with how this look ended up. The golden studs give this a bit of an edge, and I think it pairs excellent with the stamping image. 

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Live Swatch and Review

I recently purchased the Taste The Rainbow Collection from Opulent Essences (link to their Etsy Store). I was super excited about this collection, first of all since it is a neon collection, and secondly because the pictures I had seen showed them as super super glossy neons.

I was not disappointed at all. In order to snap some pictures of them properly, and be able to see what I was working on in the ViewFinder on my Camera, I needed to have my Sunglasses on. That.  Says it all.

My Lunch and some of the Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection. Wondering where to start.

I started out with one coat of UNT peel-off basecoat, then a coat of Sinful Color - Snow Me White, followed with one to two coats of the various Opulent Essences - Taste the Rainbow Collection.

I hope you liked the video I have created. This, and the next couple of weeks I will post nail art looks using this collection, to give you some ideas on how they preform.

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection.

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Lime
Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Orange

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Lemon

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Grape

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Strawberry
Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Blueberry

Ard As Nails - Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams

Today I have for you the last polish from the Bookouture Girls Collection that was recently launched over at Soap Dodger. Ard As Nails - Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams.

Ard As Nails - Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams

Ard As Nails is a 5-free, cruelty free, EU Approved Indie nail polish brand here in the UK.

Ard As Nails - Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams is a medium fuchsia, with subtle holographic qualities. As you can see in my live swatch above, you can get away with one coat if you do a heavier coat, I would however recommend doing thinner coats of this and have those two coats for a flawless look.

Like with the Ard As Nails - White Cliff Bay look that I did earlier this week, I used Petla - Ceres (link to Nail-Artisan UK where I purchased it), as well as my Clear Jelly Stamper that I also got from Nail-Artisan UK. The polish that I choose to stamp with is Zoya - Kalista.

Tunnel-vision of the stamping process with a Clear Jelly Stamper

Ard As Nails - Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams stamping nail art using  Petla - Ceres 

Ard As Nails - White Cliff Bay

Today I have for you another polish from the Bookouture Girls Collection that was recently launched over at Soap Dodger. Ard As Nails - White Cliff Bay.

Ard As Nails is a 5-free, cruelty free, EU Approved Indie nail polish brand here in the UK.

For this look I first applied 2 coats of Ard As Nails - White Cliff Bay, before grabbing my stamping plate Pet'la - Ceres and Peripera - PO19. I also used, as you can see in the video my Clear Jelly Stamper that I purchased last month from Nail-Artisan UK. 

Ard As Nails - White Cliff Bay

Pet'la - Ceres is filled with stamping images from Crop Circles, and while you may not be a huge fan of the phenomena itself, this is a very pretty stamping plate with a lot of circular images. I think they translate very well to nail art.
The rhinestones that I used for this look was from a bag I had gotten at a Poundland couple of years ago. They are not meant for nail art, but it's not like that stops me from using them for that.
Last time I checked you can still get them from their arts and crafts section.

Ard As Nails - White Cliff Bay Nail Art

Which version did you like the most? With of without rhinestones, let me know in the comments below.
There is only one polish left in the Bookouture Girls Collection from Ard As Nails. I should have the post ready for you all on Friday, so be on the lookout for that.

Ard As Nails - Blissful Bookworm

Today I wanted us to have a closer look at Ard As Nails - Blissful Bookworm. This gorgeous purple holographic polish is sure to win its way to your heart and Helmers.

As promised from my last post about  My Online Shop - MJ JR2 - Stamping plate, today I have for you another look using the same plate, and another polish from the Bookouture Girls Collection that was recently launched over at Soap Dodger.

Ard As Nails is a 5-free, cruelty free, EU Approved Indie nail polish brand here in the UK.

I grabbed my MJ JV-2 stamping plate, and my Clear Jelly Stamper that I recently purchased from Nail Artisan UK. The clear holder and the softness to the stamping head was perfect for what I wanted to do. Doublestamping.

Firstly allowing two coats of Ard As Nails - Blissful Bookworm dry on my nails before proceeding to stamping. 

Ard As Nails - Blissful Bookworm

For this look I used Beauty UK - Smoke Signal, and Barry M - Quick Dry - Pit Stop.
I really disliked Barry M - Quick Dry - Pit Stop for a mani and it gets very gummy when applying, but for stamping it works perfectly.

Ard As Nails - Blissful Bookworm enjoying books.

I still have a couple of more looks using The Bookouture Girls Collection from Ard As Nails. I am swapping the My Online Shop - MJ JR-2 stamping plate with a Pet'la stamping plate.

My Online Shop - MJ JR2 - Stamping plate

The last two nail art looks that I have done has been from the same stamping plate. One that I purchased from Nail Artisan UK. My Online Shop - MJ JR-2.

You have seen me do a 50 Shades of Grey look using Ard As Nails - Kitty's Secret, and Hunger Games, Mockingjay look using Ard As Nails - Dark Knight.
Since many people have been asking me about this plate, I sat down and made a short review and walk-through of the images offered on this plate. Maybe this is a plate for you as well.

My Online Shop . MJ JR2

My Online Shop . MJ JR2

With this stamping plate you get; Harry Potter, 50 Shades of Grey, Macbeth, Hunger Games, Game Of Thrones and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, stamping images of books and a bookworm.

If you are keen on the Harry Potter images on this plate, I can reveal that I have another review coming up later this week with a stamping plate with more Harry Potter images. So be on the lookout for that.




I have one more nail art look using this plate coming up, so if you feel like you need just one more idea before going shopping, keep an eye out for that one.

Ard As Nails - Dark Knight

Continuing on last post which was Ard As Nails - Kitty's Secret from the Bookouture Girls Collection that was recently launched over at Soap Dodger, today I am showing another polish from the same collection.

Ard As Nails is a 5-free, cruelty free, EU Approved Indie nail polish brand here in the UK.

Ard As Nails - Dark Knight

I started out with 2 coats of Ard As Nails - Dark Knight on all my nails. I have made a Live Swatch video for the entire Bookouture Girls Collection from Ard As Nails, for those interested in that. You can also see the Extended Version for Ard As Nails - Dark Knight below.

This polish was my favorite in the collection, so when the time came to make some nail art on it, there was really only one thing that sprung to my mind.

 I grabbed my MJ JV-2 stamping plate, and my Clear Jelly Stamper that I recently purchased from Nail Artisan UK. The clear holder and the softness to the stamping head was perfect for what I wanted to do.  I used Barry M - Superdrug Limited Edition - Yellow and Angèle (a jelly red polish I got in my Glossybox a while back).

Hunger Games.

I am pleased to present the victors of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games!

Hunger Games Nails: Ard As Nails - Dark Knight

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favour!

Ard As Nails - Kitty's Secret

Ard As Nails - The Bookouture Girls - Kitty's Secret

Today we are talking about Ard As Nails - Kitty's Secret from the Bookouture Girls Collection that was recently launched over at Soap Dodger. 

Ard As Nails is a 5-free, cruelty free, EU Approved Indie nail polish brand here in the UK.

I decided to put up the Extended Version of the live swatch up on Youtube. It seems as if Kitty's Secret was a favorite among many, so I decided to do a nail art look using this polish.

After a lot of thinking, going back 'n' forth on my stamping plates, I decided to use my MJ JV-2 stamping plate. Since the polish comes from a Book inspired collection and the name of the polish was Kitty's Secret I wanted to come up with something that played on that. This stamping plate had the perfect image.

Kitty's Secret is that her Guilty Pleasure is reading 50 Shades of Grey...

Ard As Nails - The Bookouture Girls - Kitty's Secret - MJ JV-2 stamping plate using Barry M - Chai

Ard As Nails - The Bookouture Girls - Kitty's Secret - MJ JV-2 stamping plate using Barry M - Chai

What is your Guilty Pleasure?

'Ard As Nails - The Bookouture Girls Collection Live Swatches

I just did a Live Swatch video on my Youtube Channel with the entire 'Ard As Nails - The Bookouture Girls Collection, you can check it out down below. The next couple of days I will show you different nail art looks using these polishes together with some of my stamping plates.

You can find the different nail art looks by clicking on this link here, it will take you to all the blogposts I have using Ard As Nails polishes. 

Swatches of the Bookouture Girls Collection from Ard As Nails

Sugar Plum Bunicorns

Some time ago, I bought a Mystery Bundle from a Blogger Sale.
As some of you may know already, I have a love for Mystery Bundles.
For me, it's better than Christmas and Birthdays together. Small or large parcels containing something  related to nail art, be it polish, vinyls or stamping plates. Whenever I order from BornPrettyStore, Bundlemonster, or any other place that has a Mystery Bundle option, I get one.

This particular Mystery Bundle contained something I never thought I would own. Back when I started blogging all big nail bloggers seemed to own one. I suppose since I am now closing in on my 4th year here, having one, is sort of a milestone met. I was pretty excited to see ...

... a Lynnderella polish in my Mystery Bundle.

I pondered a while on what I should use underneath this glitter topper and settled on Barry M - Sugar Plum. This is one coat of Barry M - Sugar Plum with one coat of Lynnderella - Rare Pink Bunicorn.

Barry M - Sugar Plum with Lynnderella - Rare Pink Bunicorn

I did have to do some glitter placement and dabbing to get an even coat on my nails. The larger glitters seemed to favor placing themselves on my tips rather than on my actual nail. That being said I am very happy with the final result, and this is the look that I wore for Valentines.

Moyou London - Cookbook Collection 3&4

I have done a little video with a comparison of the Moyou London - The Cookbook Collection 03 and Moyou London - The Cookbook Collection 04. They are a little different in terms of setup and size of the different images.

If you rock nubbins all year around, and like the smaller images, having only Moyou London - The Cookbook Collection 04 is probably the best, but if you have a bit longer nails than that, I would suggest having a look at both of the plates and see which one would fit you the most.

Size:
Moyou London - The Cookbook Collection 03 H2 cm W1.5cm
Moyou London - The Cookbook Collection 04 H1.5cm W1.2cm

If you are anything like me, who loves coffee and coffee related nails, it is worth it to have both plates.



Nail Art Ideas

Smoosh base coffee nails

Glitter base coffee nails

Shimmery base coffee nails

If you are looking to buy some plates from Moyou London, I have put together this little short promo with the nail arts that I have done using various Moyou London stamping plates

Femme Fatale - Librarian's Shush

A while ago I purchased a holder for my large rectangular stamping plates. This meant that I had to un-sleeve all my Moyou London, and BornPrettyStore plates, as well as taking my Bundlemonster plates out of the box that I have been using for all my plates.

It was time to organize them.

After I had gone through all the plates and placed them in alphabetic order in the holder (of course, I am a Secretary after all), I noticed that some of my plates had been left unloved for quite some time.
I decided to fuse together my two biggest loves here in this world.

Libraries and Coffee.

With Femme Fatale - Librarian's Shush on my nails I was looking for the perfect image on my plates to go with it.
I fell in love with the coffee-drinking-lady on the Moyou London - The Cookbook Collection - 04 that I recently did a review of on my Youtube Channel. 
It brings me back to my days at high school drinking coffee and volunteer my spare hours during the day at the library. I have some great memories from that place, and me and the librarian there would spend hours talking about anthologies, discuss how books fit in the Dewy system, and which Harry Potter book was the best.

I started out with 2 coats of Femme Fatale - Librarian's Shush, I did have to correct the placement of the glitters some to make sure they where actually on my nails, and not everywhere else, but the formula was excellent and it looks quite unique on the nails.

Femme Fatale - Librarian's Shush

Femme Fatale - Librarian's Shush with Moyou London - The Cookbook Collection  04

Coffee -nails

A product in this post was gifted to me, nothing else to disclose.

If there is not a tea cup next to me, there is a coffee cup. I love coffee, be it coffee scented candles (my favorite at the moment is Reindeer Brew - Peruvian Coffee Beans -03), a lazy latte or an americano in the morning.

I was organizing my stamping plates recently and found some stamping plates that I have not used for a while. The Cookbook Collection from Moyou London was one of these plates.

I filmed the whole process of this nail art, so if you want to have a look at that, hit that play button below. I made an intro for my videos and very excited about that. Hope you like it.




I started out with one coat of Barry M - Matte - Mocha on all nails, on top of that I added a thin layer of Ard As Nails - Vicky, to add a gorgeous shift, and transforms the look from a basic coffee -nails to something a little bit more glam.
When that was all dry I used Essie - Little Brown Dress, my favorite brown polish for stamping. Moyou London - The Cookbook Collection - 03 as an accent, and Moyou London - The Cookbook Collection - 04 for the rest of the nails.

I used my Magic Mask Liquid Latex that I purchased from Nail-Artisan UK. You can see me use it in the video above.

Coffee -nails using Moyou London - The Cookbook Collection 03 and 04 with Barry M - Matte - Mocha, Ard As Nails - Vicky and Essie - Little Brown Dress.

This is not the first time that I have done coffee nails using the Moyou London - The Cookbook Collection, in fact, last year I did these.

Secretary's Nail Art does Coffee -Nails 2015

If you want to read the whole post about last years coffee nails with a smooch base, follow this link.

PomPomNails

If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen this design before. I was eagerly snapping pictures of the finished look and decided to share a little.

Trying out some St.Patrick's Day nail art with Barry M -Cardamom. @barrymcosmetics #pompom #pompoms #pompomnails #nailart #nailartoohlala #nailartaddict #secretarysnailart

A photo posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on Mar 2, 2016 at 2:44pm PST

St.Patrick's day is around the corner and some of us are already trying to find the perfect green for our nails. I thought I would help out a little and show you a bit of nail art that would be Perfect for St.Patrick's Day. After all, I live in Northern Ireland, so I should know, right?

Grab your tea, a green polish and some green pompoms.

I purchased a bag of 140 pompoms at Poundland for 1£ so this is a nail art that won't break the bank.
Loads of fun for the whole family, and if you have some left over, you can sew them on your T-shirt and voila you got your costume and nails ready for the big day.

I started out with 1 coat of Barry M - Cardamom. I wanted a green that is close the the clovers I can find outside, and this one seems to be a perfect match.
Once your nails are completely dry apply topcoat like normal and have some tea while they dry completely.
For this nail art it is very important that the nails are dry because the next step is to glue on the pompoms.
Take your pompoms out of the bag and roll them lightly between your palms to get them to fluff up.
Apply some nail glue to the base of your nail just above your cuticle and place the pompoms over and told while the glue dries before moving on to the next one.
Depending on your nail length, you can apply the pompoms to the middle of your nail bed, if you have longer nails the nail polish will still show, and the pompoms will have more to adhere to.

PomPomNails using PomPoms and Barry M - Cardamom

Finish your tea and rock some St.Patrick's Nails. Swap with a yellow or white polish and yellow pompoms for an Easter Nail Art look.