Untried Indie Polish - Happy Hands Nail Polish - Sandcastles in the Sand

3rd trimester is rapidly approaching in my pregnancy, and while I am waiting for baby I wanted to dive into some of my untried polishes. 

One of the things I really love doing is looking for interesting polishes from indie companies. 

#itrustindiepolish

and all that ya know. 

Happy Hands Nail Polish - Sandcastles in the Sand is a gorgeous glitter polish with a pale beige base, blue and yellow square glitter and smaller yellow hex glitters. 

It reminds me of Easter...

The Happy Hands Nail Polish shop was set to "Holiday Mode" back in January 2014, so I don't think this brand is around anymore. I am sorry about that. 

I choose to pair this with Moyra - Damask and Barry M - Gelly - Blue Grape 

Happy Hands Nail Polish -  Sandcastles in the Sand stamped with  Barry M - Gelly - Blue Grape  using Moyra - Damask

Happy Hands Nail Polish -  Sandcastles in the Sand stamped with  Barry M - Gelly - Blue Grape  using Moyra - Damask. Closeup to really show off the glitter polish. Stunning, right?

KIKO - Magnetic Nail Lacquer - 705 - Emerald Turquoise

One of the things I try to do, as a nail blogger, is to make sure I try out new techniques and types of polishes. When the KIKO - Magnetic Nail Lacquer came out 4-5 years or so back, I bought the ones I could get hold of.

Back then, I was still struggling with brittle nails after having been a nail biter for so long. My nail shape was not the best, and I just didn't have the practice that I have now.
If you want to dive in my archive to the last time I wore a magnet polish, follow this link.



I have seen some brands from Russia come out with magnetic polishes, and it is only a matter of time before others follow. Right?
Do you think magnetic polishes are on the comeback, or is this just a blast from the past?



Today I am going to show you KIKO - Magnetic Nail Lacquer - 705 - Emerald Turquoise, I know this is Discontinued, but I am sure some of you have these buried in your Helmers or nail polish racks/stash, completely forgotten.

Magnetic Nail Lacquer is a 5-free nail polish: it is formulated without adding harsh ingredients such as Toluene, Camphor, DBP, Formaldehyde Resin and Formaldehyde

I used the KIKO - Nail Art Magnet 01 - Stripes for today's look. This was the only Magnet that I managed to find when these first came out, but if you have magnetic polishes the KIKO - Nail Art Magnets are still for sale, just not the magnet polishes...

KIKO - Magnetic Nail Lacquer - 705 - Emerald Turquoise

KIKO - Magnetic Nail Lacquer - 705 - Emerald Turquoise

I really like how these turned out, so I wanted to do some nail art on top of the base.

I chose Bundlemonster - BM509 to preserve the nautical feel. I used Wet N Wild - Black Creme as stamping polish because I know I can trust it to do a good job.

Sadly, I think I have received a bad plate with this one. First I tried the diamond shape with the anchors - could barely make out the image. Then I tried the trident image - after several attempts I got a decent transfer and used this for my index finger.

For the rest of the nails I used the rope design which was well etched and transferred like a dream. 

KIKO - Magnetic Nail Lacquer - 705 - Emerald Turquoise stamped with Bundlemonster - BM509

KIKO Magnetic - 705 #magneticpolish #kikocosmetics #magneticnails #instanails #instanailart #kikotrendsetters #secretarysnailart

A video posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on Apr 24, 2016 at 4:41am PDT

Baby Announcement and Gender Reveal Mani

So excited to announce that we are expecting a little baby 1st of March 2017! #babygirl #babylykke #babyannouncement

A photo posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on Oct 10, 2016 at 1:39pm PDT

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you might have heard the good news already.
I am expecting a baby girl the 1st of March 2017.

As some of you have noticed I have been absent from the blog for a while. Pregnancy so far has not been the easiest on me, and I feel like I have been running back n' forth to the hospital and home for months now.
At first it was breathing issues, then a severe chest infection, and lately a slipping disc from being inactive and not looking out for my spine.

I am getting a lot better now, and the baby belly has dropped a little so I can breath easier. Making my life a bit more manageable.

I just wanted to log in here and let you all know what's going on in my life. I have done a couple of hauls both nail polish and nail art items that I am excited to show you all.

Bundlemonster Occasions Collection - Family Ties Mani 

For this mani I used Barry M - Silk - Orchid as a base colour, for the stamping I used Bundlemonster Occasions Collection - Family Ties in BM-S231 and BM-S232 in Wet N Wild - Black Creme and filled in with Barry M - Gelly . Acai Smoothie and Barry M - Gelly - Fondant making a decal for the ring and middle finger.

If you are going to / or have a Baby Shower, this set from Bundlemonster is the only set I have seen that delivers what you need for such an occasion.

I have heard the Moyra - Childhood might be a good stamping plate for this purpose as well, but I have not seen or heard of any other stamping plates that has these kind of images.

I absolutely adore the finished look, and been wearing it for about 2 weeks now.

Halloween Nails

A while ago I did a Charlies Nail Art Haul, and for Halloween this year (I know the post is up late), I was wearing the Halloween Wraps from that Haul.

The wraps were easy to apply and adjust to each nail, they had a slight textured surface so I applied two coats of topcoat to seal them in.
I wore this look for 4 days without them falling off. In my book that is a success.

Charlies Nail Art Halloween Wraps

The really cool thing about these wraps is that the skulls and bones actually light up in the dark. The light they emitted never went dull, like some other wraps I have encountered before, which was super awesome.

Ready for Halloween 🎃 #secretarysnailart #nailsoftheday #nailart #nails2inspire #nailsofinstagramonfb #halloween #halloweennails #wraps #nailwraps #skullsandbones #glowinthedark #glowinthedarknails #charliesnailart

A photo posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on Oct 27, 2016 at 1:32pm PDT