Guest Post - KLENails

My name is Kat Euston aka KLEnails and I was one of the lucky ladies that Dina asked to guest blog whilst she takes some time off.

I have been doing my own nails for 3 years and over time I have begun to blog about what I use and the designs I create.

Dina asked if I could come up with a blog featuring some nail art. Obviously I wanted something amazing to wow you all, so I settled for a super holographic silver polish with some optical illusion stamping over the top.

Here is what I came up with.

Color Club Nail Lacquer - Harp On It

So to start this design I began with a base of Color Club's infamous super linear holographic polish 'Harp On It'. This stunning silver holo is one of my favourite ever polishes. It has an amazing formula which requires only one good coat to create the perfect base. I would happily wear a holo polish every single day of my life but for some reason I do forget how awesome they are and I stop wearing it for a while before I dive back in and fall in love all over again.

I purchased this polish as part of a set on Live Love Polish, which sadly is no longer an option. However it is possible to buy individually for $10 but it is currently out of stock. That's the sign of a great polish! Keep your eyes peeled on the website which you can view here, for restock info.

I recently got my hands on the Uber Chic Optical Art Magic stamping plate. It's full of eye bending images that can create epic illusion themed art.

Uber Chic - Op Art Magic stamping plate

For this design I used the 1st image on the second row. A twisty vortex! I had a feeling that over the super sparkle of the holographic base it would sit perfectly.

Now for most of us nail girls, we have our go to stamping set up.

For me; I find Mundo De Unas stamping polish and Bundle Monster's Monocle stamping set to be the best way to stamp. I like being able to see where I'm placing the image, which you can quite clearly through the end of the clear stamper. Plus MDU stamping polish has the consistency of tar. I never have a problem getting a good pick up when I am using this set up.

To purchase this polish, or any other MDU goodies please click here.

MDU - Black stamping polish

I love how this look came together. In direct light the holo is almost blinding. It would look fabulous in Summer when the sun finally makes an appearance!

A quick and simple design which any holo-sexual could be proud of.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my post. I hope you like what I have created. If you fancy checking out more of my work or maybe giving my blog a read the links are below.

Instagram: @klenails

Blog: KLEnails Wordpress

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.

Sharing The Love For Ane Li

We have lost an incredibly talented young Norwegian lady in the Nail Polish Community to depression. She was a huge inspiration to me, and shared with us her talented works of art on Instagram and Youtube. If you are not familiar with her work, I would advise you to check out her Instagram account.


As Robin Williams said:

 “I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy because they know what it’s like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anyone else to feel like that.”

A handful of bloggers has decided to get together and re-create Ane Li's manicures in her memory, we are using #sharingtheloveforaneli if you want to check out the others creation on various social medias.

I was inspired to do a recreation of Ane Li's first stamping nail art look. I love stamping, and I remember seeing this look on her Instagram page thinking I should try it out. After all, I already owned the same plate as she used.

For today's look I am therefor using Bundlemonster BM-S107 (for the first time), using Wet n Wild - Black Creme. My base polish is Ard As Nails - Chelle from The Blogsquad Collection.
I recently did a large haul from Soap Dodger, purchasing some of the more recent collections from Ard As Nails. I will have a separate video up with Live Swatches for those of you interested in that.

Ard As Nails - Chelle is a pale grey-pink with a hint of lavender holographic polish.

Ard As Nail - Chelle from the Blogsquad Collection, stamping with Bundlemonster BM-S107

Check out the original in the video below.

Quick video on how I did the black and white stamping ☺️ ~ I used @bundlemonster stamping plate BM-S107 for all my nails 🎀 You can get 10% off everything from bundlemonster.com with my code ✨ANELI✨ (direct link in my bio!) #bundlemonster ~ The pink stuff around my nails is also from @bundlemonster ✨ ~ Polishes used: Black and white stamping polishes from @bundlemonster Essie 'good to go' Opi 'matte topcoat' ~ Song: Mockingbird by eminem

A video posted by Nails + Tutorials :3 (@ane_li) on Apr 1, 2016 at 11:17am PDT

Inner Peace

The story that follow is a short glimpse of my life as a young teenager, and how I learned to meditate. If you skip further down I will show you a manicure that I did using Bundlemonster BMXL-175 Work It stamping plate. The stamping plate has images related to Yoga and Meditation

When I was 15 years old my mother took me to a camp for a week. Not only was it our first camping trip together, it was also the first time we really sat down and talked about our issues and I started unravel the mess of stories that made up my biological family.
If you have read some of my other stories on here, you might know that I am a foster-child, and that I moved to my own flat when I was 14 years old.

I think my mother had wanted to open up for a long time, she just didn't quite know where to start. The NA -camp was for her a healing place, and she wanted to go there with me, partially for backup and moral support, but also because she wanted to create a bond between us and get to know "the real me".


Thinking back, I remember the island we went to, as filled with broken souls and the smell of salt water.

The days were filled with meetings, some open meetings and some closed meetings (meetings only for people with an addiction). I ended up attending all the open meetings, and was even asked to host one myself. There was a lot of openness in the meetings, and I think we all touched each others hearts the week we where there. I certainly learned a lot.

As a person used to get up early in the morning, I quickly discovered that there was only one other person there who did the same. Each morning he would get up, wash his face in the cold water and greet the sun as it rose lazily on the sky. It did not take long until I joined in on his morning ritual and he taught me some basics about Meditation and Yoga.

When you picture a Yogi in your head you might picture an old man with semi long hair and a bushy beard, and that is exactly how this man looked. Later I was to meet another Yogi that looked nothing like the first. This one was in his late 20's with handsome sun bleached hair, a strong but lean body sitting on a pile of pillows in Camden Market, London. That is an entirely different story.

I was seeking for something back then, and these two helped me find it.

“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day — unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour.” -Zen proverb 

 For today's manicure I used Barry M - Cream Soda as a base, and stamped using Barry M - Ballerina. Barry M - Ballerina is from the core line and has therefor the black cap, be warned that not all of the polishes in the core line from Barry M stamp as well as the Gelly line.

Barry M - Cream Soda with Bundlemonster BMXL-175 stamped using Barry M - Ballerina over. 

I hope you enjoyed my little story, and nail art.

Nude + Neon Love

I hope you are not tired of seeing my Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection. Today I have for you all another neon polish look. 

There has been a couple of comments about the wear-ability of neon polish, some of you have jobs that doesn't allow overly bright nails. Luckily, my job allows me to wear bright polishes, so I created a look that incorporates a nude polish to accommodate more for those occasions when we want to wear neon polishes, but have to tone it down a couple of notches. 

For today's look I used Opulent Essences - Strawberry, Opulent Essences - Grape and  Opulent Essences - Lime as well as a Claudia - 002 - Like A Dream. 

First I painted all nails with two coats of Claudia - 002 - Like A Dream, and added a quick dry topcoat, because today I am working with vinyls.

Using a rose vinyl that I had purchased from She Sells Seashells (say that 10 times, fast), I went in randomly with spots here and there using Opulent Essences - Strawberry and Opulent Essences - Grape.

A small detail brush and Opulent Essences - Lime did the trick when adding leaves under the rose. 

I just love how the rose turned out, and will definitely use the vinyl again. Gorgeous!

To complete the look I used BM 705 from the 2015 Secret Garden Collection to add some wording to the rest of the nails. In direct sunlight as seen below you can not quite make out the wording, and it gives a nice textured look to the nails, but in indirect artificial lighting you can totally see the wording. 

Nude + Neon Love using  Opulent Essences - Strawberry, Opulent Essences - Grape with nail vinyl and  Opulent Essences - Lime over Claudia - 002 - Like A Dream. 

Office appropriate neon and nude nail art look, I hope you liked it, I certainly did, and this was the first time I got to properly play around with nail vinyls, and I have to say I am liking it so far.

I just wanted to quickly add that I purchased this collection with my own money, and are not sponsored in any way.

I have been moving house the past couple of weeks, and I had left this collection out so that I could pack my polishes for the move and still have something to paint my nails with. Getting organised and sorted is taking a lot longer than I thought. If you are curious as to how my house is looking, and how I am organising things, check out my Instagram, I have posted a couple of pictures. 

Gradient Neon Stamping

This week I am celebrating my 4th year of blogging here on Secretary's Nail Art, and to celebrate with style I am trying out something a bit new in terms on nail art. 

Today I have for you a subtle splatter and neon gradient stamping nail art look. 

I am using polishes from Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection that I purchased for my own money a couple of months back. 

This collection is filled with vibrant neon polishes, and I have had so much fun playing around with them. Below you can see a picture of the polishes used today over Sinful Color - Snow Me White. 

Opulent Essences - Strawberry, Opulent Essences - Orange, Opulent Essences - Blueberry and Opulent Essences - Lime.

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection polishes used in this manicure. 

For the splatter I used a baby toothbrush and splashed some polish over my white base polish, Sinful Color - Snow Me White. I wanted a light spray of colour, so that it would look more like small specks over the white than those large splatters you often see features in nail art looks. 

Then I picked up my Bundlemonster BM-XL204, Beaching Nails stamping plate and put Opulent Essences - Blueberry and Opulent Essences - Lime on each half of the image before scraping 2-3 times lightly over in order to blend the colours to create a gradient effect in the stamping. I think it came out the best on the long finger, but I definitely think I am on to something here.

Just need a little bit more practise on gradient stamping. 

Subtle splatter with neon gradient stamping. 

About Opulent Essences:

Opulent Essences is a Vegan Friendly Nail Polish Maker from the UK. Behind the brand is the duo Sharon and Zoe. They are awesome, and so are their polishes.
Etsy Store
Instagram

If you want to see more nail art looks from this collection, follow the Label: Opulent Essences.


About Bundlemonster:
Started in 2009, sells an arrange of nail art products and stamping polishes. Located in Hawaii, sometimes shipping and taxes for us UK girls can get a bit expensive, but luckily you can get most of their products from Rainbow Connection UK .

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection Nail Art

My entire flat is filled with bags and boxes of stuff. Most of the nail room has already been packed down and is ready to go to the new place this weekend, to my new Nail Cave.
I am super excited about getting a bit larger room for my nail stuff, and not having to share it when we have visitors. At the moment, my nail cave is in the spare bedroom, but in the new house, we are swapping the large double bed we have for guests now, for a super comfy sofa bed.

Since moving is hard on the nails I have filed them a bit shorter, and made sure there is a nail file and plenty of cuticle oil ready for me at the new place. Cardboard boxes always dries up my cuticles.

I know I have already written a couple of times about how I move and travel with my nail polishes, if you want an update and a bit through post about different packing ideas and methods let me know. For the past 4 years I have moved  about 10 times across 5 different countries, bringing nail polishes with me on planes, boats, trains, cars and carried them on my back in a rucksack.
I have found some great ways to bring with me my entire collection which is now counting around 700 polishes, when I first moved to Wales from Norway I had "only" 150 polishes...

I wanted to show you two different nail art looks that I have done lately, between all the packing and arranging stuff for the move.

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection (neon polish)

First one is a drybrush look, which I did using the Taste The Rainbow Collection from Opulent Essences that I purchased a while back.

Neon Drybrush Nail Art using Opulent Essences Orange, Strawberry and Lemon over Sinful Color - Snow Me White

I used Sinful Color - Snow Me White as a base for this look and a drybrush technique using Opulent Essences - Strawberry, Opulent Essences - Lemon, and Opulent Essences - Orange.

I have been too hard on my nails when packing, so sadly this is the only picture I got of this look. It's still a pretty mani, so I wanted to share with you all.

Sinful Color - Snow Me White polish base and my food.

The next look I wanted to show today is a look that ended up as a total fail.
It's a fail because I decided to add some animal prints to the look, and had this fantastic idea of making "Cougar Nails". Sadly, the animal prints I decided to use, destroyed everything.

@opulent_essences Taste The Rainbow Collection using Strawberry and Orange for a gradient and some animal print stickers from Bundlemonster. The stickers turned the mani all gloopy, so this is the only picture of my gorgeous gradient.. #secretarysnailart #Bundlemonster #nailsticker #gradient #nailart #nailartaddict #nailartoohlala #opulentessences #neonpolish #neonpinkpolish #animalprint #neonorangepolish #neonpolish #indiepolishuk #indiepolish

A photo posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on May 18, 2016 at 10:15am PDT

Before Christmas I purchased some stuff from Bundlemonster, and I threw in a Surprise Bundle with Nail Art stuff. I had chosen to use the stickers (MP019) that was in this bundle of fun.

I applied them like you would with any other nail art stickers and seal with a topcoat. Didn't really think much about it, and let them dry for 30 min before adding another layer of top as the stickers where still sticking through the topcoat. Not long after the stickers started wrinkling, and turned gummy, and turned not just the topcoat and the stickers gummy, but the entire gradient underneath and the white undie as well(!)
It would not dry.
After 5 hours I noticed that it looked like it was sliding off my nails...
So I removed it all.
I was gutted, because I was so happy with my gorgeous gradient, and had not taken pictures of the steps. Needless to say, I was not in the mood to sit down and do another gradient.


What are some of your nail art related horror stories?

Opulent Essences - Fools Gold

Polish was sent for swatching purposes, but the opinions expressed are solely mine,  nothing else to disclaim.

You might have noticed my slight obsession with Opulent Essences lately, and today I am showing you another Opulent Essence polish that landed on my doorstep last week.

As a member of Fantasmic Flakies on Facebook, I thought I would start with a flakie polish.
Opulent Essences - Fools Gold
This is a baby blue polish with a pearl shimmer and golden flakies, in some lights this polish leans a bit teal. This is specially evidently when pairing with black.

Opulent Essences - Fools Gold

Opulent Essences is a Vegan Friendly Nail Polish Maker from the UK. Behind the brand is the duo Sharon and Zoe, if you ever have any questions the girls are lovely to chat with, and as far as I know, don't bite. Hehe.

Etsy Store
Instagram

Fools Gold 10 ml - 6 £
Fools Gold 5 ml - 3 £

Opulent Essences - Fools Gold

In the swatches above you see the polish when applied in 3 coats. I did not encounter any problems with this polish, it applied nicely, and the pearl shimmer looks fantastic with the gold flakies.

I also think this polish looks great on me. The shade is just the right kind of blue for my skin at the moment. 

On my Youtube channel I also show how this looks applied over black and cobalt blue polish, if you are feeling adventurous and want to layer it over something else. 

The black polish as an undie makes this lean more teal, which I thought was very interesting. 

I could not leave this polish alone and felt the need to try some nail art using this as a base. 

I pulled out Bundlemonster BMXL204 and Moyra - 05 - Vintage. For the stamping I used Barry M - Gelly - Blue Grape and KIKO - Magnetic - 707.

The Lonely Fisherman Nail Art. Using Opulent Essences - Fools Gold, Bundlemonster BMXL204, Moyra - 05 - Vintage, Barry M - Gelly - Blue Grape and KIKO - 707

Polish was sent for swatching purposes, but the opinions expressed are solely mine,  nothing else to disclaim.

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Lime

Hope you are not sick and tired of neon'd cause I have loads more to show. Today I am showing you another neon polish from the Taste The Rainbow Collection by Opulent Essence. If you are feeling the tug towards this collection, head over to the Opulent Essences Etsy store. They have so many cool polishes (!), I am sure you will find one that is right for you.

A huge bonus in my book is that they are Vegan friendly!

You can find a Live Swatch that I did over at my YouTube Channel for the entire collection, by following this link.

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow - Lime

This gorgeous neon green is lusher than an oasis, and greener than the greenest grass. Super glossy, your friends are sure to be green of envy looking at your nails. 

Sometimes my brain just comes up with these kind of things, it has to be written somewhere. 

My nails and my breakfast drink. I didn't like the Mango flavour so added some delicious wheatgrass and crushed gojiberries to it. @joylentshake #wheatgrass #joylent #joylentshake #handinframe

A photo posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on Mar 20, 2016 at 3:51am PDT

Some of you, if you are stalking me on Instagram that is, might have seen this sneak peek at today's nail art. If you are not a regular stalker on my Instagram, and you hang out on that platform, I would recommend it.
Shameless plug over. Hehe.

For this nail art look I used 2 coats of Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Lime over 1 coat of Sinful Color - Snow Me White. Then I took Barry M - Chai, Barry M - Quick Dry - Pit Stop (horrible alone, great for stamping), L'oreal - 819 - Sublime Platine. Bundlemonster - BMXL204 (Beaching Nails), and BMXL202 (ChitChat Nails).

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow - Lime with BMXL202, BMXL204 stamped using Barry M - Chai, Barry M - PitStop and L'oreal - Sublime Platine

Take a deep breath cause this might sound complicated...

So all the nails was stamped using Barry M - Chai with the chevron design from the Bundlemonster - BMXL204 (Beaching Nails). Once that had dried, I grabbed my jelly stamper that I purchased from Nail Artisan UK (It is very soft, so works great for curved nails) and went in with the solid triangle image from Bundlemonster BMXL202 (ChitChat Nails) using Barry M - PitStop. Since I was already doublestamping I wanted to advance a little bit more.
From the same plate, Bundlemonster BMXL202 (ChitChat Nails), I went in with the outlined triangle using  L'oreal - 819 - Sublime Platine, and used that as an outline for the solid triangle that I did with Barry M - PitStop. Next to the triangle images on Bundlemonster BMXL202 (ChitChat Nails) is a full nail image with some triangles with horizontal and vertical lines through. I used this image, and isolated one of the triangles with a horizontal line and went in with L'oreal - 819 - Sublime Platine just below the previous triangle.

One coat of Out The Door Topcoat and the look was finished.


Below you can see the short live swatch that  did for my Instagram Channel. You can find a Live Swatch that I did over at my YouTube Channel for the entire collection, by following this link.

@opulent_essences - Lime. If you are looking for the perfect neon green polish for the Summer, be sure to check out this badboy. #neonpolish #neon #nailstagram #nailsofinstagram #indiepolish #ukpolish #supportindiepolish #supportindie #swatch #indieswatch #secretarysnailart

A video posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on Mar 28, 2016 at 11:11am PDT

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Orange

Today I am showing you another neon polish from the Taste The Rainbow Collection by Opulent Essence. If you are feeling the tug towards this collection, head over to the Opulent Essences Etsy store. They have so many cool polishes for sale, I am sure you will find one that is right for you.

A huge bonus in my book is that they are Vegan friendly!

You can find a Live Swatch that I did over at my YouTube Channel for the entire collection, by following this link.

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow - Orange

Here you can see Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Orange applied in 2 coats over 1 coat of Sinful Color - Snow Me White. The swatching stick has one coat.

I wanted to use some of my newer stamping plates, so I grabbed two plates from my Bundlemonster pile. BMXL178 - WORK IT! and BMXL204 - Beaching Nails. 

Let's do some doublestamping again!

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow - Orange with doublestamping using Bundlemonster BMXL178 - WORK IT! and BMXL204 - Beaching Nails with Beyu 377 and Wet n Wild - Black Creme

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow - Orange with doublestamping using Bundlemonster BMXL178 - WORK IT! and BMXL204 - Beaching Nails with Beyu 377 and Wet n Wild - Black Creme

For the stamping this time I used a duochrome polish Beyu - 377, I have had it forever and really wanted to use it for something, I think it worked great for this background image. The black from Wet N Wild  against the duochrome gives a nice effect when paired with a neon. 

Little reminder of what it looks like alone.

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow - Orange

@opulent_essences - Orange This super glossy neon orange takes only two coats. Check out my full Live Swatch and review of the Taste The Rainbow Collection from Opulent Essences on my Youtube channel, link in the bio #secretarysnailart #neon #neonpolish #indiepolish #indieswatch #opulentessences #ukpolish

A video posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on Mar 27, 2016 at 3:07pm PDT

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Lemon

The first thing that comes to my mind when someone mentions neon, is a traffic-stopping yellow neon. I have several yellow neons in my collection and not many other neon shades. Why that is, I don't know, but I often feel that you can really tell how good the maker is, and what to expect from the collection, by looking at their yellows.

So today I am showing you Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Lemon

You can find a Live Swatch that I did over at my YouTube Channel for the entire collection, by following this link.

 

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Lemon

On my swatch you can see 2 coats Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Lemon, over 1 coat Sinful Color - Snow Me White. On my swatching stick you can see one coat alone.

This really reminds me of those Gel Sharpie Markers, and I think if anyone turned those into a polish, this would be it. Super glossy, high shine, and easy application.

I noticed that the bottles from Opulent Essences has a bit of a shattered look in the middle of the lettering. So I thought, what better than pairing it with a shatter / crackle polish? I pulled them all out of my Helmers and decided to use OPI - Shatter - Super Bass Shatter, and stamp an accent with Bundlemonster BMXL202 using Sally Hansen - 640 - Plum Luck, as it pairs very well with OPI - Shatter - Super Bass Shatter, only difference being that OPI - Shatter - Super Bass Shatter has some glitter specs in it. 

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Lemon with OPI - Shatter - Super Bass Shatter and Sally Hansen - Plum Luck with Bundlemonster BMXL202

The above picture is without topcoat, and the glittery specs in OPI - Shatter - Super Bass Shatter really came out of hiding when topcoat was added, but sadly I also smudged my accent, as it had not been given proper time to dry.

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Lemon with OPI - Shatter - Super Bass Shatter and Sally Hansen - Plum Luck with Bundlemonster BMXL202

When I did the Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow - Strawberry and tried using Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow - Lemon to stamp with I promised to do a proper stamping test. Below you can see it stamped over Sinful Color - Snow Me White and Wet N Wild - Black Creme. 

Stamping test over black and white with Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow - Lemon

Here comes the Sun! Check out my Youtube channel for a full Live Swatch and review of the Taste The Rainbow Collection from @opulent_essences link in the bio. #neon #opulentessences #indieswatch #swatch #indiepolish #ukpolish #neonpolish #secretarysnailart

A video posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on Mar 27, 2016 at 2:57pm PDT

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow Collection - Grape

Many of the girls in the nail art community that I talk to almost daily has a love for purple. With this is mind, I am today showing you Opulent Essences - Grape. This neon purple is totally badass, so to soften the edges, I decided to combine it with glitter.

You can find a Live Swatch that I did over at my YouTube Channel for the entire collection, by following this link.

The following swatching picture is taken with one coat over one coat Sinful Color - Snow Me White.

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow - Grape

@opulent_essences - Grape. Weak for purples? This super glossy #neonpolish is sure to win your 💟. #secretarysnailart #opulentessences #ukpolish #indiepolish #indieswatch #supportindiepolish #supportindie #swatch #nailpolish #neon #nailsoninstagram #nailsofinstagram

A video posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on Mar 28, 2016 at 12:57pm PDT

I had recently purchased OPI - DS Lapis, and wanted to do some stamping with it, I thought this would be the perfect shade to match it up with.

I grabbed my Bundlemonster - Work It! BMXL177 and used the Ballett-work collage and one of the smaller ballerinas on the plate. I used OPI - DS Lapis for the ballerina, and Wet N Wild - Black Creme for the word collage over the ballerina.

Opulent Essences - Taste The Rainbow - Grape stamping done using OPI - DS Lapis and Wet N Wild . Black Creme with Bundlemonster BMXL177.

I showed this nail art to one of my friends who happen to be a ballerina, and she absolutely loved it.

Did this nail art look dance it's way into your heart?

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. 

Tribute to David Bowie

As many of you may have heard David Bowie (link to the official fan site) is no longer with us. After battling cancer for 18 months, he died peacefully surrounded by his family.

The man who released "Space Oddity" in 1969, which was his commercial breakthrough, did the introduction to The Snowman in 1982, considered to be among the top 100 Rock Artist Of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine, and even has a spider named in his honor. 

There are many more things that can be said about this iconic artists, his latest album has received great reviews, and I am so happy to have lived in the same time as him.

Today I have a nail art look inspired by one of David Bowie's many eclectic outfits.  The striped bodysuit from the Aladdin Sane tour in 1973 to be specific.

For this look I used Barry M - Quick Dry - Pit Stop, which reminded me why I haven't bought the rest of Barry M's Quick Dry collection, the polish goes on smooth, but ones dried it leaves tiny bubbles on my nails. Ugh. Barry M - Quick Dry - Pit Stop is seen below with two coats.

Barry M - Quick Dry - Pit Stop

Luckily, I am covering it up with a stamp, using Wet N Wild - Black Creme, like that was a surprise, and Bundlemonster BM-221.

Tribute to David Bowie and his striped bodysuit from the Aladdin Sane tour (1978)

Cult Nails - Coveted

Major lemming today girls.

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Long, long time ago there was a company called Cult Nails. They had gorgeous nail polishes, but is no longer around. Ever since I moved back to the UK after I had been in Spain, I have been keeping my eye out for Nail Polish Sales posts on various platforms.

It has payed off, as I have managed to get hold on some lemmings of mine. This time I managed to get my talons on Cult Nails - Coveted.

It is EVERYTHING I hoped it would be. I am so so happy with it.

Cult Nails - Coveted

I recently bought a jelly stamper from BornPrettyStore and I wanted to see if I would do better at lining up stamps with the jelly stamper than I am with my normal XL stamper. As you can see by the result below, I did not do the best of a job on lining it up perfectly with my nails.
It was my first attempt, so I still might need some more practice to get it right. 

I did noticed that it was a little hard to see through the jelly stamper when trying to line it up with my cuticles and nail tips, so if you have one on the way, I would suggest making sure you are in a well lit room. My ceiling lamp was not enough.
If you have the Original Jelly Stamper, or any other Brands with a jelly stamper I am curious to know how they worked for you.
Leave me a comment and let me know.

Cult Nails - Coveted stamped using China Glaze - Midnight Kiss and Bundlemonster WORK IT! - BMXL175

I stamped using China Glaze - Midnight Kiss and Bundlemonster WORK IT! - BMXL175
(a full review on that plate is in the making).

Candy Cane

I pulled out all my stamping plates to find the perfect Candy Cane image a while ago.
Surrounded with stamping plates, I was eagerly looking for anything with stripes and swirls that would work for this delicious look.
In my previous post I used MASH-43, CH4, BM-205 and BM-210, but I had more stamping images that could possibly work for this look, so I decided to do another one.

This time I am using Cheeky - Jumbo plate 3 - European Romance, BM-301, BM-207 and Über Chic - Plate 3-02.

I started out with painting all my nails with Sinful Color - Snow Me White, one coat. Then I grabbed my newest franken creation; Secretary's Nail Art - This is My Jam? from the last post, and stamped over.

I wrote a little 101 on Frankening, that you can find over here if you are curious and want to give it a try.

Candy Cane Nail Art using Cheeky - Jumbo plate 3 - European Romance, BM301, BM207 and Uber Chic - Plate 3-02.

Which nail you do think look the most like a Candy Cane?


I hope you liked this look, be sure to follow me on the blog, Facebook, or Google + for more Christmas nail art designs only a few days left of the holiday.

For more Christmas themed nails check out my other designs here.