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

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.

Glitter holo-roses

Today I will show you a look I did a year or so back, that was lost in time and space. It was all...

Source: WaywardDoodles

Let's get our heads out of the Dr. Who show and back to the topic of nails.

This look was inspired by another look that I did using Kiko - 493.  I did one of my coworkers nails while I lived in Madrid, Spain, back when I worked for Electronic Arts. We stamped with a rose stamping image using Kiko - 493, and I wanted a similar look just for an accent.

So this time I chose another rose stamping image, Cheeky - Jumbo plate 07 - Home Sweet Home.
I painted all nails except ringfinger with Kiko - 493 and the accent ringfinger with Kiko - 400.
Stamped using Kiko - 493.

I like how the glitter looks over the gunmetal holographic polish. Think it turned out very well.

Kiko - 493, accent Kiko - 400, stamped using Bundlemonster - BM323

Kiko - 493, accent Kiko - 400, stamped using Bundlemonster - BM323

Discovering this look in my archive was great, and I have many good memories from my time in Madrid, Spain.

Germany Haul

I had a great holiday in Germany this summer, and I wanted to share with you all the nail polishes that I got. Before I left for Germany I scouted out some places to go shopping for nail polish while I was there. Google did not provide me with the greatest results, so I decided to write this post about my shopping trip for others who are also looking for where to buy nail polishes in Germany.

My first stop in Munich, the capital of Bavaria Germany was Sonnestrasse where I found a Euro Shop. This is sort of the same as Dollar Store, 100 Yen Stores or the Poundland/Poundworlds.
Beside the lovely multicoloured yarn I found for my mother, I also found a glitter polish from a brand called Sabrina, and some fimo animals.

Following Sonnestrasse, I got to Karlsplatz, here I found Karstadt which proved to be a HUGE disappointment, as I wasted almost an hour looking through the place, but no nail polish. This might have been due to the remodeling of the place, but I saw no evidence of nail polish, except for the usual suspects like Chanel, and YSL which you can get cheaper at most airports.

Later I decided to give Willy - Brandt - Platz a try.  Here you can find a KIKO store as well as several  Parfumerie in the second floor. If you have time to grab a bite, I would recommend checking out Ristorante Pizzeria Calabrone. The owner was super nice, and the food delicious. 

The KIKO store had a huge sale, so there was practically no polish left on the shelf, but I did managed to snap up these four.  It is, in no particular order; Kiko - 492, Kiko, 534, Kiko - 497 and Kiko - 531. (links lead to posts using the polishes)

KIKO Haul

 I found one of the Harry Potter themed Catrice polishes, so I picked that one with me. It was the Catrice - 46 - Berry potter & Plumbledore. I also found Catrice - 680 - Khaki Perry, Catrice - 59 - First Class Up-Grape, Catrice - 03 - Have An Ice Day which is the Million Styles at the right in the picture, and Catrice - 60 - Out Of The Dark.

Catrice Haul

For the rest of my trip around Bavaria Germany I did not find much in terms of nail polish, but I had a great holiday and got to see some amazing places. The best part I think was rowing a little boat in the Alpe See for an hour.

You can see me use Catrice - First Class Up-Grape over at my YouTube Channel, doing a tutorial for Wired Nails

Easter Flowers over textured nails

I received this product of my choosing, free of charge for my honest, non-bias review from the Born Pretty Store.


I was in the mood for something bright, and as I had just been planning my Easter Holiday, I was in the mood for something yellow. I had just received some stamping plates from Born Pretty Store, and was eager to try them out.
Before I left Spain this summer I snatched up a couple of the polishes in the Cupcake line from KIKO, when I was looking through my yellow polishes, I just had to use this one.

The texture did not distribute evenly with this polish, and it was a little bit tricky to work with, luckily it still looks very pretty.

KIKO - Cupcake - 648

When it came to choose a design and plate, this one just jumped to me, and I instantly had an idea of what I wanted to do with it.
I stamped using NYC - Flat Iron Green, a polish I have never worn as a mani, but used every now and then for stamping and nail art. In the bottle it looks pretty much black, but when you use it for stamping you can see that it is more like a dark mossy green. A blackened green polish.

I used the Y 003 plate, and picked the design to the top left. I really like this plate, and I have been wanting a plate with some lace patterns and these are really sweet. I was playing around on a sheet of paper to see how well it was stamping and to test out ideas on what to do with my nails.

Do you ever have moments when your head is swirling with so many ideas that you just can't seem to stick with one? That was me.

NYC - Flat Iron Green stamped with Y003 from Bornprettystore over KIKO - 648

NYC - Flat Iron Green stamped with Y003 from Bornprettystore over KIKO - 648

If you click on the pictures it will enlarge them, and you can see more closely how the stamping look over the textured polish underneath. I have to day, I really like the look.

I couldn't stop there, I needed to fill in the flower. I decided to use Barry M - Crush, and W7 - Pink Suede for that. It kinda reminded me of a two toned 5 petal flower I had seen on Pinterest a while ago.

NYC - Flat Iron Green stamped with Y003 from Bornprettystore, flowers filled with Barry M - Crush and W7 - Pink Suede, over KIKO - 648 

If I where to correct on anything with this mani, it would be to have more of Barry M - Crush show in the flower, I did not quite get the look I was trying to achieve, but I still like the end result.

So there you have it. A bit early for an Easter Manicure?


If you wanted to get hold of this plate, sadly, at this writing moment Y003 is sold out, but I am sure you can find plenty of other great stamping plates at Born Pretty Store.

Y003 came in a very sleek and minimalistic designed white cardboard sleeve. It had the blue film over it, which you are expecting to find on plates now a days.
I tested the edges of the plate, and they seemed very rounded, so there are no dangers of cuts.

The plate was easy to work with, and the etching was very good, and I had no problems picking up the images with my Konad or my Moyou London stamper.

If you will be placing an order, feel free to use my 10 % off coupon: RAMG10
There are plenty of products to choose from at their site, not just nail related items, and the prices are very affordable and they have free worldwide shipping.
Click the image below and you will be taken to their site. 

I received this product of my choosing, free of charge for my honest, non-bias review from the Born Pretty Store.

Abstract Nails

This is a design I did when I was in Spain (2014) last summer, while working for EA as a gametester. I have been hibernating from this blog long enough. Ever since I got to Belfast, Northern Ireland, things have been hectic. Finding a place, getting settled in the new job, actually have a social life, now that I don't know a single soul around me.
Yeah, it's not been the easiest.

I learned a few hard lessons this Christmas, and I feel much more mentally stable now than I have for a long time. I had to make a few though decisions, but I came through it.

So I thought I would share some of the nail arts I have done while I have been away. For my nails have not been nekkid all the time.

They are abstract. Just blobs really, but seen from afar, they look pretty darn cool. I am so gutted that I forgot to take a picture in the sun, as these polishes was epic under the Spanish Sun.

I had a lot of compliments on this nail design at work as well.

This is the top I wore it too. It just screams for abstract nails, right?

I used:
KIKO - 530
Kiko - 255 - Violet Microglitter

Kiko - 533

Kiko - 493

Kiko - 497

Yupp, I inked myself.

I found this awesome little daylight lamp in Spain, and it worked great to take pictures at night.

Until next time, I hope you liked my manicure. I am so glad to be back blogging, as I have really missed it.

Pink roses over nude - a gelly adventure

I have been in a bit of hiatus from the Blogging world. Life happen. I think I am back, but my camera is acting up, not letting me upload pictures as I take them, so might need a new camera.


We had just finished a game, for some of us, that meant that it was time to go back home, for others, it meant another project. For me, it was another project at EA in Madrid, Spain.

The Nordic girls decided to hang out on day, and get our nails done, as a little celebration of a job well done. One of the girls was sporting gel nails, and we decided to try out some stamping over it.
Here I used Barry M - Gelly - Lychee as base coat did a top coat and some curing before we proceeded to the stamping, and cured again. I have never worked with Gel nails, Curing, and all that before, so this was a very interesting experiment.

The stamp is from  BundleMonster plate - BM-323. I stamped it using  Kiko - 493. Looking really close you can see some flecks from the polish here and there, creating an interesting look to the roses.

I can add that it did wear a bit faster for her. This can also have something with her picking on her fingers every now and then.

I love this picture. It took a while to get the pose right, but darn it, I am so proud of this one. 

Hope you liked this manicure, it has been feeling good to be back blogging again. I am currently working on getting the posts I prepared while I was in Spain, up on the blog.

Your nails sparkle like your eyes ...

Hi everyone. 

I have been MIA for a while now, due to so much work to do on the project I am working on at EA. 

I can't say what project I am working on, but I work as LT (Localization Tester) there and it is so much fun (but so busy!) The last thing you want to do when you are done at work, is to sit down in front of a computer again. 

I have been enjoying all the things Madrid has to offer. There is this great Irish bar in town that I have been spending a lot of time at. Great music, people, and it's almost like being home in England... Almost. I still have to deal in Euros and strange Spanish-people that doesn't know a single word English, but the staff all speak English and are so nice to me. Free cookies to the people! YaY. 

As you might remember, the last post I did was of my KIKO - haul, and today I will be showing you one of the polishes I bought. 

KIKO - 530

It applied buttery smooth and covered well in 2 coats. If you look really closely you can see some micro flakies, which just adds to the amazingness of this polish. At first my co-working though I was wearing Orly - Sweet Peacock, but seeing this in direct sunlight, you can really tell it's nothing close to the Orly one at all. The green shift with so much shine it's like looking at the sun(!). 

"Hey babe, your nails sparkle like your eyes".
                                                 - bartender at O'Donnells. 

They are so much fun those guys at my "local" Irish. Hehe. 

Until next time girls! Enjoy summer, and have fun!

KIKO - 255 - Violet Microglitter

 As I wrote a couple of days ago, I just went on a little shopping spree at Kiko stores, that resulted in 5 more polishes. I didn't stick to one particular line, but grabbed some here and there. First one I was dying to try out was Kiko - 255 - Violet Microglitter
I wouldn't say that this is just a micro glitter polish, cause when you look at the pictures you can definitely spot some holo in there.

It was smooth to work with and dried really quick on me, but it left a gritty texture so it needed a solid coat of topcoat on top to smooth that grittiness out.
I needed two coats for this to cover completely, as it left a couple of bald spots here and there.

I hear some people compare this to A England Lady of the Lake, I do own that, but I didn't bring it with me to Spain, so comparisons there have to wait, if anyone is interested (let me know in the comments below, if you are).

I took a lot of pictures of this polish, to truly show how it looks in all the different light-conditions. So while the first few pictures might not look amazing, wait for it, until you get the last one, and you can see just how pretty it is in the sun.

Kiko - 255, indoor with flash

Kiko - 255, indoor, direct artificial light 

Here it really reminds me of Accessorize - Magic. One of the first polishes I showed on this blog.

Kiko - 255, indoor, indirect artificial light.

Kiko - 255, indirect sunlight

I am swooning over how pretty this on is in the sun, so pretty and shiny. What do you girls think?

Small Kiko - Haul

So as you might already know, I just moved temporarily to  Spain, Madrid to work as a gametester for EA. It was a huge opportunity for me and I just couldn't say no to it.

Today, we are working overtime on my project, which means I get to update myself on all the blogs out there, and do some blogposts. In between all the working of course, it's not like I'm not doing anything here. But the rules are less strict when working overtime.

Since my flat doesn't have a proper kitchen I have most of our meals out in pubs or restaurants, and it leaves little time for reading blogs and do some blogging. I have missed it so much. I have been so used to being updated on all the blogs I follow, the minute someone posts something, and now, I feel like I am falling behind.

One of the plus sides when moving from UK to Spain, is that I can easily get hold of Kiko polishes.

I mean. The shops are EVERYWHERE!

Every corner I look, there is a KIKO shop. One even had a grand opening just few days after I got here. I didn't go to it, but there was definitely champagne there. Quite the show.

These are the polishes I bought. They sure look amazing in the bottles, and I hope it transfers as well to the nails. I am so excited over these polishes. They are perfect for the Spanish weather with lots of sun and warm weather, so shiny!

So these are the polishes I got:

Kiko - 255

Kiko - 530

Kiko - 533

Kiko - 493

Kiko - 497

I think I managed to line them up, somewhat in order, so the furthest to the right is Kiko - 255. 

And oh my gosh, that green! It's freaking amazing!!

Gorgeous!!

I love my little haul, and I hope you did too. I will be back later with some swatches for you girls. 

Holy Motherboard

I love computers, and all tech related stuff, and that's why I bought the Sci-Fi Collection plate from Moyou-London, i my little haul. I decided to only get the 06 plate, the rest of the Sci-Fi Collection what a bit to childish for my taste.

Sorry for not being very active on the blog lately, I am going though a hectic week with hospital appointments and interview + tests for a job. I have my fingers crossed for this particular job that means I will be moving to Spain for 3 months. I am so excited to hear back from them later this week. Next week is my birthday, so it could not have come on a more appropriate time.

Last week I posted my review on the Moyou-London Sci-Fi Collection plate 06, and posted it on my YT-channel, as well as here on the blog. You can find that post here. 

Feel free to subscribe to my YT-Channel here. 

This is the manicure I created using the Moyou-London Sci-Fi Collection plate 06. I did two different designs for this, and used two images from the plate.

Kiko - Holographic - 401 (indirect light)

Kiko - Holographic - 401 (direct sunlight)

Kiko - Holographic - 401 (no sun)

I just love this polish. I don't own a lot of Kiko polishes, but the Holographic ones are SO amazing.  I used two coats of this manicure. It's freaking amazing. I used Wet & Wild - Black Creme for stamping.

Kiki - 401 stamped with motherboard designs from the Sci-Fi collection plate 06 (direct sunlight)

Kiki - 401 stamped with motherboard designs from the Sci-Fi collection plate 06 (direct sunlight)

Kiki - 401 stamped with motherboard designs from the Sci-Fi collection plate 06 (no sun)

Kiki - 401 stamped with motherboard designs from the Sci-Fi collection plate 06 (no sun)

This way you get to see the amazing holographic polish shine through, I wore this for a bit and felt the need to stamp on the ringfinger as well, and this is how that ended up looking. 

Kiki - 401 stamped with motherboard designs from the Sci-Fi collection plate 06 (direct sunlight)

Any thoughts out there? Let me know in the comment section below. Have a great day everyone.

Pretty in Pink

My blogging feed has been full of girls doing foil nails lately, and it looks as if they are making a comeback, at-least within the polish-obsessed-communities. So, I am jumping on the wagon as well.

I decided on using some of the foils I bought at TGR in Norway while I was on my Christmas holiday.
I have already used one of them, and you can see that by clicking here, and here. , and here
The foil came in a set of 4 and it cost NOK 10 (£1). They don't require foil glue or anything, just a sticky surface. so polish your nails with the base colour you want, wait until it goes tacky and apply the foil. Easy as that.
For the record of all things foil. I used Gina Tricot Basecoat and Topcoat for this manicure, like last time.

I started using Kiko - 331 as base colour and then applied the foil. I am very pleased how this turned out.
In after-thought I wish I had gone with stamping those birds over this. The middle finger kinda looks like a bird, and it would be so cool with birds on the rest of the nails as well.

What do you think? Is foils coming back?

Let me know in the comments below.

Let the cogwheels turn

This might not be your typical Sci-fi manicure. Cause that was what I was trying to do. I was stuck on this for ages, when one day, I sat at my desk, and (Bam!) it hit me. While swatching W7 - Golden Suede.

Let the cogwheels turn.

I started out with one coat of W7 - Golden Suede, used Wet n Wild - Black for stamping, added an accent stamping with Kiko- 400 (yep that's a holo), and added some golden beads and metal bits. Cheeky CH33 was the plate I used for this.

1 coat girls, just one coat!

Looks like a bead fell off. Let's pretend we didn't see that.

Neo-Victorian Steampunk Nail Art

Neo-Victorian Steampunk nail art