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.

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.

Inspired By Pink Floyd

I am super excited to share this with you all. Me and TheHumbleBear from Instagram decided to do a twinmani. We ended up chatting for a long time and discovered that we both grew up listening to Pink Floyd. A lot. 

I used to sit ready with my cassette recorder in case a Pink Floyd, or Sting song would come on the radio, ready to tape. I think I still got some of my favourites on a cassette at mums place. 

I would have them on in the background when reading books, which was something I was always doing (unless I was doing homework). 

Polishes that I used for this Pink Floyd Themed Nail Art

I haven't done a freehand nail art look in a while, so I decided to grab my striping brushes and a box of nail polishes for this look. 

I sat in the living room, trying it out for filming, and as you can see from the video it is not enough light in there and the natural light from the windows is causing a lot of flickering in the light (our house came with 3 over friendly pigeons that like to fly back n forth in front of our windows) Will pull down the blinds and add more light next time. 

Products used:
Wet n Wild - Black Creme
Barry M - Coconut
Barry M - Plum
Barry M - Blue Grape
Barry M - Yellow (Superdrug LTD)
Barry M - Mango
Barry M - Lime Green
L'oreal - Scarlet Vamp
OPI - Sheer Enchantment
Sally Hansen - Pearly Whites

Two thin striping brushes from Bundlemonster

Pink Floyd - Galaxy Nail Art

My main inspiration for this nail art look was Insomia over at DeviantArt. 

When talking about Pink Floyd you can not escape mentioning their album The Dark Side of the Moon, so when me and TheHumbleBear did out nail art looks, we both did one based on the cover of that album.

When I was living in Spain 2 years ago, I came across this wall, and had to take a picture.

I Wish You Were Beer 

Be sure to check out TheHumbleBear over at Instagram, and send her my love. We had so much fun with this twinmani, and hope you liked the looks that we created. 

Pink Floyd 🌈~ One of my favourite bands 💖😘💖 #Art #AcrylicPaint #Intricate #CuteNailArt #Wishyouwerehere #PinkFloyd #RainbowNails #Polish #Asian #NailArt #NormalPolish #NailArtist #Gelish #Manicure #PrestoGel #InkArt #Favourite #Nailstagram #SharingArt #ArtDiscover #like4like #HandPaintedNailArt #Presto #OOTD #AngelPro #GellyFit #NOTD #POTD #Nails #LOVE

A photo posted by BearBearley 🐻 (@thehumblebear) on May 23, 2016 at 5:50pm PDT

Opulent Essences - Devils Gold

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

Opulent Essences - Devils Gold

Devil's Goldan excellent definition for oil considering the problems it is causing
We are living in a fools paradise if we think we can rely on the Devil's Gold forever.

 

Opulent Essences - Devil's Gold while the name might make you think about oil, this not an oil-spill / oil-slick sort of polish, it is a semi sheer black jelly base with golden flakes and smooth glitter. that shifts in green, gold and blurple, a blueish purple.


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.

Etsy Store
Instagram

Devils Gold 10 ml - 6 £

Opulent Essences - Devils Gold

Today has been super busy with house-hunting, and I found this gorgeous little terrace house close by a park, that I have filled out the paperwork for and applied for.

If I get this place I will get a larger nail polish room, and it does not have to function as a Nail Cave / Spare Bedroom, it will ONLY be for my nail polishes. 

Fingers crossed.

For the picture swatches on the blog here, you can see one coat of Opulent Essences - Devils Gold over Wet n Wild - Black Creme. On the Live Swatch in the video over here, you can see what Opulent Essences - Devils Gold looks like layered over Barry M - Blue Grape, a cobalt blue polish (dupe for YSL - Bleu Majorelle)

More color combos for Opulent Essences - Devils Gold

For the nail art today I opted for a simple accent stamping using Moyra - Ornaments plate 03.
I used Sinful Color - Snow Me White for this.

Opulent Essences - Devils Gold layered over Wet n Wild - Black Creme with accent Barry M - Blue Grape, Opulent Essences - Devils Gold over and stamped using Sinful Color - Snow Me White and Moyra - Ornaments - 03

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

Opulent Essences - Gravity

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

If you are a regular to my blog you know that my current obsession is with Opulent Essences polishes. They have so many gorgeous polishes, and keeps coming out with new ones. Recently they launched a Game Of Thrones inspired one, and since I live "just around the corner" from where the series is being filmed, I am a fan.

Since I have to move very soon I have put myself on a No-Buy until the living-situation is sorted, and I know that I have an address where I will be able to receive my parcels.

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.

Etsy Store
Instagram

Gravity 10 ml - 6 £
Gravity  5 ml - 3 £

Opulent Essences - Gravity is s semi-sheer smooth glassfleck polish that shifts between blue and a rich jeweltoned purple. 

Opulent Essences - Gravity

In the swatch above you can see it applied in two coats over Wet n Wild - Black Creme on the index , ring and little finger and on the long finger it is applied over Barry M - Gelly - Blue Grape. 

It also looks good over grey and purple. 

Opulent Essences - Gravity with Bundlemonster Waterdecals.

I decided to use some waterdecals that I have received in a Surprise Bundle from Bundlemonster, and added some dotticures using my dotting tool to complete the look. I am not sure if it is possible to buy these waterdecals separately, but they are called GID-033.  

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

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 - 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. 

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.

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?

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.

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.

OPI - ColorPaints

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen a sneak peak of this look already. I had recently picked up some OPI ColorPaints at TK MAXX. I got the OPI - ColorPaints - Chromatic Orange and OPI - ColorPaints - Purple Perspective. Eagerly tried them out.

Should I add some stamping to these? #opi #colorpaints #barrym #accentnail #nailartaddict #nailpolish #paamani #paamanimonday #nailart #nailartoohlala #nailsoftheday

A video posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on Feb 8, 2016 at 2:33pm PST

I'm just starting to get the hang of Instagram, I am sure you will see lot more fun from me there.


For this look I started out with Barry M - Gelly - Cream Soda.  

On my Uber Chic Beauty stamping mat I took a bit of  OPI - ColorPaints - Chromatic Orange and OPI - ColorPaints - Purple Perspective and marbled them together, and pressed a stamper over the marble. I allowed it to dry on the stamping mat as well at that on the stamper head and applied a coat of Out the Door topcoat.  After the decals had dried I applied them to my nails and left one finger as an accent.

The little finger did not turn out quite how I had hoped, but I still think it's a fun look.

Barry M - Cream Soda, marbled nail art using 
OPI - ColorPaints - Chromatic Orange and OPI - ColorPaints - Purple Perspective

I quite like the idea of these ColorPaints, and will be cool to see what other looks I can pull together with these.

Pretty Serious Wired Nails

Today I have for you another Wired Nails look, you might have seen my previous Wired Nail designs, if not here is a handy link for you.

1. Speedy Wired Nails
2. Wired Nails

To make Wired Nails you need a sandwich bag or something similar to make decals on. If you got the Über Chic Beauty stamping mat, then count yourself luck and use that. You also need a dotting tool and some nail polish. 

If you are wondering why you have not seen the Red Wired Nails design that I did in this video, on my blog. Then I can tell you that Wine and filming nail art tutorials is just asking for problems. No Wine or Polish was spilled while filming this video, but mistakes were made.

Today I did the Wired Nail look using Barry M - Cardamom. I got away with only one coat so very happy about that. I think I got pretty much the entire Barry M - Gelly line now. They are quickly outgrowing their A - B drawer in my Helmer. If it continues like this, I will have to move out A and use the drawer for B only.

Barry M - Cardamom

Wired Nails using Barry M - Gelly - Cardamom and Pretty Serious - Nightopia

I really like this technique and it is something you don't see around very often which is cool. So easy to do and creates a unique look.

What do you think about Wired Nails?

Love is Kind

I recently did a haul from Nail Artisan UK, one of the items I purchased was the Pet'la Stamping Plate - Textytext. I really loved two of the saying on the plate and decided to do my nails with this.

You might have seen them on my Instagram recently.

#petlas #nailstamping #nailstagram #nailart #secretarysnailart @nail_artisan_by_alex #nailartisanuk #nail_artisan_uk #nailartisanbyalex @petlaplate #nail_artisan_by_alex

A photo posted by Dina Ramse (@secretarysnailart) on Feb 6, 2016 at 10:55am PST

I didn't actually know that this was a quote from the Bible when I did my nails, but my friend Sam that you all know from GuestNails , informed me.

For this look I started out with two coats of Barry M - Pink Lemonade, and did the stamping using Barry M - Acai Smoothie and Pet'la Stamping plate - Textytext.
I really like the end result here, and think it would be perfect for Valentine's.

What are you going to wear for Valentine's this year?

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)

Oh Christmas Tree

Today I have skipped the stamping nail art, and rather gone for a look everyone can achieve.
2 polishes. That is all there is to it.
I am super happy with how this turned out, and I can see myself go back to this combination again.

When I walk to work in the morning it is still dark outside, and I can see Christmas Trees in the windows to the houses that I pass, and in the morning light they look like this. Blackened Green.
So this is a look inspired by the Christmas Trees out there, lighting up my walk to work.

I started out with Barry M - Black Pistachio I chose this polish because of the the blackened green shade. also a sucker for the Gelly range from Barry M. Gorgeous.

Then I layered one coat of OPI - Snow Globetrotter. I was so lucky to come across this polish in a bargain section on one of my many travels around the UK. I always make sure to check any local shops that might have nail polishes for some good deals. This was one of them.

Barry M - Gelly - Black Pistachio with one coat of OPI - Snow Globetrotter

Do you see a Galaxy, or a Christmas Tree in this manicure?

For a complete list of my Christmas themed nails follow this link.

Very Berry Christmas

This year I decided to do things a little different than previous years. As I finally have a nail station, and a dedicated room to nail art and crafts, I wanted to bring you a bunch of nail arts for the holidays. To see all the posts gathered check out this link, whenever I post a new look it will be added to this link. So I am aiming at having one new look every single day in December all the way until the 25th of December. After that I think we are all ready for New Years.
Some of the looks will be festive, some will be jolly, but I promise you there will be nail art
..and maybe even a tutorial or two (?), who knows.

I started it all with my Merry Christmas -look.

Today it all started out with 2 coats of Barry M - Berry Cosmo (I think you are all familiar with that polish by now), then a quick coat of Maybelline - 230 - Undress to Impress from the "Stripped Nudes" collection.

For those of you attending Christmas dinners with the office, I would highly advise against following this tip from Maybelline. Undressing will not impress your new bosses. Keep the clothes on, and remember to have fun.

Barry M - Berry Cosmo topped with Maybelline - 230 - Undress to Impress

Then I grabbed my holiday stamping plate, Cheeky - Jumbo plate 6 - Happy Holidays. For full review of this plate, check out this link

For other manicures using this plate, check out this link here. 

I stamped using Sinful Color - Snow Me White.

Barry M - Berry Cosmo topped with a coat of Maybelline - Undress to Impress, and stamped using Sinful Color - Snow Me White with Cheeky - Jumbo plate 6 - Happy Holidays

I hope you liked this Berry Christmas look, tomorrow I am going green. How green? Well you will just have to wait and see.