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.

Beauty and The Beast

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

One of the things I like about living in the UK, compared to when I lived in Norway, is Poundland, and Pound World and what not's. There are always nail polishes to find, beauties looking for a good home. On one of my trips to these stores I came across Sally Hansen - Black Tie.
Since that day, it has been a part of my stash.

Sally Hansen - Black Tie

For this manicure I used the Y003 plate that I recently received from Born Pretty Store to review. I have already done a manicure using this plate, and you can find that over here. 

There is no hiding that I am a huge lover of Disney movies, and one that I love in particular is Beauty and The Beast. After having started watching Once Upon A Time (if you have  not seen the show, I would highly recommend it. I am on season 2 now), my love for Belle has rekindled. 

When I saw this design on the Y003 plate, I knew I had to make a decal with it, and fill in the rose, and the leaves. 

For the stamping I used FNUG - Runway, the grey tone in this polish would make it visible against Sally Hansen - Black Tie, as well as not interfering with the depth of it.

I filled the rose in with Barry M - Vintage Violet and Barry M - Crush, and the leaves with Sinful Colors - Exotic Green and Essie - Mojito Madness. I didn't want the design to seem one dimensional, therefor all the polishes.

Sally Hansen - Black Tie, with Y003 stamped over in FNUG - Runway.

Sally Hansen - Black Tie with a stamping using Y003 as an accent

I really like how this manicure turned out, and I think next time I use this image from the Y003 plate, I will try to fill it all in, and not just the rose and leaves. I love this stained glass / mosaic look on my nails. It really adds some elegance to it all.

If you wanted to get hold of this plate, at this writing moment Y003 is back in stock at Born Pretty Store.

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.

Arabesque Nails

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

I needed something that would match my outfit, but still be interesting enough to talk about. Just in case anyone were to take a glance at my nails.
After all, it was a classical concert, and there would be wine and chatter.

I had just received some stamping plates from Born Pretty Store, and I had been eyeing BP L002 for a while. This would be the perfect opportunity.

Since I would be wearing a cream coloured dress, I decided to stay on the neutral side of my nail polish collection. After carefully considering every shade, I chose W7 - Buff as my base colour.

BP-L002 from BornPrettyStore

This is the part of the plate that I decided to use. There was something about those neat lines, that was dragging me towards it. Almost like a tentacle, almost like a sweet lace pattern. I did spend quite some time with this plate in order to find "the perfect" section for my manicure. I have a notebook where I sometimes do test stamps in, and I filled a full page. Crazy right?

BP-L002 from BornPrettyStore, filled in and on the stamping heads

For the stamping I used Barry M - Coconut and Barry M - Vanilla. I thought those two shades would be perfect together with W7 - Buff for this look. It is not often I wear shades like this, so why not wear them all together.  The dots are done using Barry M - Coconut.

After they had dried enough, I could proceed to getting them on my nails. Making it look something like this.

BP-L002 from BornPrettyStore decal ready to go on the nail

I wanted the design to mirror the other finger, I find this a lot easier when using the decal method, and it worked very well for this look. I finished it all with two rhinestones in a soft purple, on the index and little finger. 

BP-L002 from BornPrettyStore with rhinestones 

BP-L002 from BornPrettyStore with rhinestones 

I really like how this look came together, specially with the rhinestones and the mirror-image stamping in the middle.

If you want to get hold of this plate, it is sold for 5.99 USD, BornPrettyStore offers free shipping worldwide, and if you use my code (RAMG10) you get 10% off your order.

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.

As you can see from the image, it comes with a backing piece, so no dangers of cuts here. It also comes with the protective blue film, which you are expecting to find on plates now a days.

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

Leadlighting flowers

The days are going well here in Spain, life as a gametester is challenging and also a lot of fun. I get to use everything I know about the game, from being an old fan, as well as all the things I have learned as a Secretary. I am really looking forward to the release, when I can lean back, give myself a pat on the shoulder for a job well done.

I have been seeing this leadlight technique mentioned a lot of places, it's totally the rave of the summer.

I didn't bring that many polishes that would be great for this, so I needed to mix the colours I did bring with some clear polish to make this work for me. I didn't quite do it right, but as a first attempt, I think it's a good one. 

So for this manicure I mixed following colours with clear polish to create this look:
Barry M - Superdrug Limited Edition Yellow
ESSIE - Mojito Madness
Savina - Royalty

All this over 2 coats of Wet n Wild - Tropicalia

I stamped using Wet n Wild - Black Creme, using Cheeky - Jumbo plate - Princess Charming

Leadlight technique

Leadlight technique

Have you jumped on the Leadlight - technique wagon as well?
Any particular polishes you find works the best for this kind of technique?
Let me know in the comment field below!