Hello my lovelies :) Today, I am going to review my stamping nail art plates. As most or all of you know, I am a self-confessed nail art junkie and love everything that has to do with nails and taking care of them. I am always on the lookout for new techniques in nail enhancements and earlier this year, I learned about Stamping.
Let's start with a brief description of the technique. Basically, Stamping involves a metal image plate, a scraper and a stamper. On the image plate, you get all sorts of designs, some of which are very difficult to hand-paint, so I think it is a very handy technique both for the professional nail artists and those who do their own nails. The designs are like stencils, but instead of being hollow, they are sort of carved in the plate. What you do, is you take a nail polish of your choice (you don't need to use special polishes, regular nail polishes work just as well) and cover the desired design; scrape off the excess with a scraper; pick the image with the stamper and roll on your nail so it is transferred! Easy, no? Here's a short video tutorial to further help you understand how its done:
OK, now time for the actual review! I got these plates off ebay for around €8 and the stamper and scraper were free as was shipping... unarguably a bargain! With regards packing, they came in a small plastic re-sealable bag and each had a protective film on the side of the designs. The stamper and scraper came in a separate, similar bag.
The brand of these plates is GCOCL and mine are numbered as A01, A02, K01, K02, K03, K04, K05 and K06. As you can see from the photo, they are octagonal in shape, the edges of which are not sharp at all, so they are completely safe to handle (keep away from babies and children though due to the pointy vertices).
I really like the way designs turn out with these plates, you only have to choose the right polish (light polishes will get you nowhere). The stamper and scraper also play an important role in getting a perfect final result. I have both plastic and metal scrapers, but for some reason, I prefer the plastic ones.
Cleaning is easily accomplished with just some nail polish remover, a cotton disc for the plates and a cotton bud for the stamper and scraper. The plates won't tarnish and it is very important to clean them thoroughly after use to make sure you get a perfect result each time.
As a concluding remark, some might argue that stamping will make you waste nail polish (scraping off the excess), fair enough! But I still recommend you to get familiar with this technique as it is an easy and quick way to embellish your nails in a few minutes!
