Stamping Saturday

My birthday was last weekend and my husband asked me what I wanted.  He assumed I wanted polish, but I had been eyeing the new Pueen Buffet Stamping Plates that just came out.  They were sold out at Pueen, but Amazon had them.  The reviews from the other stampers have been nothing short of fantastic, so that's what he got me along with the Pueen Love Elements set.  I've done some test stamps with both sets and the quality is great.  Every image I've tried is etched perfectly and stamps cleanly and clearly.

I used plate 46 from the Love Elements set.  I stamped with my Winstonia squishy stamper.

I started with 2 coats of Can We Carol on from Different Dimensions which you can find here.  It is a pale lavender holographic shown on the wheel below.  

Then I stamped with Funky Fingers Keyan Sunset.  You can find Funky Fingers polish at Five Below stores, not sure if this one is still available. Kenyan Sunset is  thick making it perfect for stamping.  It is a holographic royal purple but the holo doesn't really show up on the wheel, it does sparkle in the sunlight though and the formula is really nice as a base color too.

Here is my final result.  I'm really happy with these plates and how my stamping skills have progressed over the last few weeks with some practice. 

Different Dimensions polish and Pueen plates were purchased by me, Kenyan Sunset was provided as a prize in a giveaway.

Adventures in Stamping - My First Success

I've recently taken up stamping.  I started out with a Salon Express set which you can get at Sally's, Walgreens, and various other places for $10 or less.  It comes with all the tools needed to get started with basic stamping.  I would recommend it for anyone who wants to try stamping before making a the investment in expensive plates and kits.  The plates are cute and decent quality.  I've had trouble with the stamper though.  I purchased some Bundle Monster plates but I couldn't get the Salon Express stamper to pick up any of the images.  I read some tutorials and got some tips from expert stampers and got a few of the images to pick up but I still wasn't having a lot of luck.  So I decided I needed to try a different stamper before completely giving up.  I picked up a double ended Konad from Amazon and a squishy silicone stamper from Winstonia, the first generation Winstonia plates jumped in my cart too.

After trying out both of my new stampers on the Bundle Monster images I had trouble with before, I was able to pick up the images right away on both new stampers.  I will caution that I had to "prep" the squishy stamper just a little before using it.  I washed it with dish soap (I use Ajax antibacterial).  You want something without moisturizers.  Then I swiped it with acetone just to get the sticky stuff of it until I could get an image to pick up.  Since then I've only used a lint roller to get excess polish off of it based on recommendations from other stampers out there.  From what I gather acetone can break down the silicone on the squishy stamper.

For this manicure, which I call my first successful stamping mani using my "grown up" stamping supplies.  I used OPI Schnapps Out of It as the base and stamped with OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons (both from the Germany Collection).  The image is Winstonia W111 from the first generation set.  These pictures are a few weeks old.  I've been practicing so I'm getting better.  These aren't perfect but for a first attempt, I'm really pleased.

All products purchased by me.

Salon Express Snowflakes and Beginner Tips

I got a Salon Express Stamping Kit at Walgreen's a few months ago for $10.  I have tried to get it to work and have failed horribly at getting any of the images to transfer to my nails.  I didn't want to invest any more time and money into stamping if operator error was the problem.  I've been seeing so many beautiful stamped manicures particularly the Bundle Monster 323 Plate with the snowflakes.  Determined to give it another try and get it to work, I did some reading in my polish groups on Facebook and got some tips.

 

I already had on OPI's I Vant to Be A-Lone Star, see the post here, as a base and went to work with China Glaze Frost Bite and Spoiled Correction Tape for the stamps.  I used the SE20 plate that came with the kit.  I tried to use this image back in the summer for fireworks for Fourth of July, but it was a total failure.  Here some of the tips I came up with and that I picked up from the lovely ladies that are better at stamping that I am:

1. Rough up the rubber part of the stamper with a file to pick up the image.  I used my glass file and lightly filed the end of the stamper.  I saw much better results picking up the image after doing this.
2. Use an old credit card or gift card instead of the metal scraper that comes with the kit to scrape away excess polish.  I had an old gift card and it gave me much better control since the card is flexible and pushed the polish into the image grooves better.  You can get a better angle with a plastic card too.  The metal scraper scratches the stamping plates.
3. Wipe everything down with acetone or remover after each stamp.  Use a qtip if needed to get into the lines of intricate images.  I like the pointy ones.  Make sure the plate is dry before applying polish again or the polish will run.
4. Roll the stamper over the image plate to pick up the image and then roll over your nail to transfer the image.  I tried to pick up the image using an up and down motion on the plate and that just doesn't work.

Once the stamps were dry, I added a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust to give it just a hint of sparkle and a coat of Seche Vite to seal everything up.  It gives it the look of snow crystals in the sun.  I'm really proud of this manicure and really excited to share my first stamping success.

What do you think of stamping?  Now that I've go the hang of it I think I want to buy some more plates.