Review | Born Pretty Store Arabesque Stamping Plate QA88

Nail stamping is still a very popular way of enhancing your nails when more complicated designs get into play. I have recently added an arabesque stamping plate to my collection from Born Pretty Store.

 

 

Arabesque motifs are among my favourite nail art designs and with this plate I have endless manicure possibilities. The plate is like most other image plates - hexagonal metal plate with an engraved design all over. It comes with a protective plastic film, so be sure to remove that before use. Also, since the edges may be quite sharp, I like to file them a little to avoid cutting myself onto them.

 

The other day, I came across a nail art tutorial on nailsartvidss on Instagram where they used an image plate in a completely different manner than what we are used to. They applied polish and scraped the excess of as usual, then instead of rolling the stamper over the nail, the design is left to dry on the stamper and details are coloured in with nail polish including the base coat at the end.

When the polish dries, it is simply removed from the stamper and stuck to a wet nail like a nail sticker! As it happens, this plate was the perfect fit to try this new technique! Obviously you won't be using the whole design on your nail so I think this is a novel way to use such plates. 

 

The plate engravings are deep enough and the design is retained as a whole, which is not always the case with stamping plates where parts of the design may not transfer. However, I didn't have any such problems with this plate. Here's a manicure I did using this plate:

You can get this plate here for just $2.99 and free shipping + 10% off if you quote the code EBABK31 at checkout. 

 

On a side note, Born Pretty Store now also stock durable display cases for your stamping plates. I have this pink leather one and although it comes a little pricey at $31.89 I still recommend getting it to store your plates safely in one place (it an hold up to 128 plates). I even store nail sticker sheets in it to keep everything organized! You can always save some money if you use BPS points or discount codes when checking out too!

 

 

 

 

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NOTW: Blinged out flowers

Here's the last tutorial for Christmas! It is a very simple one that any one can do...

1. Start with a base coat and leave to dry thoroughly.

2. Apply two coats of a gold nail polish of your choice.  Leave the coats to dry between each application. Here I used Golden Rose Prestige no. 71.

3. Stamp a design of your choice with a nice red nail polish (elf Cranberry) on each nail and seal with a top coat. That's it!

I hope you enjoyed these tutorials and maybe go ahead and try them out yourself for nails that will steal the show at your Christmas parties!  Happy Christmas to each and everyone of you and your respective families :) xxx

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NOTW: Lilac Blossom Frames

Happy Sunday everyone :) Here's an easy flowery design for this week...

1. Start with a clear base coat and when dry paint on two coats of a glittery silver polish or a colour of your choice over the entire nail. I used Florelle Laque Plus no. 51.

2. Using a contrasting colour (I used Rimmel 60 Seconds Pompous), stamp a flower design on your choice on each nail. I stamped the same design twice on my thumbs and ring fingers. I chose a sort-of corner design to like frame the nails (hence the name I decided to give to this manicure).

3. Seal everything off with a clear top coat and you're done!

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Review: GCOCL Stamping Nail Art Plates

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!

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