Today's post wraps together two reviews, one of some new stamping polishes and another of new stamping plates - perfect combo right - although a little risky, because if my stamping doesn't work well was it because of the polish or the plate!! Read on to find out.
The plates I'm reviewing are the latest set from the Born Pretty Store. These plates are numbered BP-L001 - BP-L008 and are available from the
Born Pretty Store as a set for $31.99USD. These stamping plates are the same size as the MoYou plates and they have a hard pink plastic backing, similar to the white backing on the Moyou plates. As usual, the stamping plates come with a blue plastic file to protect them, which you have to remove before you can start stamping.
The designs on the plates vary quite a lot, BP-L002 has two very large designs that could be used nicely for water colouring, or lead lighting. Some of the plates have 18 images on them and other plates 21 images, obviously the ones with 21 images are smaller, although I found they were just long enough for my nails if I placed them carefully.
I have chosen a few designs off each plate to show you how they stamp.
For all the stamping I used my Messy Mansion Squishy Pink stamper and a plastic card to scrape.
Now lets talk about the 26 stamping polishes to show you today!
The stamping
polishes were sent to me by Aussie Indie brand Hit the Bottle. Michelle
sells the polishes through the
Hit the Bottle Store Envy Store, and the mini bottles are $3.50 USD. I'll give you my final thoughts at the end on both the polishes and the stamping plates, but for now, lets jump in a look at the swatches.
Stamping in golds and oranges used BP-L001
The gap in the pinky finger stamping is due to my awkwardness, and is not caused by the stamping plate or polish (I bumped the stamper onto my knuckle!)
Green stamping was done using BP-L002
Purples
Purple stamping was done using BP-L003
Blues - as you can see, there is a pink polish on my pinky. This polish looks white in the bottle, but stamps pink.
Blue stamping done with BP-L004
Pinks - as you can see there is a blue polish on my pinky. This one actually looks pink in the bottle but it stamps blue!
Pink stamping done with BP-L005
Coppers and bronzes
Cooper and bronzes stamped with BP-L006
Black and white.
As these were the last stamping polishes, I chose two images from plates BP-L007 and BP-L008. The black nails stamped with white are from BP-L007 and the white nails stamped with black are from BP-L008
First up, the stamping plates from the Born Pretty Store. Quite simply I think they are fantastic. I love the presentation of them on the hard pink plastic. I love that they store perfectly with my Moyou plates. I love the variety of image designs on them. I love that the etching is smooth and seems deep enough on all the images I tried, including the fine lines on the pinky in the black and white. At their normal retail price of 8 for $32 they are only $4 each, and if you use of the of 10% off codes (mine is MNPG10) then they come down to $3.60 each. I think the quality for the price is very good.
Ok now lets talk about the stamping polishes from Aussie Indie Hit the Bottle. OK, WOW. I was so impressed with these. I guess I probably wasn't expecting much. I'd become so used to using my Mundo de Unas polishes that I never thought I needed any other stamping polishes.
One thing you will notice is that all the polishes have a metallic finish, they are not cremes. I'm totally ok with this, because all my Mundo de Unas polishes are cremes. I'm particularly happy to have a rich gold gold to stamp with. Until now I've used China Glaze Passion or Essie Good as Gold to stamp with, both are great, but do look rather platinum on the nail. All the colours are bright and vivid and all stamp over black so beautifully. Some will not stamp over white so well, because the pigments are quite translucent, eg The Drunken Elf, Pink Elephant, I'm pinking of blue and Peach Blow.
I did notice that Pink Elephant did sink a bit in the bottle and needed a good stir to get the pigments back in, but none of the others were like that. I also found that the black polish wasn't as black a black as my Mundo black, but it was ok.
Michelle did advise me that the polishes can be used as regular polishes too, with the following notes:
- the black stains if you use it as a regular polish - so make sure you base coat.
- because the polishes contain a lot of colour, the amount of lacquer base has to be reduced, this means that some of the flexibility and durability of the polishes isn't there. As such, if used a a regular polish they will chip easily
As pretty as these are, I have no plans to use them as regular polishes - this babies are for stamping only for me.
So I know this blog post definitely comes over as hugely supportive for both these products. I've always been a half glass full kinda girl and nail polishes and products would have to particularly suck for me to review it poorly, but with that said, I would never recommend a product unless it worked for me. I can only share my experience, and for both these products it was great.
The links again are:
