Stamping with Cinderhellie - a beginners guide
Hi Everyone,
I'm going a little bit different with today's post and this is a guide to stamping plus my hints and tips. Now I'm not suggesting I am an expert stamper but I'm not too bad at it and I have tried a range of products so I have put this together for anyone that needs some help.
For those of you that are new to stamping or have no idea what it is it is fantastic for adding intricate designs to your nail art without having to be artistic or good at freehand, it uses metal image plates and rubber stamps to transfer the images to the nail. There are loads of stamping brands around and several brands now create their own polish specifically for stamping.
My stamping collection is bursting with plates from Moyou, Uberchic, Moyra, Bundle Monster and so many more and a range of stampers and polishes that it would take me forever to swatch/review and talk about them all so i'm just going to go through the basics.
The tools you need to start stamping -
Well obviously stamping plates -
these are metal plates with images etched into them either a full plate image or individual images of different sizes, if you have long nails you will probably be better off with full plate or larger images.
When you 1st get your plates you will probably find they have a blue film on - you need to remove this before you use, I then recommend giving them a wipe over with pure acetone and a cotton pad or paper towel, you may find a cotton pad leaves some fibers on the plate I just brush these off with my finger. I only ever use pure acetone on my plates as a polish remover has other bits in it which over time can effect the performance of the plate, I clean the image after each use as I find this produces the best result each time then I give the whole plate a clean at the end of each manicure.
The brands I like for stamping are Bundle Monster, Moyra, Moyou London and Uberchic
Stampers and Scrapers -
Well if you thought there was a lot of choice with plates welcome to the world of stampers - large/small, squishy/firm, sticky/non sticky, clear/coloured and there is a variation of scrapers too bendy/firm well honestly I think this all comes down to personal choice so you may need to try a few. If you have long nails obviously you want to go for a large stamper but the rest is down to you (personally I like a sticky, squishy but that's me)
However whatever stamper you decide on there are a few things I suggest - NEVER use acetone or polish remover on your stamper this will ruin them, to clean roll over a lint roller or use sellotape to remove excess image. If when you 1st get a stamper it doesn't work it might need priming to do this either wipe over with a magic eraser or wash in warm soapy water and leave to dry in a zip-lock bag. Don't use a buffer or nail file as this will damage the surface.
Clear Stampers - these are great for placement of images however they can be a little tricky to use so if you are a stamping beginner I wouldn't recommend one until you have got the hang of it.
I recommend any of these stampers from Rainbow Connection to get you started -
Creative Shop Space Stamper
Fab ur Nails Jumbo Squishy Stamper
Fab ur Nails Gold Stamper
Stamping Polish - these are thicker and more pigmented that standard polish so the image shows up so much better, however you can stamp with high street polishes all I can really say is its trial and error! (not much help I know) High street metallics, Barry M gelly's and MUA in Superdrug are all polishes I have had good results with so you never know you might already have a polish in your stash that will work - the thicker and more pigmented the better your results will be so have a play and have fun!!
My favourite brands for stamping however are Colour Alike, Hit the Bottle and Esmaltes Da Kelly all available at Rainbow Connection
Stamping can get a bit messy so clean up is essential, liquid latex is great for applying around your nail because when you have finished you peel it off and the excess is gone *DO NOT use this product if you have a latex allergy* An angled eye brush and acetone will also help clean around the nail and crisp up the lines. Personally I use both because I find some dark stamping polish spreads when I clean with my brush and makes more of a mess so I use my latex and then use my brush to get in right by the cuticle.
Finally after all your hard work you need a good topcoat, one that wont smudge or drag your stamping image, for me there really is only one top coat to use when stamping and that is HK Girl from Rainbow Connection.
So as a quick overview what do you need in your stamping kit -
So now you have your kit and you are all prepped how do you go about creating a stamped mani?
Well first you need your base so base coat, 2 coats of colour and top coat - if you top coat and then make a mistake when stamping you can easily remove it with your lint roller or sellotape without ruining the colour underneath.
You need to place some polish on your chosen image you don't need to cover it as when you scrape it will fill the image.
Now is where the instructions get a bit vague and that is because different plates, stampers and scrapers need a different technique so my best advice is trial and error!
If the image is lightly etched you may need a lighter touch when scraping. Some stampers work better when you roll over the image and others when you press down so the best advice I can give now is play, try... if a hard scrape doesn't work try a lighter one if pressing the stamper down doesn't pick up try rolling over the image. Some polishes need you to work quickly...that just requires practice I'm afraid. Then you might just find some plates don't like certain polishes and scrapers there are just some combinations that don't work...Frustrating isn't it!!!
However when you do get that stamping to work you can create some of the most beautiful manis so my 3 Top Stamping tips are
I'm going a little bit different with today's post and this is a guide to stamping plus my hints and tips. Now I'm not suggesting I am an expert stamper but I'm not too bad at it and I have tried a range of products so I have put this together for anyone that needs some help.
For those of you that are new to stamping or have no idea what it is it is fantastic for adding intricate designs to your nail art without having to be artistic or good at freehand, it uses metal image plates and rubber stamps to transfer the images to the nail. There are loads of stamping brands around and several brands now create their own polish specifically for stamping.
My stamping collection is bursting with plates from Moyou, Uberchic, Moyra, Bundle Monster and so many more and a range of stampers and polishes that it would take me forever to swatch/review and talk about them all so i'm just going to go through the basics.
The tools you need to start stamping -
Well obviously stamping plates -
these are metal plates with images etched into them either a full plate image or individual images of different sizes, if you have long nails you will probably be better off with full plate or larger images.
When you 1st get your plates you will probably find they have a blue film on - you need to remove this before you use, I then recommend giving them a wipe over with pure acetone and a cotton pad or paper towel, you may find a cotton pad leaves some fibers on the plate I just brush these off with my finger. I only ever use pure acetone on my plates as a polish remover has other bits in it which over time can effect the performance of the plate, I clean the image after each use as I find this produces the best result each time then I give the whole plate a clean at the end of each manicure.
The brands I like for stamping are Bundle Monster, Moyra, Moyou London and Uberchic
Stampers and Scrapers -
Well if you thought there was a lot of choice with plates welcome to the world of stampers - large/small, squishy/firm, sticky/non sticky, clear/coloured and there is a variation of scrapers too bendy/firm well honestly I think this all comes down to personal choice so you may need to try a few. If you have long nails obviously you want to go for a large stamper but the rest is down to you (personally I like a sticky, squishy but that's me)
However whatever stamper you decide on there are a few things I suggest - NEVER use acetone or polish remover on your stamper this will ruin them, to clean roll over a lint roller or use sellotape to remove excess image. If when you 1st get a stamper it doesn't work it might need priming to do this either wipe over with a magic eraser or wash in warm soapy water and leave to dry in a zip-lock bag. Don't use a buffer or nail file as this will damage the surface.
Clear Stampers - these are great for placement of images however they can be a little tricky to use so if you are a stamping beginner I wouldn't recommend one until you have got the hang of it.
I recommend any of these stampers from Rainbow Connection to get you started -
Creative Shop Space Stamper
Fab ur Nails Jumbo Squishy Stamper
Fab ur Nails Gold Stamper
Stamping Polish - these are thicker and more pigmented that standard polish so the image shows up so much better, however you can stamp with high street polishes all I can really say is its trial and error! (not much help I know) High street metallics, Barry M gelly's and MUA in Superdrug are all polishes I have had good results with so you never know you might already have a polish in your stash that will work - the thicker and more pigmented the better your results will be so have a play and have fun!!
My favourite brands for stamping however are Colour Alike, Hit the Bottle and Esmaltes Da Kelly all available at Rainbow Connection
Stamping can get a bit messy so clean up is essential, liquid latex is great for applying around your nail because when you have finished you peel it off and the excess is gone *DO NOT use this product if you have a latex allergy* An angled eye brush and acetone will also help clean around the nail and crisp up the lines. Personally I use both because I find some dark stamping polish spreads when I clean with my brush and makes more of a mess so I use my latex and then use my brush to get in right by the cuticle.
Finally after all your hard work you need a good topcoat, one that wont smudge or drag your stamping image, for me there really is only one top coat to use when stamping and that is HK Girl from Rainbow Connection.
So as a quick overview what do you need in your stamping kit -
- Stamping Plates
- Stamper and Scraper
- Stamping Polish
- Pure Acetone
- Liquid Latex (If not allergic)
- Lint Roller
- Clean up Brush
- Good top coat
- Paper Towel and Cotton Pads
So now you have your kit and you are all prepped how do you go about creating a stamped mani?
Well first you need your base so base coat, 2 coats of colour and top coat - if you top coat and then make a mistake when stamping you can easily remove it with your lint roller or sellotape without ruining the colour underneath.
You need to place some polish on your chosen image you don't need to cover it as when you scrape it will fill the image.
Now is where the instructions get a bit vague and that is because different plates, stampers and scrapers need a different technique so my best advice is trial and error!
If the image is lightly etched you may need a lighter touch when scraping. Some stampers work better when you roll over the image and others when you press down so the best advice I can give now is play, try... if a hard scrape doesn't work try a lighter one if pressing the stamper down doesn't pick up try rolling over the image. Some polishes need you to work quickly...that just requires practice I'm afraid. Then you might just find some plates don't like certain polishes and scrapers there are just some combinations that don't work...Frustrating isn't it!!!
However when you do get that stamping to work you can create some of the most beautiful manis so my 3 Top Stamping tips are
- Play around - set aside some time and try different plates with different polishes - don't experiment when you are in a hurry
- Have fun with it
- Most importantly Don't Give Up - it is frustrating when it doesn't work but when it does you will feel fantastic
Here are some of my Stamping Manis
I hope you have enjoyed this post and have found it helpful, I'm sorry it has been so long but I had a lot I wanted to say!
If you have any questions about specific brands/products please leave me a comment below or send me a message via any of my social media - I'm on Facebook - Cinderhellie Nails, Instagram - @Cinderhellienails or Twitter - @Cinderhellie and I will do my best to answer or help you.
Love and Happy Stamping
Helen aka Cinderhellie xx
Fabulous H xx
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan x
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