Stamping - up to my elbows in polish!

[Beauty4all]

I did my own nails fine a few weeks ago, then did my daughters nails but she politely declined to have them stamped after I tried for 20 mins to get a tribal design straight!!!
So I've had a wee practice today with my stamping before offering it to clients. Have applied Shellac and completed service. I have used Mundo de Unas Polish, Moyou Plates, Konad and Squishy Stamper. I have watched The RMGreys you tube and many others and it looked sooo easy!
Here were my problems during the 2 1/2 hrs doing 8 color pops! Yes I did say 2 1/2 hrs!
- The Gold smeared everywhere with the Konad Stamp but worked OK with Squishy
- The Stamps with full nail design, I found completely impossible to get straight
- The silver has stained my Squishy Stamper
- The Lavender wouldn't work at all with the Squishy but did with the Konad Stamper
I finished up looking like a child that had raided the Paint Pot Cupboard, but with a stinking headache and bin full of used wipes!

Are these issues normal or is old age the issue here?
I don't want to have to say to clients, oh you can't have the lined design cos I don't do straight lines, oh and you can't have Gold cos I'll smear it all up your arm etc!

I did get these done in the end but really? Is it safe to let me loose?


I welcome any tips -

 

[RelaxologyJT]

Your post struck a chord with me. After seeing the amazing results from other people's stamping efforts I thought I'd give it a try (given that I'm not the most natural freehand artist!).

I used the MoYou plates and their squishy stamper and after practising on my sister for about 1.5 hours I decided that stamping is a tricky little devil. I found it impossible to get the straight designs lined up properly and to start in the correct place on the nail. I also found the design that was placed on the nail was quite faint.

The white squishy stamper also made for tricky stamping when using white polish. I ended up admitting defeat and will maybe try again another time but for now I'll stick to the freehand nail art I know I can do.

Sorry to not be of any help but it's always reassuring to hear things aren't always so straight forward for others too. Good luck with your stamping, I think you've done a fab job!

 

[Miss Dolly]

Beauty4all, you’re not alone, the first time I tried stamping with a black Mundo polish I had immediate success and thought that I’d manage to crack the world of stamping straight way! Unfortunately this had lead me into a false sense of security and I made a right mess on my latest attempt, luckily it was a close friend and we just removed the stamping and cut our losses! I must say though, that on this occasion, it happened to be the silver polish that seemed to smear and I couldn’t get a detailed finish, it just looked like a splodge on the nail. So perhaps the metallic polishes just take a bit more practice!?
Sorry I couldn’t help, just wanted you to know that you aren’t alone.

 

[Valcan]

I too, struggled when I started stamping but am able to do it fairly well now. Here are some tips that may help:

1. The Konad stamper needs to be rolled over the plate and rolled over the nail.
2. The squishy stamper needs to be pressed directly down on the plate. I then turn it so it is facing me and line up my nail so I can see exactly where the image will go on the stamper. I squish my nail into the stamper and do not roll at all. With a squishy stamper, you don't have to push your nail into the stamper very hard and you do not need to hold it there. Quick push down and viola!
3. You do not have the hurry when using Mundo de Unas polish like you have to with Konad polish. I take my time with MDU and make sure my nail is line up right before I press it down.
4. Make sure you scrape the plate well with your scraper and more towards 90 degrees than 45 degrees.
5. With the MDU colors that are smearing, let them sit on the stamper for a little longer before stamping. I do advanced stamping where I color in the image on the stamper. The image is dry but the time I press my nail in to the stamper and the image still transfers very well.
6. With my white stamper, I painted a dot on the side of the holder. I make sure that when I stamp the plate, the dot is in the 6 o'clock position. When I stamp white on my nail, I make sure that the dot is in the 6 o'clock position before I stamp down. I also bought MDU Mexican Pink which stains your stamper. I wanted to stain my stamper so I could see white stamping polish better. Worked like a charm!

 

[squidgernetball]

I too, struggled when I started stamping but am able to do it fairly well now. Here are some tips that may help:

1. The Konad stamper needs to be rolled over the plate and rolled over the nail.
2. The squishy stamper needs to be pressed directly down on the plate. I then turn it so it is facing me and line up my nail so I can see exactly where the image will go on the stamper. I squish my nail into the stamper and do not roll at all. With a squishy stamper, you don't have to push your nail into the stamper very hard and you do not need to hold it there. Quick push down and viola!
3. You do not have the hurry when using Mundo de Unas polish like you have to with Konad polish. I take my time with MDU and make sure my nail is line up right before I press it down.
4. Make sure you scrape the plate well with your scraper and more towards 90 degrees than 45 degrees.
5. With the MDU colors that are smearing, let them sit on the stamper for a little longer before stamping. I do advanced stamping where I color in the image on the stamper. The image is dry but the time I press my nail in to the stamper and the image still transfers very well.
6. With my white stamper, I painted a dot on the side of the holder. I make sure that when I stamp the plate, the dot is in the 6 o'clock position. When I stamp white on my nail, I make sure that the dot is in the 6 o'clock position before I stamp down. I also bought MDU Mexican Pink which stains your stamper. I wanted to stain my stamper so I could see white stamping polish better. Worked like a charm!

Fantastic tips. Thank you x

Sent from my GT-I9195 using SalonGeek mobile app

 

[Beauty4all]

I too, struggled when I started stamping but am able to do it fairly well now. Here are some tips that may help:

1. The Konad stamper needs to be rolled over the plate and rolled over the nail.
2. The squishy stamper needs to be pressed directly down on the plate. I then turn it so it is facing me and line up my nail so I can see exactly where the image will go on the stamper. I squish my nail into the stamper and do not roll at all. With a squishy stamper, you don't have to push your nail into the stamper very hard and you do not need to hold it there. Quick push down and viola!
3. You do not have the hurry when using Mundo de Unas polish like you have to with Konad polish. I take my time with MDU and make sure my nail is line up right before I press it down.
4. Make sure you scrape the plate well with your scraper and more towards 90 degrees than 45 degrees.
5. With the MDU colors that are smearing, let them sit on the stamper for a little longer before stamping. I do advanced stamping where I color in the image on the stamper. The image is dry but the time I press my nail in to the stamper and the image still transfers very well.
6. With my white stamper, I painted a dot on the side of the holder. I make sure that when I stamp the plate, the dot is in the 6 o'clock position. When I stamp white on my nail, I make sure that the dot is in the 6 o'clock position before I stamp down. I also bought MDU Mexican Pink which stains your stamper. I wanted to stain my stamper so I could see white stamping polish better. Worked like a charm!

Thank you for taking the time to pop these tricks down! I will definitely try them, thank you. Maybe having a wine or two first might help too lol!

 

[Pashaboutnails]

I too, struggled when I started stamping but am able to do it fairly well now. Here are some tips that may help:

1. The Konad stamper needs to be rolled over the plate and rolled over the nail.
2. The squishy stamper needs to be pressed directly down on the plate. I then turn it so it is facing me and line up my nail so I can see exactly where the image will go on the stamper. I squish my nail into the stamper and do not roll at all. With a squishy stamper, you don't have to push your nail into the stamper very hard and you do not need to hold it there. Quick push down and viola!
3. You do not have the hurry when using Mundo de Unas polish like you have to with Konad polish. I take my time with MDU and make sure my nail is line up right before I press it down.
4. Make sure you scrape the plate well with your scraper and more towards 90 degrees than 45 degrees.
5. With the MDU colors that are smearing, let them sit on the stamper for a little longer before stamping. I do advanced stamping where I color in the image on the stamper. The image is dry but the time I press my nail in to the stamper and the image still transfers very well.
6. With my white stamper, I painted a dot on the side of the holder. I make sure that when I stamp the plate, the dot is in the 6 o'clock position. When I stamp white on my nail, I make sure that the dot is in the 6 o'clock position before I stamp down. I also bought MDU Mexican Pink which stains your stamper. I wanted to stain my stamper so I could see white stamping polish better. Worked like a charm!

I have mastered stamping, but sometimes I still struggle with lining up whole images, so a big thank you for tip 6. Can't wait to try it.

 

[Pashaboutnails]

Stamping is a very personal thing. What works for one person doesn't work for someone else.
An image that doesn't work with one stamper may work with another, or a different brand of polish. Don't be disheartened, and set an hour aside to have a play. On a real person if possible, as getting the angle right on a real hand is a bit trickier than stamping onto paper/colour pop.
I have been stamping for ages and I have pretty much mastered it, but I still have glitches, normally when I am pushed for time

 

[Beauty4all]

Stamping is a very personal thing. What works for one person doesn't work for someone else.
An image that doesn't work with one stamper may work with another, or a different brand of polish. Don't be disheartened, and set an hour aside to have a play. On a real person if possible, as getting the angle right on a real hand is a bit trickier than stamping onto paper/colour pop.
I have been stamping for ages and I have pretty much mastered it, but I still have glitches, normally when I am pushed for time

Thanks for the reassurance. I didn't realise about the different stampers not picking up certain colours, and yes I am going to practice and practice and keep quiet about stamping to clients at the moment :o

 

[Pashaboutnails]

Thanks for the reassurance. I didn't realise about the different stampers not picking up certain colours, and yes I am going to practice and practice and keep quiet about stamping to clients at the moment :o

Sorry i wasn't clear. I meant if you are having difficulty with an image, try a different polish, it's all about consistency, not so much the colour.
Also, your clients might be happy to be practised on:biggrin:

 

[sophie_b]

Not sure if this will help but I noticed my images were smearing and not coming out as clear when I cleaned my plates and stamper with cnd nourishing remover , I normally use acetone which I've never had a problem with.