NEW! International acclaimed [hh™] Nail Art Stamping Plates
How to stamp:
1) Paint your nails with a base colour and 2/3 coats of your chosen colour. You nails must be completely dry because if they are not, stamping on it may spoil your base.
NailCandi Tip: Apply a top coat over your polish. This helps for when you accidentally make a mistake when stamping. You can then simply get a cotton ball with nail polish remover and gently remove the stamped design and this will not ruin your nail polish.
2) Clean the surface of the image on the plate, stamping pad and scraper with cotton dipped in acetone; then wipe it dry. This process has to be repeated after every nail that you stamp. If you are using a plastic card you may need to clean it after a few swipes but the plate and stamper still have to be cleaned after each nail.
3) Apply polish on the image you’d like to stamp onto your nails.
NailCandi Tip: Use a high quality nail polish that is opaque in a single swipe and isn’t fast drying. Try using darker shades over lighter colours.
4) Scrape excess polish off of the stamper with our scraper at a 45 angle while supporting the image plate with your other hand. The only polish left must be the polish in the design.
5) Take the stamper and lightly roll over the image. Most people face an issue here: They either don’t pick up the image on the stamp or they only pick up the image partially.
NailCandi Tips:
- Always make sure you have cleaned and dried the surface of plate and stamper beforehand.
- Be quick! You can’t do anything else when stamping nails. Keep everything that you need within hands reach because you can’t go searching for items while you’re busy stamping.
- Roll! The keyword here is “RrrrOLL” the stamp. Touch one end of the rubber pad at the edge of the design on the one side of your nail and roll over until the other edge has touched the other side of your nail, then lift off. Make sure you roll over the whole design and not just the upper edge or middle.
- Don’t press the stamper hard over the image on the plate as it tends to not pick up polish if you press really hard or it can smudge the design.
- If an image doesn’t transfer, try to change the way of scraping, e.g. scrape at another angle or scrape lighter. Rather scrape lightly with quick fluid movements. You can also try to change the way you pick up the image with the stamper, e.g. Roll with a light hand with slight pressure and stamp with slight pressure.
Try a few combinations of pressure and rolling/stamping until you figure out what works best for you.
- Sometimes newer stamps have a slight protective coating on it. Use a nail buffer on the stamping pad and file it a bit. You will see a few bits coming off it but please don’t file it down ok? File about 5-7 swipes in one direction which will make the surface rough enough for polish to cling to it and then give it a good wash with dishwash liquid.
DON'T:
- Don’t go searching. Gather all materials before you start stamping. Keep all things where you can see them.
- Try using acetone or a polish remover that does not contain essential oils or nail conditioner. Acetone helps remove the left over polish effectively without leaving any residue.
- Do not press the stamper too hard on your nail because chances are, the design will smudge.
- Don’t use a regular top coat after stamping. Most top coats will bleed the stamped design. There are special quick drying polishes available to use over stamped nails. The trick is to not brush the same area more than once and do so lightly. Letting the nail polish brush go over the same area more than once can smudge your design if it is not yet completely dry.
- If you are sitting under a fan, try working without the fan. The fan can dry the polish before you’ve had a chance to pick up the image.
- Don’t give up if the image didn’t transfer properly. Try another way of scraping or a different nail polish for stamping.
DO:
- Clean the image plate and stamper after every nail is stamped. Both surfaces must be dry before you start again. If you find cotton fibres sticking to your plate, scraper etc., try using a cotton ear bud/Q tip/ or Lint free cotton pads. Cotton gauze also works well. Just cut them in small pieces beforehand.
- Work as quickly as possible.
- Do experiment with different brands of polish. Some polishes stamp better than others - We DO NOT recommend stamping with Gel or Gel Polish
