Show Me Your Nails 2.0

[Tamara76]

Due to some technical glitches with the original Show Me Your Nails Thread, I am starting a new thread with @vegchililover78's blessing (She says "hello," by the way!).

Please share your nail looks, nail art and manicures!

...And don't forget to check out @Beadshopgirl's Nail Stamping Thread for stamping inspiration! ❤️  

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Nailed-It/The-Nail-Stamping-Thread/m-p/3328865

[Shosh85]

@WinglessOne  I'm lovin' all the purple! All the special effects are just so dang beautiful! I don't own any Mooncat polish yet, but I'm definitely taking notes and building up a cart.... might just have to add Serpents Tongue, 'cause that one's just gorgeous! You totally made me laugh out loud reading your comment on the Poor Unfortunate Souls! Haha! 😂 ......Also, now I kinda want to watch Little Mermaid 🧜‍ 😉

[WinglessOne]

Thank you @Shosh85 @Mellmars1185 @RGbrown ! I think a lot of us are holiday-shopping one another's manicures. 😂 You can never have too many purples! 💜 

[Mellmars1185]

@WinglessOne Beautiful polishes 💜❤️

[RGbrown]

@WinglessOne 

Purple purple purple, I can never get enough purple, and this is a *fantastic* mix 💜✨ I love them all!! I'm trying hard not to take notes and see how many I can find...I've got my BF sales pretty well mapped out and really shouldn't add to the list 😂

[Saradestin]

Yes @RGbrown , we shouldn’t, but we both know what happens.................. 😂

[Saradestin]

I love your manis because we always get so much of everything @WinglessOne: variety, beauty, and lots of valuable information. Such a gorgeous selection of polishes! 💜💜💜 Isn’t Best Buds spectacular? It’s my favorite magnetic polish. Mooncat’s Serpent’s Tongue and KB’s Bearly Awake are so beautiful! You made me laugh so much with your comment regarding your index fingernail appropriate polish name 😅😅. They were meant for each other! 

[WinglessOne]

Thank you @Saradestin ! I'm not sure which of my magnetics is my favorite, but Best Buds is definitely a good one! 

That poor unfortunate nail will show me just how fast (or slow) my nails grow these days. I'm surprised the split in that nail reached my fingertip so quickly! Fun fact: back in my day, that nail length was how you could easily identify piano and western strings (cello, violin, etc.) players. 😂 

[Saradestin]

@WinglessOne About your fun fact, that’s definitely so cool! I would have never thought about that, although I have seen something similar with long nails on males in the south of Spain, they are most likely Spanish guitar players 😁

[Saradestin]

Ok, I did it! 😅 I couldn’t resist the temptation and I couldn’t wait one more day with my new mani on and not attempting stamping on it. It looked so much fun! 

My first experience was not as fun as I wished, mostly because of my lack of stamping skills. The images were not being picked by the stamper, or were picked partially, or were a smeared mess, so I stamped so much over the plastic surface (or nothing at all when it didn’t pick up the image) until I got a few “decent” ones (that I placed crooked because I did it in a rush because I didn’t want for them to dry and not transfer 😅) 

I still don’t know why some images picked and others didn’t, because it was taking me the same time. Maybe the polish? Probably me.... (I just want to blame something else 😜)

In the end it came out nice enough for a first attempt and I really liked it. Once and if I get a hold of it, I am going to LOVE it! I find it so relaxing and fun! 

As I don’t have any stamping polishes, I used my new Zoya Joss (a “soft colonial rose cream”) and a transparent top coat that is on the runny side, because my quick dry one never got to be picked up. 

My idea using the clear polish was to give that highlight and not to show the imperfections of my amateur job, but then I was not able to see what I picked nor where I placed it 😅. 

I used Whats Up Nails stamping plate B004 Seductive Lace and their Jumbo Clear Stamper and Scraper.

And here are the results! 

Feedback and advice are appreciated! 😁

Interior picture (dark cloudy day)Interior picture (dark cloudy day)Flash pictureFlash picture

[itsfi]

@Saradestin, I’m sorry your first stamping experience wasn’t as fun as you’d hoped. I think your stamping skills are awesome! 😍 The polish you used looks amazing against your base - creates such a gorgeous effect. Seriously, I would not have thought this was your first time stamping. 

Since you said “feedback and advice” were appreciated, here goes -

- feedback: AWESOME job! 👍🏼 

- advice: keep at it, girl! Your nails look fabulous!! ♥️

Excited to see more of your stamping!! 

[Saradestin]

Aww, you are way too nice @itsfi ! 🤗🤗🤗 the issue with my first mani was the polish. I tried with a different one and it was much better/easier! I am ready to spend too much on Maniology now! 😅

[Mellmars1185]

@Saradestin Beautiful stamped mani!

[Saradestin]

Thank you so much @Mellmars1185 ! I have just posted my upgrade 😁 I am so excited! 😃

[WinglessOne]

@Saradestin  Aw, sorry you had a frustrating first experience. So did I, the first time I tried stamping (actually the first several times). But your first attempt looks MUCH better than mine did. And I love that you tried a clear top coat to get a matte vs. glossy contrast on some nails. 🖤 

Looks like you've already gotten lots of great stamping advice. All I can add is: keep at it. There's a learning curve, and if you find that something's just not working right for you (for me, it's partly my worsening eyesight 🤣 ), there's probably a workaround or solution (in my case, hopefully the magnifying stamper). I think you'll be a pro at stamping in no time. 

[Saradestin]

Thank you so much @WinglessOne 🤗🤗 I wouldn’t call my first experience frustrating, just because I like stamping so much that even if it was so hard to get it right, I was enjoying the process. In fact, today I am going to keep trying other polishes, stamping on a surface, and see what happens. That way I may be able to narrow down the ones that work vs the ones that don’t. “Failure” won’t stop me. I love this stuff too much! 😃

[CookieGirl1]

@Saradestin ummm, hello, it's not supposed to be perfect on your first try and don't be so hard on yourself because that seriously turned out great for your first attempt!  Those colors work so well for a moody mani 🙂

[Saradestin]

Thank you so much, sweet @CookieGirl1 ! 🤗 I think it looks good enough but there is so much to improve (normal, it’s just my first stamping) But I attempted quite a lot of times before I could get good pick-ups, here and there. It’s not that at the beginning was bad and got better, it was completely random. I continue to blame the polish 😜. But that won’t stop me, I like it too much!

[RGbrown]

@Saradestin 

These look fookin' amazing! This is an excellent first try, and honestly, I wouldn't have realized it was a "practice session" if I didn't know this was your first attempt! You've got great tips already, I don't have anything else to add...at this point, it really is just a little practice to find your groove with everything!

I will echo the "might be your polish" theme for your troubles. While I firmly believe stamping polish isn't necessary at all (I never use it), not every regular polish will be a good candidate for stamping, and figuring out which ones work best is just a bit of trial and error. One coat creams are the best bet, anything highly pigmented and on the thicker side. Large glitters and flakies aren't generally a good idea, and thin shimmers that take multiple coats likely won't show up. There are exceptions to every rule, the Zoya matte velvets are phenomenal for stamping, even Aspen, a sheer ethereal nearly nothing of a polish that just does amazing things over darker bases, but it'll take a little bit for you to get the hang of the process and to figure out what works best for you. I have faith though, you got this!

[Saradestin]

Thank you so much @RGbrown ! You all are the best! 🤗🤗 I really appreciate your feedback and it encourages me to keep trying (which I am happy to do, because I find stamping so entertaining) Yes, I will try more polishes and see how things go. There is so much stamping I want to do, that I better get good at this! 😂

[Shosh85]

@Saradestin  

Oh my gosh, I think you did a wonderful job! These look fantastic!

Stamping definitely involves a lot of trial and error! Here are some tips I learned from my own experience as well as You Tube/Facebook tutorials I've watched for possible reasons a stamper doesn't pick up an image:

1) The polish is too thin. You don't necessarily have to use a stamping polish, but it should be a one coater or close to a one coater.

2) You are pressing down on the stamping plate too hard with the stamper. No hulk smashing, lol! You only need a quick, relatively light rolling motion. 

3) Scraping too hard/scraping too much polish off or not scraping enough. If I scrape too much I've found that I pick up a partial image. If I don't scrape enough, I pick up a blobby mess. I watched a You Tube video and the lady said that most people will tell you to hold the scraper at a 45 degree angle, but she said it's actually better if it's "low and flat, with gentle pressure"

4) Extreme temperatures - Sitting next to a fan, air conditioning vent, humidity etc, can cause your polish to dry too quick.

5) Not enough polish on the plate. If there's not enough polish it will dry faster and/or not fill the etched image completely, leaving you with a partial image

Most importantly, practice! The more you practice the better you get! You just need to find your own groove!

[Saradestin]

Aww, you are so sweet @Shosh85 ! Thank you so much for your valuable advice! Yes, I considered all those factors and blamed all of them, of course, it couldn’t be me! 😄 It is cold here so I tried to heat up the plate with my hands, the polishes I used were thin (the only thicker one was a quick dry that dried too quick so I discarded it immediately). I changed angles and pressure... And I really couldn’t tell what was the factor that made the few ones that came out “decent” to work better than the others.

The good thing is that I really like it. I would have loved to continue stamping more and more.  I find it relaxing and entertaining. So I will continue to try more and more until I master it! 😁