Born Pretty Stamp Plate: M60 & How I Re-Learnt Stamping

By Thepolishwell @thepolishwell
I've always thought that nail stamping is like cycling - once you've picked it up, you will never forget how to do it. So, when I was asking to pick an item from Born Pretty Store for review, I happily opted for a plate with full-nail designs, thinking that I am able to stamp easily like a pro. WRONG. My first few tries after a long hiatus were complete disasters and almost left me in tears. :c Thankfully, I managed to re-master the skill to try the beautiful designs on this stamp plate:

The Born Pretty stamp plate M60* is a dupe plate for the Konad M60. I was drawn to this plate immediately because I love almost all of the designs on it.
As much as I love the designs, I nearly gave up on the stamping because I couldn't get enough polish in the grooves to stamp with. I tried polishes from different brands and ran into the same trouble each time. After googling around a bit, I found out that I was scraping off too much polish because I was holding the scraper at too low an angle. After I reposition the scraper at approximately 45 degrees, I finally managed to get enough polish in the grooves for stamping:

Polishes used:Megan Miller Roja* - base colorBlack from Essence's My Sparkling Acrobat duo - stamping color
Hmmm, I definitely need to work on my positioning - the design is slanted on some of the nails.
Having learnt a huge lesson in stamping, I've decided to include it in my tips for nail stamping. Here's the revised list:
  • It helps to paint a (fast-drying) top coat over the base color before stamping.
    • If the stamping goes wrong, just lightly wipe it off the nail immediately with some nail polish remover and you can stamp away without repainting the whole nail again.
    • As a follow on from the previous tip, you need not be worried that the french tips designs on the plates are too big for you - just clean up with a little remover to keep the design on the tips only.
  • Experiment with different polishes for stamping - but any pigmented one-coater should get the job done.
    • Try to avoid quick-dry polishes if you are new to stamping and can't work that quickly.
  • Work fast to scrape excess polish and pick up the design with the stamper before the polish dries.
    • It helps to leave the polish bottle uncapped when you're doing your stamping.
  • If you are scraping off too much polish from the design
    • Make sure that the plate is dry (no acetone, etc) before you paint on the plate
    • Make sure that you position the scraper at approximately 45 degrees - you are likely to remove too much polish if your scraper is angled lower than that. 
  • If you are not picking up the design,
    • Clean the plates with some remover to get rid of the dried polishes in the grooves,
    • OR check if there is a thin plastic film covering the plate - peel that off first! Don't worry, you're not the only one who didn't know that (speaking from personal experience o"o).
  • You can take some time to position the image over your nail before stamping. The image will still transfer onto your nail even though the polish has sort of dried. (I am not too sure how long you can wait but I sure took a few seconds to position the stamper before I stamped)
    • I rest the edge of the design against the side of the nail before stamping the whole nail in a rolling motion - this helps to get the stamping straight.
You can find this stamp plate at the Born Pretty Store here. They provide free worldwide shipping! Feel free to quote "HDL91" for a 10% discount when you checkout:

On a random note, my sister seems to like nail stamping a lot - each time I take out my stamping kit, she will ask me to stamp her nails for her. Hmmm, I wonder if I can persuade her to get me some stamp plates for Christmas. ;)
Do you have any stamping tips to share? Let me know in the comments below! :$
xoxo,mich
**Products marked with an asterisk are provided for honest review. Please see our disclosure policy for more information**