Bundle Monster Creative Art Polish Review

Hello, Konaddicts!

I couldn't wait for my new Bundle Monster Creative Art Polishes to arrive!  Each set of six was $9, so I ordered both sets as soon as I got announcing their release on Monday.  I received my polishes today and I  had to try them out.

Here are the colors in each set.  They're identified by numbers on the bottles rather than names.

I had very high hopes and high expectations since Bundle Monster knows what nail art folks want in a stamping polish.  They didn't seem very viscous, so that seemed suspicious, as that usually adds to the opaqueness of the stamped image, but I was still excited to give it a try.

I started by stamping over white.  Here are the results:

Well - that's disappointingly average.

And then I tried the polishes over black, and that's when the disappointment really set in.

Wait...what?  That's terrible!

Well, here's a close up and with better lighting.

Oh, that's bad. 

And I had high hopes for a good yellow stamping polish.

So, to sum it all up - and to provide a bit of contrast - I pulled out my wonderful bright yellow stamping polish from My Online Shop's Facebook Store to give my overall impression:

Well, thankfully, I didn't spend much on these.  Since I think they can also be used as regular polish, maybe I'll find a use for them.  Or...maybe my great niece will be getting a few bottles for her toe nails.

I just had to commiserate, Konaddicts.  I love Bundle Monster - and these polishes might be fine for regular wear - but they're certainly not all that useful for stamping.

Konad M95 Reivew

Hello, everyone!

With all of the new plate sets being released, it's been a while since I've actually bought a new Konad plate.  Many thanks to Joy at NailPolishCanada.com for offering me an opportunity to review one of the latest plate releases from Konad.  I chose M95 to review; hold on - it's a good one!

We expect quality from Konad but what I hadn't noticed was that the full nail pattern on this plate is a lot larger than some of my other Konad plates.

M95: 1.5 x 2 cm;  M78: 1.75 x 1.2 cm

The real selling point, I think, is the delightful little owl.  There are owls in other sets (one of the Bundle Monster sets has an owl) but this owl is very small, and is the perfect size for an accent.  I made several decals of this little guy and was able to fit two on a nail.

So - hearts, an adorable owl, a pattern that's big enough to fit your whole nail - what's not to love?

NailPolishCanada.com is having a giveaway to win all 5 of Konad's latest releases.  It only takes an email address to enter (woot!).

I hope you're having a super week, Konaddicts!  Best of luck if you decide to enter the giveaway!

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Here's what I used for this little mani:
Base: NYC Fashion Safari
Plate: Konad M95
Full nail patterns:  Stamping with Revlon Top Speed Espresso, filled in with Sally Hansen Just In Lime
Accent nail:  Owl decal made with Espresso, filled in with Kleancolor Mocha and White.  Dotted with Just In Lime and Kleancolor Mocha.

Pueen Nail Plates Mini Review

Hi everyone!
I'm sorry I've been missing lately.  I came down with a terrible case of the flu!  Now, almost SIX days later, I'm finally well enough to show you a new addition!

When I spotted my Christmas Amazon gift card, I knew exactly where it would go - a set of Pueen nail plates I'd accidentally run across!  It's a set of 25 plates, you can see the designs in the Amazon listing here, for about $18.

The plates come individually packaged including the film to protect the engraving.   Each plate has a backing and the edges are smooth.

In terms of stamping quality, the designs that I've tried have stamped beautifully, which is great because some of the designs are really interesting and different - I think the alligator skin pattern is going to be a favorite of mine!

Each plate has about four full nail designs and two smaller designs (the reindeer, snail, and Mary Jane shoes were unique enough to sell me on the set!).

Pueen 23.  Sorry for the low light - it was way too cold to take pictures outside!

In terms of size, the full nail stamps most closely match the size of pattern in the 2nd and 3rd set of Bundle Monster plates.  Here's a quick comparison using a full nail pattern from Pueen, BM, and Konad.

Well - I can't wait to take more time to try out my new plates.  So far, I think they are a great addition to my collection (and for a very reasonable price) - thanks, Santa!

Take care, Konaddicts, and, if it's as cold where you are as it is here, be sure to bundle up!

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UPDATE 1/23

Jane asked for close ups of Pueen 20 and Pueen 24.  Here they are!

Red Angel Disappointment

Okay, so I've been continuing to try out my new Red Angel plates.  Some plates have turned out beautifully; others are disappointing.  I couldn't wait for this plate, in particular - RA-106 (it's perfect for an early Valentine's Day!).  I was pretty disappointed when my heart stamped into a red splat.  I tried it with special polish, over polish...still more splat than pattern.

I tried another design - from RA-116- and I was disappointed by this one, too.  I kept getting blurring on the edges and it seems like the tulips are etched too deeply because it doesn't seem like the polish is evenly distributed in the design (which seemed to also be the case with a few other designs I tried out).

So...pretty disappointing.  I'm not sure I can recommend this set of plates as wholeheartedly as I initially thought.  For tonight, I'm packing up my bottles and heading to bed.  Hopefully, I'll have better luck tomorrow!

Sleep well, Konaddicts!

Hello Kitty Image Plates

Hello, Konaddicts!  My new Hello Kitty plate is here!
I decided to do a quick lineup to compare the three HK plates that I own.

B87 was my first Hello Kitty plate. I bought mine from Beautiful Scratchers.  I love this plate, and this is the one I usually use.There's not a lot of room for additional decoration since her face takes up most of the nail.

QA12 was the second plate I bought.  I bought this one on eBay without looking closely at it.  The plain HK face is missing a chin.  The other has paws  and I think the other one is making an OK sign.

I do like, but haven't tried yet, the bows, polka dots, bears, and moons and stars.  I'm more likely to go use this plate for the other designs since I'm ultimately not too fond of the HK designs themselves.

KD1 is my brand new Hello Kitty plate!  I love, love, love it!

Kitty's face is small enough to incorporate other designs.  There are also a bunny, a squirrel (is that a squirrel?), a darling purse, and full kitties in dresses!

The only thing is that one kitty's bow isn't the usual bow (you can see it in the stamp above).

I also like the lines are a little thicker and each design looks very distinct.  You can even read the word "album" on the book kitty is reading.

Aaaaa!  The amount of cuteness is killing me!

Well, if you're looking for a Hello Kitty plate, I hope this posts help you pick the one that will work best for you!

See you soon!

Silver on Gray with Chez Delaney

I finally bought a Chez Delaney XL plate!  I absolutely love all the full nail patterns.  The etching is deep and the patterns are really varied.  This was my cool look of silver on gray.  I had to move quickly to transfer the metallic polish from the stamper (but it was a true bargain at a little over $1 per bottle, so I'll gladly accept any extra hassle!).  

Base color: Pure Ice Kiss Me Here

Stamping color: Love My Nails Silver Bullet
Plate: Chez Delaney Plate B

If you haven't seen the Chez Delaney XL plates, you can see them/buy them at their website (in France!) here:  http://www.chez-delaney.com/Stamping-Nail-Art/en/XL-image-plates.  I didn't purchase mine from their website.  I waited until I found one on eBay for about $30.  Since there are 42 beautiful images on the plate, it turned out to be a great buy.  I can't wait to try out all the other patterns!

Review: Plastic XL Image Templates

So, as a person on a budget, I was intrigued when I saw what appeared to be a image plate containing 200+ images on eBay for around $25.  Of course it seemed too good to be true, but I was willing to give it a try anyway. They usually look something like this:

Yes, there are a bunch of designs here, but what the ads don't tell you is that the image plates are plastic!  (Ah, yes, there's the catch).

So, do these plastic plates work?  I'll show you what I discovered:

In each of the pictures, the metal plate  (I have both Konad and MASH plates) is on the LEFT, the image on the RIGHT is from the plastic template.

Here are some of the full nail stamps:

In some cases, stamps from the plastic plate look okay.  In other cases, not so much.  The plastic isn't very deeply etched, so the images from the metal plates are more defined and bold.

Here are some samples of other stamps (again, the stamps on the left are from metal plates; the ones on the right are from the plastic template):

Again, some are okay; others not so great.  It's also worth noting -I'm not sure if you can tell here - that many of the "nail tip" type images from the plastic template are smaller than ones on the Konad/Mash plates.

Bottom Line?
All in all, it was worth the ~$25 I paid for it.  At least I got to experiment with the different designs and to decide which plates I wanted to invest in.  If you've got a specific image in mind that you're wanting to use, though, I would recommend that you buy the metal plate (since you won't know for sure whether you'll get a good impression with the plastic template).

So, buyer beware!  If you're buying an image plate on eBay (especially if it seems like an amazing deal!), be sure to ask whether it's metal or plastic!  It just helps to know what to expect.

Thanks for reading!