Liquid Gold and BM-410
over Sally Hansen Clay |
Yep! At least in Liquid Gold's case, anyway. I intentionally chose a fairly intricate design with lots of thin lines as a test and it worked very well. So crisp! It did better than I did, really. The alignment on my pinkie's way off. Oops! The color is a shimmering and bright yellow-gold that really stands out over a cream.
As you can see, I didn't have any smearing issues when I applied topcoat or distortion when I transferred the image to my nails.
Iced Silver and Pueen 54
over Dance Legend Grey Britain |
Sad to say, Iced Silver isn't quite as good as Liquid Gold. It's not bad, but it is on the thick side, so it's bubble-prone. I had to apply it to the plate carefully. Iced Silver also isn't as crisp. You can see that it got a little blobby in some spots. I wish the finish was less frosty and more like Liquid Gold. It's a bit chromey though, which might be a huge plus if you love that look.
There was a little bit of smearing, but nothing too drastic. You can barely even see it in these photos. If I applied the top coat very gently, I was able to avoid it. So both metallic shades are decent.
Angelic White and BM-410
over Sally Hansen Cinnamon |
I wish I could say the same for Angelic White. Bear in mind that just stamping in the first place is no small victory for a white cream, since so many of them are chalky disasters. I made a point of putting it over something dark, Sally Hansen Cinnamon, to test its opacity. It did well there too, but kinda goes downhill after that. The lines aren't all that crisp and it doesn't seem to set quickly enough. I had distortion on my index, with the lines going bendy.
Where it really loses points is the smearing. Smearing is rarely a problem for me, but Angelic White just seems to want to go wherever the topcoat takes it. Even with a very light hand and a very wet brush, it still got blurry in at least a couple of spots on all four nails.
Noir Black and BM-010
over Sally Hansen Seasational |
Last one for today and it's mostly good news. Noir Black stamped easily and with fairly crisp lines. It transferred really well too. I didn't lose a single tiny triangle! That kind of thing can happen with images like this, but they're all there. Even the ones on the edges look decent. They spread out a little or something on my pinkie, but the over-all thing looks fine.
There was...again...a little bit of smearing. I might try a different non-quick-dry topcoat for the next bunch. Maybe it'll help. Still, it's not bad really.
Bottom line: Liquid Gold gets a complete thumbs up and is the best of these four. Iced Silver and Noir Black are both decent. Angelic White smeared very easily, but it does show up over dark colors. None of these four will replace my go-to's for stamping, but for the price and easy availability they're not bad at all. Most of my favorites in these four colors are either HTF or over $10 a bottle. I don't usually give things letter grades, but I think Liquid Gold gets an A, Noir Black and Iced Silver get B's, and Angelic White gets a C...or maybe a B- if I'm being generous.
This is just one third of the whole bunch and you'll be seeing another four sometime soon!
Have you heard of/tried the Mundo de Unas stamping polishes? I saw them on neglelakkmani's Instagram. They look amazing & crazy opaque. They seem to be just for stamping, as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm not into stamping (yet) but your & Laquerlove's enabling is wearing me down. I just don't know where to start since my nails are so teeny I could probably use any plates so no idea what ones to start with. Or even what stamper. Any advice?
Looking forward to the rest of the colours!
(btw I wanted to let you know I installed Opera on my phone just so I could finally leave comments. This link [n/a http://www.johnlarge.co.uk/2013/01/26/problems-posting-comments-on-blogger-from-ios-ipad-safari-and-chrome/ ] explains how it doesn't work on iOS. As I'm disabled and exclusively use my phone for all my computing it is obnoxious & disappointing how Blogger *still* makes it impossible to comment from iOS. I wonder how much interaction is lost on blogger sites from this stupid big? Such a bummer. Sorry for the side-rant.)
I'm so bad at stamping. Maybe that gold one will help
ReplyDelete