Pueen Encore - Part 2

If you saw Part 1 of this review, you know I had issues with the first set.  Pueen was nice enough to replace the whole thing, after a little wheedling on my part.  I was a bit stunned, since I only wanted replacements for two of them.  Today we're gonna look at the third and fourth plates and see if there's an improvement in SE01B, the big problem plate from my first set.  Let's jump right in!

With this replacement set, I took dressagediva's advice and just cut the seal off one side of the plastic to use it as a sleeve.  I've heard of people cutting themselves on these plates if they removed the plastic, but I managed to get a shallow "papercut" from the protective plastic!  Figures, doesn't it?  Anyway...

The A side of SE03 is so stunning that I was baffled about where to start.

I got started with Sally Hansen Camelflage and Morac-go and the upper right pattern.  The transfer issue on my pinkie was my fault, not the plate's.  It works well!

I was having so-so results and positioning issues with the peacock itself, so I went with the feathery area instead.  Taking my inspiration from this post by The Polished Mommy, I used an assorted swirl of KBShimmer Pigment Of My Imagination, Dance Legend Roz, and Revlon Super-Powered over FingerPaints Black Expressionism.

It wasn't terribly easy to do and it was even trickier to photograph, but the plate worked fairly well.  The only problem was that the little lines down from the feathers almost universally failed to transfer.

It really was HARD to photograph, so I ditched my usual bottle pose for a couple of shots.

It's a bit easier to get a sense of the color shifts this way, but I hate seeing my palm in photos!

Mattifying helped the design and colors show up too, of course.

The B side of plate three has a riot of beautiful patterns too!

I used Bundle Monster Sky Blue over Wet n Wild Chambray Showers with the middle part.

I could hardly ask for an easier, cleaner transfer!

Next is another one of those heartbreakers that don't show up as well in photos as they do in person.  It's Sally Hansen Jet Set Jade over Sinful Colors Mauvelous, using the floral motif at the lower left.

I'll be using this part of the image again sometime, definitely!  So crisp!

SE04A is a blend of cute, retro floral and gloriously intricate borders.

The lower right reminds me of Hindu temples, so I kept it neutral with Sally Hansen Bronze Ablaze over FingerPaints Sparkle Top Coat and Sally Hansen Camelflage.

I think the result looks a bit like moldy oranges, but I like it anyway and I'm very pleased with the quality of the plate.  I was crushed that the first one I got had flaws in the etching, since it's probably my favorite in the set.

The most riotously intricate side in the whole set is probably SE04B.

I wanna use every single part of this side!  For now I stuck with the upper left, using KleanColor Metallic Purple over Sally Hansen Fe Fi Fo Plum.

This was one of those seeming disasters that turned out kinda cool in the end.  The plate worked like a champ, but Metallic Purple had color leeching issues when I topcoated it.  Some of the purple streaked away from the metallic parts.  As it dried it sorta spread out and looked really interesting.  The purple in this seems like it wants to flee.  It even briefly stained my stamper!  I think the end result wound up looking antiqued, which I'm fine with.

So how'd the replacement SE01B do?  At first I wasn't completely sure.

KleanColor Metallic Mango over Wet n Wild Ferris-Wheel Romance with the lily design mostly worked, but I did lose some of the tinier detail of the centers of some flowers.

Maybe I'm crazy...but I was still worried and uncertain.

I decided to take the two top performers on the faulty plate, Sally Hansen Go For Gold and Whirlwind White and stamp them over FingerPaints Black Expressionism to really see if there was a difference with the disappointing bird that wouldn't transfer before.

faulty plate for index and pinkie, replacement for middle and ring

Oh yeah!  It's still not the sharpest, easiest plate in the set and the polish I used really seemed to matter, but look how much thicker and crisper the replacement is!

faulty plate for index and pinkie, replacement for middle and ring

Bottom line: Negatives first...  I'm not the only one who's received plates with flaws or transfer issues, so there seems to be a quality assurance problem.  The packaging is weird and I think the two-sided etching was better as a concept than a reality.  This could probably have been a more standard set with better results.  My customer service experience with Pueen's representative was so-so, but they came through with more than I expected in the end and my new set does work.  The designs are mostly really appealing and the quality of the non-troublesome plates is good.  I'd say they're worth the price for all of the options...but order from Amazon and not Store Envy so you can get free shipping (with Prime or a $35 order) from the US instead of $7 shipping from China.  Overall, now that I have a good set, I'd give Encore a B and I'd recommend it...but if you don't have their Buffet set (which gets an A+ from me), get that first!


Did any of you get this set?  How was your experience?