Review (5/5): A wonderful garden that you can plant in your nail art!
I ordered these plates because I love stamping nails. I use the stamps for stamping my nails and also for testing out ideas for new nail art designs.
So finding a set of 5 plates that were well priced like this was amazing. I was thrilled to snap them up. The package was shipped extremely promptly and arrived very quickly after ordering. Everything was well packaged and safe. When I opened it up, everything was separated into their own little zip top bags. Each stamper and scraper were in their own bags and the plates were separated from them by another bag. I really appreciate this because the scrapers have metal blades and I always fret a bit that the plates will be scratched in transit.
First thing I noticed was the metal scrapers, and that was almost enough to drop the star rating. I despise metal scrapers. I have had them scratch up my plates before, so I won't use them. I used an old Starbucks card for scraping instead for this review.
The plates are all a little thin, but they don't bend all over the place, they don't warp or get misshapen through general handling. They do not have the backing of plastic coated cardstock like some plates do, so I absolutely recommend getting a plate storage device of some kind. I have a little binder style one and these plates fit easily into the sleeves.
I did test out all three stamping heads on the stampers that came with the plates. The stamping heads are very firm. VERY firm. They are not my favorite, however, they picked up well and transferred the images pretty easily most of the time. There is a learning curve with stamping and sometimes an image just doesn't pick up. I did experience that a few times, but I experience that with most plates at least once or twice. All of the images that I tried picked up very well with the stampers that came with the plates. I tried both unprimed and primed. I would recommend testing first and see how they pick up for you. I think mine would have been just fine with a quick wash in warm soapy water and not much else in the way of priming.
All the images that I tested out worked very well. I really love the goldfish and the frog images. There is a huge selection of plants and flowers, and it's not a preponderance of roses like with so many plates. I really love the ivy and there's an image of strawberry plants (no berries, just the leaves and a flower, I think.) There are quite a few butterflies, but not just one style. There are several styles of butterflies. So I really enjoyed the plates, they will definitely be regulars in my nail art.
The stampers won't be tossed, but they won't be my go to stampers. I like slightly softer stampers, and I admit a definite bias towards my clear jelly stamper. :)
Is this a good buy? Yes. The plates are beautifully engraved, and make for a lovely set either for a beginner or someone just looking to expand their collection of plates. There are a lot of images to choose from, and while the images are not full nail for someone with really long nails, they are full nail images for a more average length and a moderate length nail. Most images are about an inch tall, and I had no trouble filling a swatch nail with the frog image. If I have friends who are looking to start a stamping plate collection, they will be pointed here for sure because I really do like the plates and the images and the quality.
And THAT is why metal scrapers couldn't take away a star from the 5 star rating. Because I have a large collection of stamping plates and these are a fantastic addition. I can get rid of the metal scrapers and use my regular scrapers and no harm done.
I did receive these plates at a discount for consideration and review. However, this does not impact or affect my review in any way. This is my honest opinion on this item.