Review (5/5): Great Product - Great Price!
I bought these plates because my daughters spent the night at a friends and came home with the cutest nails. When I asked about them their friend showed me her 'name brand' set that she paid about $50 for. It had two plates some polish, a stamper & a scraper. I thought it was adorable but was not going to pay that kind of money. Bargain hunter than I am I searched for a better deal. Which led me to Bundle Monster and another 'off brand' that I found on ebay for similar value.
I bought both sets. The received the ebay ones first. They were a great value came with some extras & offered cute plates (a few with the same designs from one plate to the next). They even offered the same designs and our neighbor girl had on her 'name brand' plates (none of which were 'full nail' or 'french tip' images). I was quite satisfied but have to say when I received the plates from Bundle Monster I soon realized I preferred their images better. They were larger for the most part & a much nicer selection over all (I hope they continue to add to their designs).
The ONLY Con I would mention is that the edges seem a bit sharp (compared to both the name brand & the other off brand I purchased) so I would keep them out of reach from young fingers even if they are just 'looking at the designs'. My teenage daughter cut herself on one not paying attention.
For those of you who are having problems with them here are some tips & step by step instructions I use (mentioned by others but with so many reviews I will post it as well).
Tips to Know Before you get started:
1) REMOVE the plastic film: They come with a plastic film when you first receive them that sometimes can not be seen. I used something sharp (tweezers) to cut a spot & then removed the rest with my fingers. If you do not remove the film the plates do not work.
2) Use THICK but NOT Quick Dry Contrasting Nail Polish for Images: If you do not have a 'thick' polish & do not want to spend $10+ on the 'name brand' let one of yours dry out a bit or go to your local salon that does nails & see if they have some 'old stuff' that you can buy for pennies on the dollar.
If you use quick dry you may not get the transfer done quick enough before it drys.
I have tried a few variations of colors but for obvious reasons white & black work best. A dark color with a white or light pink print or a light color with a black or similar dark will have the best results. Do some practice ones on something to see what you really like.
3) Use one coat cover for Bottom Coat & Top Coat: I recommend using nail polish that IS quick dry & only takes one coat to cover for both the Bottom & Top Coats (not images). This is because the more nail polish you have on your nails the more likely it is to smear your images. Using quick dry also helps with this.
4) Use a Good Acetone nail remover: It seems this works best for cleaning the plates. Some remover seems to thin out the polish & make it more difficult to transfer.
5) Let the Plates DRY completely: After each transfer you will need to clean the plate (if there is polish in the image you will not get a good transfer). When you wipe the polish out let the remover dry before you put polish on it. Again it will thin out the polish making for a poor transfer.
6) Use Cotton Rounds instead of Balls: Cotton Rounds make it a lot easier to manage the nail remover without messing up your nails. I use a nail polish remover with a pump so (one touch remover) I don't have to do too much with my hands.
7) Between EACH STEP let your nails dry for the best possible results.
8) If you don't have a plate holder (which I highly recommend) use double sided scotch tape to hold the plates in place on whatever you are scraping the extra paint onto.
9) I also recommend the two sided stamper with the smaller stamp. It is much easier to ensure the best image placement for smaller images.
10) If you have larger nail beds you may want to overlap designs. Everyone has different nail bed sizes so it would be difficult to accommodate everyone. With practice one could learn to line up the designs for a fuller image but I would recommend either using more than one design or just overlapping them. It can create a nice effect as well.
10) Clean EVERYTHING thoroughly when you are done: This will be important so that your future painting will be more successful & so that the plates, stamper & scraper last longer.
My personal steps:
1) Wash hands & gently push back cuticles that might be up on nail bed.
2) Get out all needed products & items.
3) Paint nails with bottom coat. Let dry completely (VERY important for best results)
4) Prepare image plate, image nail polish & cotton round with polish remover.
5) Working Quickly - Paint a nice coat of image paint over your image, scrape away extra, stamp with stamper, line up with nail bed, roll on fast, firmly & carefully ensuring you get the entire image to transfer. (If you have never seen this done check out a youtube video on it).
6) After each image you will have to clean the plate completely (especially if you are using the same image for each nail). Be sure to do so carefully not to smudge your other nails. Some recommend using tweezers - I find if I use a Cotton round instead of a ball I don't need to. Again let the polish remover dry on the plate before adding the polish again.
7) I recommend doing all your images on one hand BEFORE putting on the top coat. Just be gentle not to 'bump' them.
8) Once your first hand is complete put on your top coat & let this dry Completely before starting your second hand.
9) Repeat for second hand!
Once you get the hang of it use multiple designs & colors. We have used it to stamp our phones & more (and change when we get bored)
Hope you enjoy this as much as I did! All the little Girls in my life (age appropriate of course) will be getting this for the next 'gift giving' occasion!!