Okay, first off: I am guilty of loving my stamping plates a whole lot. The scraper is fine to work with, although, the small grooves and holes in it collect nailpolish and need to be cleaned off every few swipes. IMO, an expired giftcard works just as well and is easier to clean off.
Unfortunately, there are no cheap substitutes for the stamper. I suggest you guard it with your life. It is flexible and can mold itself onto the nail to ensure a proper image stamp. The double ended one is perfect for making small adjustment to the nail (eg: the plate image is too small to cover the entire nail) and you have to make a second 'swipe'. The stamp end is about 1" round. It cleans up beautifully with Acetone and after hundreds of cleanings, still looks new.
Just an FYI, as I've been Konad'ing for a bit now, instead of the black "Konad Special Polish", I have found (after trying 11 different products) that WET 'N WILD black velvet nailpolish is the best. It costs less than $2 at CVS or WalMart and it is by far the best black out there. I've tried Orly, Chanel, and others, and none of them are this thick and black. Others are too sheer when you try to stamp them, or they simply don't show up on a darker background. I like to do dark blue with a black argyle pattern on them. Looks great, just don't forget your topcoat.
Now, for the regular stamping polishes... what I have found is that any basecoat color is fine. Its when you need one to stamp with that you have to be careful. Don't be fooled by others who say that 'any nailpolish will stamp'. Well, yes it will, but it may be so faint that it will be a waste of your time. The best nailpolishes for stamping are ones that have some metallic in them. Sally Hansen Chrome nailpens are good, but expensive. I have found that the best stamping polishes are at WalMart. Yes, PURE ICE nailpolishs in 'Outrageous' and others stamp up beautifully. They are thick, quick drying and accurate. I only use the ones with a bit of 'chrome-iness" to them. If you're going to put a design on your nail, make it pop!
For the White polish, Sally Hansen French Tip White is a good one. White is tricky. It almost has to be like 'liquid paper' to get it to work and look right.
Good luck, fellow nail afficiandos! Konad Nail Art Double Ended Stamper And Scraper
One thing I want to say about this product, which as far as I know wasn't in any of the reviews, if this is your first time buying a stamper, make sure you look at the tutorial on YouTube and also make sure that you FILE YOUR STAMPER before the first use!! I learned the hard way, I usually like to jump in feet first when doing things so after hours of trial and error, I finally watched a very informational video and got my stamper to work. I first assumed it was defective..lol, Im still learning how to stamp, but of course like all great things, it will get better with time.
If you are trying to decide between the double ended stamper and just the normal one, I would definately go for the double! I feel like the normal stamper is too small (the handle part), this one is easy to work with. The larger end works great for a full nail design and the small one is great for just single designs. The scraper is nothing special, it does scratch the plates though. That doesn't really bother me, but if you wanted, you could use an old gift/credit card so that it doesn't scratch as much. Based on other reviews, I did use a nail file to "buff" the stamper, and I've gotten perfect stamping results, Overall, great product and an obvious must if you want to do nail art stamping!
There are other Konad products out there that have only one stamper and are about one dollar less- I say stick with this one! The small side is perfect for smaller nails to be more precise as well as with the smaller designs and with the French Manicures.
The scraper works well also, but I found that its hole often got a little clogged, but that wasn't much of an inconvenience, merely an observation that it works best when cleaned after each use! A little hint, to save nail polish only put polish on the top half of the design and when you scrape down, the excess nail polish from the top will fill into the bottom half, saving you more nail polish! Overall, this is a must!
I was glad I purchased this stamper!
It's nice to have the two sizes for smaller designs and nails!
A couple of tips...
Lightly sand the two tips with your nail filer. Sometimes it's to new and won't work effectively.
Use only Acetone nail polish remover
When stamping the plate only push straight down and up. No rolling or wiggling.
The nail polish does matter. I have used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear and it does work.
and of course..Tutorials...Tutorials...Tutorials!!!
This is a super fun little thing, and it worked just as described. I used it with the MASH plates and Sally Hansen Insta Dry nail polish. I did not like the scraper, so I used an old cancelled credit card instead. I didn't have to 'file' the end of the stamper as some users mentioned to get the image to transfer; it worked just fine right out of the package. I used pure acetone to clean the stamper and plates and it cleaned off perfectly. I think this was very worth the price, and I can see myself using it over and over.
On a side note, make sure you wait until your base coat of nail polish is COMPLETELY dry...I was impatient and tried stamping too soon. It turned into a gooey mess!
Works great, does as described. Easy to clean and use. Makes doing nail art fun and easy. I really enjoy doing my nails now, and with so many different nail art stamp plates out there, it's totally worth it and great price.
My daughter (11) bought this and has watched youtube videos on designs and how-tos and I have to tell you, he nails look more professional than the free hand designs I sometimes get at the salon. Very professional looking, easy and just fun! - Bundle Monster - Nail Art - Image Plates - Stamping'
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