Hello Dahlings!
When Oksana contacted me in early December
to see if I'd like to review her new style of nail art stamper,
I squeed up a storm of excitement & typed YES!!!
So this post contains products from Creative Shop Stamper
sent for my honest review & plus some kewl stuff
from Anonymous Lacquer & Bundle Monster
I bought that were useful to include in this post.
Our adventure begins with parcel this arriving last Saturday...
SQUEEEEEEE!!!
Inside I found this mini galaxy of uber squishy gorgeousness
The new stampers come in black & white
with your choice of 4 shimmer colors
for easy contrast between your stamping polish & your stamper head.
As you can see, there are indeed a few differences
between the new Space stamper
& my beloved original Creative Shop Stamper.
For starters, the new heads are larger
& much softer than the original heads.
I'm talking squishy vs. marshmallowy.
The metal holders are the same size,
but the new holder has rings embossed into it
that make holding the stamper easier.
This wasn't an issue for me with the original model,
but I can see how this change will help those who were having it.
The original heads were just squeezed a bit
so the edges could be stuffed into the holder.
The new heads have a molded edge
that makes inserting it into the hold easier.
So how much bigger is the new Space stamping head?
The original CSS stamper head is 35mm
& the new heads are a whopping 42 mm.
This gives us more room to pick up large designs
& will accommodate long nails easily.
If you're using a collage style plate,
you might even be able to stamp 2 nails at time.
All mounted up & ready to go.
You can really see the physical differences when viewed side by side.
These are the basic tools required to stamp
in addition to stamping polish & a stamping plate.
The only 'priming' required is to wash your new stamping head
in warm water with a gentle soap
& let air dry before using the 1st time.
There's a release agent coating the stampers
from the manufacturing process that needs to be removed
prior to 1st use or it could prevent polish from sticking.
If you're still having an issue with picking up the polish,
you can place it into a plastic for a day
or gently buff the head with a Magic Eraser,
but pressure is more likely da culprit
& I yak about that more below.
Before all the stamping fun can happen,
I need some polish on mah nails!
in the mail last week & couldn't decide which to wear first,
let alone pick one polish, so I used both collections & did gradients.
On my right hand, the gradient is done with 3 of da 4 colors of the
Holiday Princess Collection available at the Anonymous Lacquer shop.
On my left hand is the Gemstone Collection
Alas, it's not currently available,
but a restock in the future is a possibility.
The line up ~ Rainbow Topaz, London Blue Topaz,
Amethyst, Pink Sapphire & Garnet.
I know the blues & purples of these 2 collections
look like dupes in these pics, but let me assure you,
they are not identical on the nail!
As usual, Mildred's beauties are buttery smooth,
reasonably fast drying & opaque in 2 coats.
I added a coat of Sally Hansen Dries Quickly before stamping.
Look at how clean that image looks against the dark stamper head!
I have to admit that this was my 2nd attempt at picking up polish.
The biggest difference I noticed when using the Space stamper head
is that it requires very little pressure to pick up or transfer da image.
The basic instructions call for scraping the excess polish off the plate
using the short side of the scraper,
then gently rolling the stamper head over the image.
The original head also worked best this way,
but the Space head required me to pay attention
to the amount of pressure I used
as too much pressure & the image didn't pick up well.
Basically...I needed to lighten up.
I did get the hang of it after a few tries
& marveled at how easily the designs transferred.
Design placement issues are all on me.
I just pressed my nail into the design,
rocked ever so slightly to the left & right
so the image went down the sides of my nail & pulled my finger away.
Again, very little pressure is required!
As much as I love my CSS original stamper,
the one thing I had to remember to do was to brace my free edge
with my thumb nail when pressing the stamper
onto the nail or the whole image wouldn't transfer.
The pressure required didn't hurt, but it wasn't exactly comfy either.
The Space head is so soft that this wasn't an issue at all!
For my left hand I tried out different designs with variable empty space.
I'm still working on lightening up on the pressure
I use to roll the stamper over the image
& when pressing my nails into the head,
but over all da space stamper transferred
da images easily plus picked up both fine detail & open areas well.
Methinks I'll be needing a white Space head too!
Perhaps the one with da purple shimmer?
Now to the clean up,
cuz this is important to do properly
to keep your CSS in good shape
whether you use the original or Space version.
This is my new scraper sent with the new stamper AFTER
all thr practice stamping I needed to do
prior to actually stamping on my nails plus stamping on my nails.
Looks like new, doesn't it?
To keep your scraper looking like this,
it's recommended that you clean it after each stamped mani
with non-acetone polish remover.
I used one of these non-acetone remover pads that I got as a freebie
in an order of polish from Amazon,
but remover on a cotton bud works just as well.
The bane of pointy nails when stamping.
I made dimples in my original CSS too.
Pressing too hard was definitely an issue here.
A gentle massage from the center towards the outer edge
works on the new heads as well for removing those pesky dimples
that can create voids in your design.
When cleaning the polish off the head,
use sticky tape not polish remover!
The roller kind meant for removing fuzzies from your clothes
are convenient, but a loop of packing tape stuck near by also works.
You may need to give your CSS heads a bath every so often
to remove oils picked up from your skin
& any fuzzies that the tape misses.
When storing your black Space head,
wrap the plastic it came in back around it
or place it in it's own zip bag.
Do Not store it touching the white Space or original heads!
The dye used to color the heads won't come off
on stuff from casual contact,
but as the heads are all made from silicone,
the dark color heads could stain
the light color heads if touching while in storage.
~~~
Do I give this product a Yay or Nay?
YAY!!!
I had a small learning curve around using less pressure
with the CSS Space Collection Stamper
than I needed with the original CSS,
but it is easier to use & I got even better results
than I did with da original CSS stamper once I got da hang of it.
Keep your touch light my dahling peeps!
The Creative Shop Stampers Space Collection
is currently available from the following resellers.
The links above for CSS products go to Beautometry,
as that's the USA online store that I use
for most of my nail art stamping supplies.
The resellers below currently carry the original CSS only.
If your preferred store is on this list, contact them
& ask when they will be adding the Space Collection.
Sometimes they just need to know their customers want something
to justify adding it to their store.
AU ~ Nail Stamping Queen
Singapore ~ Beauty So Fly
Well? Go get yourself a Creative Shop Space Stamper!
Oh, you want your Ciri pic first...
>^. .^<
When you gonna stamp pretties on my claws?
Thanks for stopping by!
~ Inky
I am so much behind the times now, i've never even heard of these! Your nails look great xxx
ReplyDeleteThey're pretty new & just released last month. The original CSS has been around for over a year. Thank you!
DeleteYay! I was so excited to see a review of this. It is just really pretty. How sticky is it compared to the original? One of the aspects of the original I liked is that the stickiness made it easy for me to pick up the designs.
ReplyDeleteIt's stickier! It's also more to oil sticking to it & this can inhibit polish from sticking. Holding the head from the edges when putting it in the holder & massaging out dimples before washing it are important to remember. :)
Delete