Happy Wednesday! Today I have a two in one for you–a review of this clear silicone jellly stamper (item # 38611) sent to me for review & a new technique for creating quick & easy geode nails using it!
I used this stamping head for a few stamped manicures (including this design) but I found it was a bit too squishy for my likes for capturing the image & I prefer this Born Pretty stamper. I still wanted to see what I could do with it because it is a great product, so I decided to play around with it using a silicone mat & discovered it was great for creating these geode style nails. The size of this stamping head is especially perfect for achieveing this look. The size of means you can stamp down in one go (which is very important for getting your design to look like this).
For this manicure, this polishes I used are:
- Base Coat: Cutex Brittle Nail Fix
- Top Coat: Quick Dry Top Coat
- Essie Bikini So Teeny
- Essie Mint Candy Apple
- Essie Pool Side Service
- Essie Peach Side Babe
- Essie Leggy Legend
- Born Pretty Store 3.9cm Clear Jelly Silicone Stamper
- Silicone craft mat (or another nail art mat… Born Pretty Store also makes a great affordable one! )
- Small dotting tool or water marble tool.
- Small nail art brush.
I tried to make a video of how to do this, but I’m still working on figuring out the best angle/set up but this video was farther away than I would have liked. Hopefully I’ll figure how to film a video where you can really see what I’m doing. But here is a rough example of how I created this design using a stamper.
- Paint your nails your base shade of choice (I used Bikini So Teeny for mine)
- Gather all your shades around your silicone mat & make sure to pre open the bottles. I forgot to do this, & it slows down the process some.
- Going colour by colour, drop the polish down on your silicone mat. Try and overlap the shades together. There is no amount of polish to put down but try & make sure you can see a little bit of each other.
- Using a dotting tool, drag you polish through each other.
- Using your stamper, press down on the polish. Next press down again your prepainted nail. The clear stamper is great for this because you can see through & decide which part of the pattern you want to apply.
- Using a small nail art brush, go in & apply small lines of metallic shade (I used Leggy Legend). This is a great way to hide any mistakes.
- Finish off with top coat to seal in design.
You definitely want to move quickly & carefully when applying it to your nails. When pressing down, don’t move your nail because it will smudge the design which will ruin the geode look of the design.
This Born Pretty stamper is so perfect for achieving this look. I tried it using a small stamper & it didn’t work well at all. You need that large squishy space for the polish to spread out. I do have a warning–be careful while cleaning this stamper. I used pure acetone to try & clean mine up (I was not thinking) & it caused some clouding of the plastic. So be very careful!
If you’re looking for a versatile stamper, I would definitely recommend this stamper. Like I said, I had some difficulties using it for actually stamping but that could have something to do with my personal learning curve. However I will always gush about clear stampers because I feel like the options for nail art are endless! & this stamper in particular with its pink shell is just so pretty.
If you’re interested in ordering this stamper (or something else) from Born Pretty Store feel free to use my discount code COFFK31 to save 10% off any regular price items! I’ve been ordering from them for years, & I love the wide variety of products you can find for all your nail polish addict needs!
Gradient dotticures never get old to me. They’re such a quick, easy option for nail art & sometimes I’m all about the quick & easy manicures! While I used to be able to stay up all night creating complex & time consuming design, I just don’t always have that option anymore (& when I do the next day is always rough!)
Coffee & Nail Polish 
