Monday, July 18, 2011

Bundle Monster Stamping - Leopard Print

Base Coat: e - #46 ($2 Shop Brand)
Stamp Polish: e - #3 ($2 Shop Brand)
Top Coat: Revlon 60 second Top Coat
Plate: BM-221

Bundle Monster Stamping - Flowers


Base Coat: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Snappy Sorbet
Stamp Polish: e - #3 ($2 Shop Brand)
Top Coat: Revlon 60 Second Top Coat
Plate: BM-221

Konad

There is a small shop in Sydney that sells Konad stuff. I bought a set that included 2 Konad Plates, 3 Special Polishes (5ml) and a Stamper and Scraper for $39. You can choose which plates and nail polish colours you want.




Shop Address:
585 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000

I don't use the scraper because it scratches the plates and it's too hard to clean. I just use and old plastic card. I think you can buy a plastic konad scraper though.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Polish Stamping Test

I had heard that Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polishes were good for stamping because they are opaque after one coat. I've stamped each colour against black and white so you can see how well each colour stamps over a light or dark colour.
Whirlwind White
Lightening
Snappy Sorbet
Sonic Bloom
Speedy Sunburst
Flashy Fuschia
Lickety-Split Lime
Mint Sprint
Brisk Blue
Lively Lilac
Pronto Purple
Silver Sweep
Every colour shows up fine on white. Most colours show up good on black except for some of the darker ones. Dark colours show up on the black better in light.
I used Bundle Monster plate BM-212 for the Stamp. Sorry about the messy stamp I was rushing through all the colours, I probably also scraped off too much polish for some of them.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Polishes

I bought 12 of the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri colours.
From left to right: Whirlwind White, Lightening, Snappy Sorbet, Sonic Bloom, Speedy Sunburst, Flashy Fuschia, Likety- Split Lime, Mint Sprint, Brisk Blue, Lively Lilac, Pronto Purple and Silver Sweep.
Here are swatches of each colour with topcoat:
Whirlwind White
2 coats
White creme colour. This reminds me so much of whiteout when I put it on.
Lightening
3 coats
Bright yellow creme.
Snappy Sorbet
2 coats
Pastel orange with silver shimmer.
Sonic Bloom
2 coats
Red-Orange creme. Very similar to Speedy Sunburst below.
Speedy Sunburst
2 coats
Pinky-Red creme. Very similar to Sonic Bloom above.
Flashy Fuschia
2 coats
Pink with purple shimmer.
Lickety-Split Lime
3 coats
Bright green creme.
Mint Sprint
2 coats
Blue green creme.
Brisk Blue
2 coats
Bright blue creme.
Lively Lilac
2 coats
Pastel purple with silver shimmer.
Pronto Purple
2 coats
Purple with red and blue shimmer.
Silver Sweep
2 coats
Silver foil with silver shimmer.

They do dry very quickly and are opaque in 1 coat but most need 2 coats to even out the streaks. I had to use 3 coats for Lightening and Lickety-Split Lime. Because of it's fast drying quality you need to ensure you have enough polish on the brush for smooth application. The brush is very wide when compared to regular nail polish brushes. The stick is also wide so it holds a lot of polish which drips down if you don't wipe it off. The Insta-Dri brush is on the right:

I got these Insta-Dri polishes on eBay for $4.99 USD each from the seller onelasttouch. I highly recommend this seller, she was able to order all the colours I wanted and I got a free gift:
Postage for 12 bottles was $16.95 USD. It worked out about $6.25 AUD per bottle including postage which is less than half the price you pay for them here! I've found them in Priceline for $13.95 each.
These are supposed to be good for stamping because they are very opaque in 1 coat. I will test each colour against black and white and post the results.

Bundle Monster Plates

This is the second set of bundle monster image plates (I don't own the first set). Click on the pictures to enlarge them. I've written the meanings of the Chinese symbols underneath each symbol. I got these from Amazon for $25.55 including postage.