Born Pretty Store stamping plate review – BP-02

Hi lovelies,

Have you had a good week so far?  Good news! It’s down hill to the weekend :D.  Phew, last nights zumba kicked my bum a bit.  I am feeling rather tender this morning.

It’s time for another review from Born Pretty Store.  I’ve mentioned before that Born Pretty Store is one of my favourite places to get my nail art supplies.  Their stamping plates just continue to impress me as well.  This plate is BP-02 and you can find it here (or click on the image)

 

 

The size of this plate is exactly the same as any of the other or older Born pretty Store plates.  The plate is divided into 4 and each quarter is basically one big image.  This means that the images will fit nails of all shapes and sizes.  One thing I do want to mention, which is an improvement in my opinion.  The back of the plate.

The back of the plate now has a paper backing.  I don’t know if only the newer plates have this or if they are starting to implement this into all their plates but I think it’s fantastic.  It is so much easier to hurt or cut yourself on the sharp edges of the plates when it doesn’t have this backing.  I am a fan, great job Born pretty Store!

Ok, so as y ou can see the images are all very lacy.  I really like lacy images but I wanted to do something a little different. Unfortunately there isn’t much different I can do except use a different colour polish.  Or at least different to what I would normally use for this kind of stamped image.  Let me show you,

I decided to use OPI – Gargantuan green grape (the matte version).  It’s such a beautiful green and I thought it would be a great, unconventional base for a lace pattern.  I started with 2 coats and when it was completely dry I stamped using the bottom left image using the black stamping polish from Born Pretty Store.  I then topcoated and called it a day.

Even though the image I used stamped well and transferred beautifully, I did have a slight issue with the top left and bottom right images.  It picked up the image perfectly but it either wouldn’t transfer (no matter how fast I worked) or it only transferred half of the image.  I by no means think this is an issue with the plate.  I promised myself to try the image again at another time.  At the time, I wasn’t able to stamp onto my nails but I did do it on paper (I stamped on paper the first time as well so that I didn’t have to redo my nails every time).  This time around I managed to stamp each image perfectly.  I did use another polish and this might’ve been the issue in the first place.  My point?  If you have the same issue with this – or any – plate, try a different polish or even a different stamper if you have one.  There are so many factors that could influence different things so don’t give up on the plate.  I sometimes struggle to stamp well when it is super hot and humid.  I can’t explain it, it just is the way it is.

If you want to grab this plate for yourself (or any of the others) don’t forget you can use my 10% off code as shown below.  This code will always be in my sidebar as well as my affiliate link so click on “go buy” and save!

What do you think of this plate?  And what do you think of what I did with it? Do you like it with the green? Of course, a swatch.

OPI – Gargantuan green grape (matte)

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  It’s a light (but bright) green creme that dries matte.  I know there are other version of this polish (a slightly different colour version and a non-matte version) but I really wanted this one.  I’ve also seen many people say the formula is horrid.  I didn’t find it horrid.  It isn’t the best but only because it dries quite fast.  So it has the tendency to be dry before you have finished applying.  It is also quite a chalky matte, which personally, I like.  I immediately noticed the quick drying problem so once I got the hang of it I found it quite decent to handle.  It was also pretty opaque so 2 coats were more than enough.  To be honest, I prefer this matte way more than I like it with topcoat.  In fact I think adding the topcoat to this particular design made it lose some of it’s appeal for me. I received this one as a gift so thank you SO much!  It has been on my wishlist for a while and I really like it.

Do you have this polish?  Or maybe another version of it?  Let me know what your thoughts are.

Thanks for reading,