Review and How-to-use: MoYou London Gothic Plate 09

(Nothing to disclose)

Hello!!

I'm back today with a how-to-use for one of my all-time favorite MoYou London plates, Gothic 09. I've actually already shown you two manis using this plate and I can't believe it's taken me this long to show you this one, so let's get down to it!

First off, here is the video review I made:

And here are the still shots of this lovely plate:

MoYou London Gothic Collection 09

MoYou London Gothic Collection 09

MoYou London Gothic Collection 09

Here it is next to a standard Konad plate so you can get a feel for how big the images on the plate are:

MoYou London Gothic Collection 09 vs. Konad

Okay, so! Now for the nitty-gritty: how do you use this plate?

I always encourage you to think outside of the box with these collage-style plates, and this one has so much to offer if you think in terms of the patterns rather than just the overall concept. Yes, the stained-glass possibilities and the religious themes are here, and they are awesome. However, I think there is a lot more you can do with this, most of it elegant, sophisticated, and amazing.



1) Religious elements:

Religious elements on Gothic 09

There are a couple of crosses and a gorgeous angel on here that would work for Christmas manicures, Easter manicures, baptisms, first communions...And while we're on the subject...



2) Shrink that angel! 

If you have longer/wider nails, you might be able to get a fair amount of him on your nails without using the shrinking technique, but when you do use it, you can get a clear, beautiful manicure using his face and his hands, which preserves the praying posture. I used this technique for my manicure based on Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett:

Inspired by Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett

(Click here for details about this manicure.)



3) Art deco full-nail images: 

Art Deco full-nail images

I love love love all the deco elements on this plate; a few days ago I showed you this mani I did using them:

Art Deco mani using Gothic 09

(Click here for full details on this mani.)



4) Scroll-work elements: 

 

Scroll-work elements on Gothic 09

If you love little flourishes of filigree--and you know I do--this plate has a few lovely surprises. Use your piece of paper with the hole cut out to judge how each of these will look on your nail, since they aren't big enough to be full-nail images on their own.



5) Don't forget the little details: 

Little touches on Gothic 09

Don't miss the rosettes and the different fleurs de lits hovering around the edges...


6) And most of all, covering nearly the entire plate, you can have almost any type of stained-glass type image you want here:

Stained-glass elements on Gothic 09

It would have been easier for me to circle the bits that aren't stained-glass friendly, lol! You can get a modern look, a deco look, shells and circles, whatever you want. I wanted to use this element of the plate to make a new mani for today, and decided to go a little cosmic...



For this manicure I started with a base of Barielle Blackened Bleu, and then put on a coat of Barielle Angel Dust. Then I stamped over it using Barry M Silver Foil, and Gothic 09:

These are the voyages of the starship PolishGasm

Our five year mission:

To buy and swatch as many awesome polishes as possible before the bank account empties out

I. Love. This. Mani. It's like you're looking out at the universe through the glass of some fancy spaceship, the kind that people will go on for their vacations 100 years from now when they take a trip to the moon. Or, it's like some sort of futuristic cosmic lace--I would wear that dress, hands down, no problem. :)

I hope you like the mani as much as I do, but mostly I hope this post has helped you see all of the amazing possibilities in this plate!

Happy stamping,
M.

(Disclosure: this website may be compensated for linking to other sites.)