Tutorial: Stamping Sandwich

(Plate is press sample)

Hello!

A while back I  reviewed three flakies from Indigo Bananas including Perfect Night (For Mystery & Horror):

Indigo Bananas Perfect Night (For Mystery & Horror)

Indigo Bananas Perfect Night (For Mystery & Horror)

The awesome layered flakies in this polish inspired me to try out a stamping sandwich with it, and I figured since I was doing it, I might as well walk you through the process. I think the key to a successful stamping sammich is the placement of the stamps that are going to be buried under layers of polish relative to the ones that will show more clearly.


For my stamping I chose Born Pretty Store plate BP-L014 and Hit The Bottle Polish Pool Party:

Born Pretty Store plate BP-L014

Step one: Put on a base layer of your polish.

Coat one of polish

Step two: place the stamp that you want to be the least visible. For my mani, I want the standard accent nails (ring and thumb) to be the center of the manicure, so I want those images to be the brightest. I want the images around them to pull the eye toward the accent nails rather than compete for attention, so I want the images to be less visible as they are farther from the ring finger (the thumb is naturally farther away from the other aspects of the design, so I don't have to worry about that. So, I want the two fingers next to the ring finger to be under only one layer of polish, and the image on my index finger to be under two layers of polish. To accomplish that, I stamp the index finger image first (the one I want to be the most buried):

Stamp the image you want to be least visible.

Step 3: Add another coat of polish.

Add that next coat of polish

Step 4: Stamp the images you want to have medium visibility. For my mani, I want the two fingers that are next to my main accent nail to have medium visibility:

Stamp the images you want to have medium visibility

Step 5: Add your next coat of polish.

Apply another coat of polish.

Notice how the index finger image is less bright than the images on the middle and pinkie?


Step 6: Stamp your final images, the ones that won't be covered with more base polish. Then add topcoat, clean up, and you're done!

Final stamping sandwich

Final stamping sandwich

Final stamping sandwich

Notice I also chose size and placement of the images that would frame the accent nail and pull the eye toward it as well.

What do you think? I love how the jelly turns the image more purple when it's under two coats of polish, but does a blurple thing under only one coat of polish. I love the way the flakies play with the image, and reflects the lacy-ness of it. Very happy with how it came out!

What do you think--are stamping sandwiches awesome?

Happy stamping,
M.