Review and Tutorial: UberChic Beauty Texture-licious plate and a masking technique! (featuring Spooky puniken spellbook nail art)

(Press samples ahead!)

Hello!


UberChic Beauty just put out a new mini, and this one is all about that texture! Here's the video I did to discuss ideas for using the images:

And let's take a look at the plate in a still shot:

One of the tips I give you all the time in my videos is to get double-duty from your images by using them as background for other images, to get texture and depth in your manis. This plate is made specifically to give you a ton of cool options for turning your mani from basic to beautiful. You can use these images by themselves, and any of them would give you a cool look. But take a look at them together with other plates you have and the combinations will start jumping out at you--I show you some possibilities with the newly released UberChic Beauty Mermaid Life plate.


These images are the same size as other UberChic Beauty full-nail images, that is, 5/8ths of an inch wide, and 7/8ths of an inch tall:

And how do they stamp? Pretty darn well:

Okay, so on to the sample manicure! Of course since it's the Halloween season, I had to do a Halloween mani with this. The image that looked the most spooky to me was the raggedy script image, which sort of reminds me of a creepy spellbook. I decided to pair it with a spooky jack-o-lantern image from UberChic Beauty's Halloween 02:

UberChic Beauty Halloween 02

And, while I wanted the script to run across the background, I also didn't want it to show behind the jack-o-lantern's eyes and smile...so I decided to try out something I've been wanting to do for a long time.


Before I was a nail stamper, I was a rubber stamper--I used to make cards, use rubber stamps in scrapbooks, all that kind of stuff. In fact, I still do, just not as much. In rubber stamping, there's a technique called 'masking' where you mask off an area and then stamp over it, so your image will show up everywhere except the area you masked off. I decided there was no reason why this wouldn't work for nail stamping, too.


To test it, I first stamped my image on the top sticky part of a post-it note. I recommend using the thinnest post-it note possible, since some are paper thin and many (like the one I used) are thicker and a bit trickier to work with. Then, you cut out your image:

Now you should have an image with a slightly sticky back. For step two, you stamp that same image where you want it on your nail. Of course I forgot to take a picture of this step, so you're going to have to trust me that it's there! For step three, you lightly place your post-it image over the image on your nail, like this:

For step four, stamp on the nail the way you normally would, right over the post-it image. I used a squishy stamper and pressed directly down onto the nail to help keep the image from moving:

Now my jack-o-lantern has the script perfectly around it, but not behind the eyes and smile, so it looks hollow inside!


So here are the product details. That lovely blue-green duochrome base polish is Zoya Remy (it's a total stunner). I stamped the jack-o-lantern first with Girly Bits Silver Bells, and then again with Girly Bits Flame, for a slightly layered effect; I stamped the script with Silver Bells. Finally, I added a witch charm from Charlie's Nail Art:

Spooky spellbook with Zoya Remy, UberChic Beauty Texture-licious and Halloween 02, and Girly Bits stamping polishes

Spooky spellbook with Zoya Remy, UberChic Beauty Texture-licious and Halloween 02, and Girly Bits stamping polishes

I love how this came out--the witch activated some of her spells and left her jack-o-lantern to stand guard while she flies off to Costco to get supplies for her Halloween party! It's a little spooky and a little fun, and I love how the colors work so well together. And the witch charm bends easily so you can tuck her around your nail, cover with topcoat, and minimize those poky edges.


You can find the Texture-licious plate and Halloween 02 in UberChic Beauty's shop, here.
You can find the Girly Bits polishes in the Girly Bits store, here.
You can find the witch charm in the Charlie's Nail Art shop, here; if you do, use my code for 10% off your entire order: LOLAM10.


Happy stamping!!
M.