Make up review: Essence Stampy Nail Art Set

Stamping kits aren't a novelty in the nail art world, I always found them interesting, but since they usually weren't easy to find in italian stores, I have never tried them. Until Essence (a brand that can easily be found also here in Italy) released a basic stamping set, with different design plates and special stamping nail polishes, sold at a very low price, how could I resist?

Well, I haven't, so last Sunday I went to the nearest shop and bought a basic Stampy set plus an additional design plate and black matte stamping polish, all for 6€.

The basic Stampy set contains a design plate, a scraper and a stamp, sold separately there are four different design plates and three stamping nail polishes (black, white and silver, but I only found black).

Since it was my first time trying it I decided to watch and follow the tutorial provided on Essence's Youtube channel (here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9ofLFhtYfc&list=PLDg6S58u7v-cccGEL-j8cpmk2KLLJXovD&index=4&feature=plcp ). 

After several attempts (including three complete manicure failed and redone), the best I could get was this:

Maybe I'm not the best nail artist of the world, but honestly I was expecting someting better after all these attempts :-/ as you can see better from the picture below, the stripes don't cover entirely the nail and are a little smudged.

The truth is that this "technique" isn't so easy to catch: you have to be very quickly applying the polish on the plate, scraping and then stamping it on your nail because it dries very fast, also it takes some practice to obtain smooth and clean stamps. Another problem is that the smallest designs, like the heart, paws and swirls  of the basic set, are carved with very little depth on the plate so they didn't work very well, only the patterned ones gave me some decent results.

My last complain is about the stamping nail polish: not mentioning that you waste a lot of polish (and dirty a lot of paper towels and cotton swabs) during the whole process, you are forced to use it, because normal nail polish don't work with the design plates (maybe it's not enough dense), and this limits a lot the color choice, plus once applied on the nail it scratches away very easily, so you have to be quick putting on the top coat, but be careful, use some very light brush strokes or the design will smudge!

My overall rating: 2/5

The idea (and the price) is good, but if you need a quick and easy nail art solution , nail stickers or fake nails are still the best in my opinion. Once you learn how to do it right and quickly, you can obtain some nice results (I've seen beautiful nail arts on the web), but I don't think I'll buy other Essence design plates in the future (but I'll probably try again with these when I'll have some spare time).

Bonus pic: one of my failed attempts using a different pattern