Pueen 2013 Stamping Plates Collection

Last month I won a giveaway Cazzy from SpecialGirl Nails was hosting - YAY!.  The prize was a $50 gift certificate from any online store of my liking - I choose Amazon because I was drooling over this plates.
Ordered them from my aunt's Amazon account because they had "prime shipping".  I thought the "prime" thing was just to save on shipping, but apparently it speeds it too.  I ordered on Thursday night and they where delivered on Wednesday next week.

The 2013 Collection includes 25 plates that come in this cute orange storage case.  

Each plate comes with a protective blue film cover.  I prefer plates with a colored protective film; this way people that are new to stamping notice that they need to remove it before using the plates.  When a plate is covered with a clear film, you can barely notice it.

Plates without protective film

 

backing of the plates with Pueen's logo

Clear shot of individual plates

You can see the designs on this plates are very well engraved.

I used this two plates for an AIS Challenge, the theme was to stamp over lilac.

Here are the results of my very first time using the plates.  I didn't even made random test stamps, so this was my absolutely first experience.  The first plate to try was 01.  The first stamps didn't came out so well because I was trying to scrape from different angles & directions until I found the right one.  In my experience, the right angle & direction to scrape can vary from design to design.  The accent nails came out great!

Base is Essie Lilacism, stamped with Color Club Wild at Heart, China Glaze Escaping Reality.

My impressions:

- Love the storage & display case!  If you own a vast collection of plates, another case might not be practical; but I only had the Bundle Monster, Salon Express & some randoms from Born Pretty Store  (which are stored in a ziplock bag - I know, shame!)  If Pueen decided to sell this case separately it would be a hit.  Each plate is stored in a clear nylon sheet, which is super convenient because not only you can have them neatly stored in order, but you can browse the design without having to take them out of lil' pocket.

- It is a little bit difficult to take the plates out of the nylon sheet, they are quite snugged in there.  I'm on the fence with this - it requires a slight pull to get them out, but I would hate them to be loose and falling out of the sheet; which is what happened with my BM plates when I put them on baseball card holders.

-  The borders of the plates are very smooth, so +1 for safety!

- Each plate includes 4 big images and 2 small ones (150 images total).  There are no french tip designs, which I rarely care for.

-  The set includes a great selection of designs including geometrical shapes, flowery and abstract patters, hearts, starts, animal prints, single flowers and even fruits!  The small designs are very cute and nicely compliment the big ones.

- The full nail designs are big enough to cover the width of my hole thumb.  With the Bundle Monster & Salon Express I have to do the trick of squeezing the stamper from the sides to make the design wider; which almost never comes out right.

I have a lot more designs to try, but so far I am loving this collection.  I'm really happy that I got them!

Thanks to Cazzy & Pueen Cosmetics for making me a Happy Stamp-a-holic!

Couple ol' manis

More from the random hidden files on my computer  ;)

This mani was inspired in a campaign to raise awareness about animal abuse

What I used:

Bettina Purple

China Glaze Tinsel Town

Color Club Snow flakes

KleanColor Metallic Purple

no name lavender polish

white acrylic paint

dotting tool

 Birthday Mani

I wasn't feeling great, so I went very simple on my nails

What I used:

China Glaze Fast Track, Running in Circles, Atlantis

Sally Hansen ColorQuick pen in Green Chrome

Bundle Monster bm-209

Dots, stripes and flower nail art

Initially, I wanted to replicate a YouTube tutorial on plaid nail art using the long striping brush. My lines came out horrible and in the wrong direction.  In an attempt to fix it, one crooked line became an angled french tip and that was followed by more lines, dots, glitter and a fimo flower.
When it comes to nail art, sometimes I don't know where to stop! lol

What I Used:

Sinful Colors Starfish

Color Club Psychedelic Scene

Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope

white, pink and yellow acrylic paints

tools & xtras:

dotting tool

striping brush

fimo flower

Neutral? Shinny? Animal Print? A mani with all of the above

When doing my nails, I rarely have a clear, specific idea in my mind.  It all start debating the base color; then it develops into layering shimmery top coats, placing glitters, stamping and God knows what else.  An interest in just not having my nails naked ends up in a mild-bling-on manicure :)

I love this combination because it can be subtle but doing something slightly different in each hand, makes it fun at the same time!

Left Hand

Right Hand

Fast Track

Fast Track

What I Used:
- Color Club Soft Chiffon
- Serena Sparkling Rose
- China Glaze Fast Track (middle finger, right hand)
- Kleancolor Coffee Addict (for stamping)
- gold hexagon glitters
- Bunder Monster plate BM-221

BBPR latest challenge: Its a piece of cake! ;)

On Beauty Bloggers Puerto Rico group, Noelia from Its not my life anymore choose the picture to inspire our latest challenge:

Oh so yummy and cute!

Here is my submission to the challenge:

As you can see, I went wild and did a little bit of everything.  Had so many ideas for this challenge that I couldn't be ok with just one thing, had to keep adding until my nails where stuffed! hahaha

Challenges are so much fun! It helps us to get out of our comfort zone; It certainly did for me because I tried so many new things at once. 

What I used:

- Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday

- KleanColor White & Blind Date

- Color Club Foil Me Once & Lumin-Icent

- Old Navy Glimmeric Scintillant

- Orly half moon stripes

- acrylic paints

- makeup sponge (to sponge acrylic paint)

- striping tape

I would love if you too participate! You can send a pic of your submission to myrandomstash@gmail.com to be featured on my Facebook Page.  

**Please include picture with your watermark or send me your details to give credit :D

Color Club Edie

I don't wear greens often and really don't know why? because I think -in general- they look good on me.

Edie is one of my favorites! It reminds me of kelly greens & sea foam at the same time.  This color is more bright that the pictures shows, but when taking them with flash it totally changed the shade; so I opted for no flash snaps.  In the bottle looked so vivid that I thought it was going to have a matte finish but I was wrong.  It has a creme and shiny finish, and contrary to what I have read about it, formula on mine was a dream.  It is on the sheer side, but because the formula was good, doing 3 coats where not a hassle.

This one will definitely will be among my picks for St Patrick's!

China Glaze No Plain Jane + stripes & a bow

Here is another polish from the Bohemian Collection.  To me, the name does not go along with the shade, because it is the Plain Jane from all.  Still, its a pretty metallic purple.  It is more on the sheer side; I did 2 coats and after taking the pictures thought I should have done one more.  Next time I'll layer it over black or grey to see if it pumps the duochrome properties.

To make it a tad more fancy, added a lil' something using my striping tape.  On my ring finger only made a thin line with Color Club Wild at Heart . Then inverted the pattern using and adding Kleancolor Grand Finale [holo bar glitter] in the middle.

cute blue bow ring from Forever21 :)

Pink & Blue Stamping with Sinful Colors & Color Club

I'm so happy to have the time to do my nails at least once a week!

Manicures not always come out as neat as I wanted to. I'm "out of shape" but I keep practicing.

This time I went for the pink & blue scheme with an edge using bold shades and mixing patterns.  I could say this is one of my worst manicures; the accent nail got all messed up, but got many compliments for the selection of colors and design.  Again, this was not going to get to the blog but mom said it looked cool :)

What I Used:

Sinful Colors Bikini & Rain Storm (base colors)

Color Club Cold Metal (stamping)

Bundle Monster BM 203

diamond shaped glitter

China Glaze Riveting + Finger Paints Asylum + Accent Stamping

When The Hunger Games Collection came in, I was instantly in love with Riveting! Gladly, a week ago I was able to find it for less than $2 in a Sally Beauty near the place I'm doing my clinical practice.  On this Sally's every item on clearance has an additional 50% off, always - this way I'm getting little by little my favorite shades from past collections while saving money  :)  Also got 3 of the Finger Paints flakies: Asylum, Twisted & Flecked; each for $1.39

I can't get over how gorgeous Riveting is! Its so brilliant, so fresh & vivid!

The downside is that my camera doesn't like it.  Tried every possible setting & backdrop combination but the intensity of Riveting made my camera go crazy and wouldn't pick up the color right.  After two days of wear,  decided to layer some flakies and stamp an accent nail.  The shades of pink and gold from the flakies makes it look even more beautiful!

What I used:

China Glaze Riveting (base)

Finger Paints Asylum

Color Club Cold Metal (stamping)

Bundle Monster BM-212

Stamping: Floral Over White

Here is my first time wearing white nail polish and I'm loving it!  Had to apply 3 and in some nails 4 coats of white because it was looking patchy, but this polish dries fast and has the perfect consistency.

My intention was go to simple: white with a glittery accent nail. I liked it, but stamping it was so tempting! 

It took me a couple ours get me used to it, but then I couldn't stop staring at my nails :) 

What I used:
NYC French White Tip (base)
China Glaze Prism (ring finger)
Color Club Hot Like Lava (stamping)
Bundle Monster BM - 221
blue pentagon glitters

Manis from the vault

my sister-in-law's nails :)