I got an email from Jessica at WowSoCool last week telling me that there were two new Konad plates in, m84 and m85, as well as a new "multi stamper," and she sent them to me to review. I'm always excited when there are new Konad plates, and I was especially happy for these because I just haven't done any nail stamping in a while. I have a lot going on these days, and the times I've been inspired to Konad, I've simply run out of steam trying to pick which design to use in what color, so being limited to two was doing me a big favor!
I picked plate m84 first because it has lip prints. Here's the stock image of the plate:
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| Konad Plate m84 |
I figured a pattern in addition to the lip prints would be good, so I went with the stars in the middle. To get back to BCA pinks, I started out with a manicure of Eyeko Punk Polish, the two-coat hot pink, and black and white Konad Special Polish for the stamping. I used the new multi-stamper for this manicure, and I really liked it. This is the stock image of it.
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| Konad Multi Stamper in Stand |
The picture shows two pieces, the stamper in its stand. The top is the regular stamper, the side an angled metal scraper, and fit into the stand is the small Konad stamper, like on the double-sided one. The first two stamps I did with it were a little awkward because I'm right-handed and have always scraped the plate right to left (toward me) to look at what I'm doing while I'm doing it, but the whole scraper is a little big to look around and moving it that way wasn't easy. Then I tried scraping left to right, and it was the easiest thing ever - all it took to scrape the pattern perfectly was a little twist of the wrist, that's it.
What I liked best was that after scraping, I used the same tool to stamp. One reason that appealed to me is that after applying thousands of Konad stamps because I love them, I still associate the process with picking things up and putting them down eighty bazillion times at breakneck speed. This cut out the part where I quickly look for a place to put down the polish-covered scraper, find where I left the stamper and grab it, and pick up the pattern from the plate while racing the drying Konad polish. Simplifying the process also cuts out a few seconds between painting the plate and picking up the stamp, which is helpful. Whenever someone emails me saying she can't get Konad to work and asks for tips, the first thing I always mention is that you have to work at the speed of light, literally as fast as you possible can, and nine times out of ten I get a reply telling me that was it.
I know none of that is life and death stuff, and that's probably why it's useful. Since Konad (and nail polish, for that matter) are entirely optional, keeping them as easy as they can be makes it likely that more people can use them well, and Konad is such a high payoff for very little effort that making the window where problems come up even shorter is a big help, so I'm a fan. The speed came in handy with the stars, which I did in Konad White, since tiny shallow patterns dry ridiculously fast and are sometimes hard for me to stamp before they dry, but it worked here. I added the lip print in black for an accent nail. My pinky's stars are imperfect because I was too lazy to look for the Konad polish, used Misa Heaven White, was reminded of why I prefer Konad polish, got up to find the white one, and stamped over it.
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| Konad m84 over Eyeko Punk Polish |
I like it because it's fun and a little silly. That's why I love lip prints so much, they're so cartoonishly funny to me. They always make me think of a friend of mine who died of brain cancer in 2004, and older guy of about 70 from a small town around here who worked a blue collar job in agriculture his whole life (one of those friendships where nothing matched but personalities). He was the funniest person ever - he'd go between saying the most concise, deepest observations imaginable (always preceded by "Kid" when talking to me, since that's what he called me), saying and doing things for the sole purpose of annoying others, and flirting with all the younger women. He didn't flirt in a gross lecherous way, he had a wonderful wife he'd been married to forever and absolutely adored, he just liked to flirt. One evening after a gathering he came up to me and the two other women I was with and started his flirting, and he kept teasing me about my bright red lipstick. I finally just I put my arm around his shoulders, stood on my toes, and planted a big red lip print on his cheek. We had a good laugh and I took out a Kleenex and mirror so he could take it off, but he was having fun showing off that he got a kiss, and wore it home to show to his wife (who, knowing him best, also thought it was funny). Ever since then, lip prints remind me of Larry and make me smile.
That covers a lot! Now you know about Konad plate m84, the multi-stamper, and you've heard my lip print story! Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!
All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.
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