The Dixie Diaries: October 2014

As many of you know, I am a stamping nut and always keen to try new stamping products.

I was approached by Nail Stamping Queen and asked if I would like to try out her new range of stamping polishes. Obviously I jumped at the chance, and boy am I glad I did. These are amazing.

There are currently 28 shades in the range and they are at this time exclusive to Australia BUT international shipping is coming VERY SOON. So keep an eye out on the Nail Stamping Queen Facebook page for more details.

Each polish is a 5ml bottle and costs $4 AUD. Shipping is capped at $8 Australia-wide and the package arrives on your doorstep quickly and extremely well packed.

The polishes are just amazing. The quality is second to none and they stamp over black brilliantly. Every colour is rich and opaque and another great thing is that there is little to no odor! They are by far the easiest to stamp with that I've used. I get a perfect stamp each time and there is no feathering or smudging. They are quick to dry, but not so quick that if you are a bit slow to pick up the image, they won't dry on the plate. Another great thing is that they don't smudge when you top coat, nor do they stain your stamper!

Maryanne is the owner of Nail Stamping Queen and she is so lovely to deal with. She's always around if you need her and her customer service is amazing.

I cannot recommend these polishes highly enough.

I've attached the YouTube review and demo I did below.

Maryanne can be contacted via her Nail Stamping Queen Facebook page if you have any questions about shipping internationally, or any general questions. She also has a Storenvy shop, the link to which is on the Facebook page.

These stamping polishes are DA BOMB DOT COM and if you're a stamper, you need them in your life!

Thanks for stopping by.

Dixiegirlxox

***************************************************

Please visit me, like, subscribe and follow:

Blog: http://dixiegirlxox.blogspot.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/NAKED-...

Instagram: http://instagram.com/dixiegal71#

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/katedix71

I've been road testing Gel II on my nails since 3 October when I did the nails below.

I used Gel II in Midnight Black and finished off the nails with MoYou London Kaleidoscope plate 6 over the top, stamped in Essie No Place Like Chrome.

Now I did do three coats of the Midnight Black, stamped and then two coats of the Xtreme Shine top coat. As I usually use another brand on my nails I was used to doing things a certain way so I did the same with the Gel II.

I definitely didn't need two coats of the top coat. My nails were perfect from the day I did them until 16 days later when I removed them. I only removed them after that time because I have very fast growing nails and I can't stand to see the design growing out.

I didn't want to do a review of any kind until I'd given the product a good road test, and now I feel like I can give you a good idea about the product.

When I applied the Midnight Black I did not buff my natural nails at all as they are already extremely dry. I was a little concerned that I may experience lifting because I didn't buff but this was not the case.

The Gel II is a different consistency to my regular brand in that it appears to be almost creamier and doesn't move on the nail once applied. I noticed that the brush seems really soft, but not soft so that application is difficult but just a different texture to the brushes I am used to. The product is quite a bit thicker than I expected but you don't get any wrinkling during curing at all.

I did experience a little shrinking of the product on a couple of nails and this was due to using Scrubfresh rather than the recommended IPA - my bad!

So when I cleansed the rest of the nails with IPA I experienced no shrinking before curing.

Now I did apply the first two coats SUPER THIN and I then felt I needed a third coat as I was going to wipe the inhibition layer off so that I could stamp. (After experimenting on colourpops later that day I found I could do slightly thicker coats without any wrinkling).

So after the third coat, I wiped away the inhibition layer and stamped. An absolute dream to stamp over - no issues at all. The stamps applied really nicely and silver looked great over the black background.

Two top coats later and I was done. I let the nails sit for around five seconds or so (as recommended) before I wiped the top coat inhibition layer away. I applied my cuticle oil and was done.

The photo above is eight days after application and I've washed up with no gloves on, scoured pots and pans and done numerous clients, most of whom had stamping and therefore I used acetone.

Now this I was also concerned about as I used to take off the top coat of my other brand due to me being slack and not wearing gloves. BUT the Gel II didn't budge AT ALL.

I had acetone all over my nails and it didn't harm my Gel II mani at all.

So I continued doing what I would usually do day to day up until day 16 and then I removed the product.

With removal I buffed off the top coat until I was actually removing the stamping so that I knew I'd removed both layers of top coat. Once I'd removed the top coat I wrapped my nails with cotton pads and foil. I did my right hand first and I put the timer on for 10 minutes. Removal was different to what I am used to in that when I removed the cotton pads the product didn't flake up and lift off much. I went in with an orangewood stick and gently removed the product then went in with a cotton pad and gave the nail a good rub.

With the left hand I did exactly the same but I left the foil on for 15 minutes. This made removal much easier and the product came off the nails easily. Although if I hadn't done three colour coats I would have only wrapped for 10 minutes.

This is my left hand after I had removed the product and before I gave them a final rub with a cotton pad. As you can see there is a little tiny bit of dryness and a tiny bit of product left.

I am so impressed at the quality of my nails after removal. Because I have such dry nails, I was pretty interested to see what they would look like after removal and I can say that they are in the best condition they've been in for months. I have also been doing fairly regular IBX treatments and this has also been great for the condition of my nails.

So in summary, I think that this is an amazing product. It's easy to apply, stays put when applied before curing and has little to no odor.

I found it really easy to add artwork to the nails and I was blown away with how well the product actually stayed on my nails. 16 days and no lifting, chips or peeling of any kind.

My nails felt super strong the entire time and whilst removal takes slightly longer than I am used to, I experienced no difficulty in removing the product and no damage to my own nails after removal.

A HUGE thanks to the lovely Gel II team for letting me try out your amazing brand.