One of the tool that i love using in DIY nail is the easy and simple nail stamps. They are super fun to use and extremely helpful for beginners. You can make amazing designer nails with just a very simple set of tools. It will help you save a lot of time and money. Here are some of my discovers, tips, secrets and reviews on the comparison of different tools and brands based on my personal experience.
1. The Set
These nail art stamps sets are super affordable and is currently being sold everywhere. You can easily find them in the mall, on the Internet, or even in some small nail store. I bought this set about 10 years ago while i was traveling in Singapore. The product was brand new back then it was not super popular, so when they started selling these set in the States, i knew the trend was defiantly from Asia. I remember paying 15 US dollar for the Konad nail set which included 1 nail plate, 1 stamper, 1 scraper, 2 bottles of special nail polish.
Now you can easily pick up the basic stamper and scraper for about 5 dollars on amazon. I recently purchased a similar but more affordable set from the Ulta make up store, the brand is called Essence and they sell the whole set for a really cheap price of $2.99. It included the basic scraper, stamper and a design nail plate. Believe me when i say the quality is just as good compare to the Konda ones. The only thing i didn’t like as much is the Essence’s scraper was made out of metal instead of plastic, so when i scrap it off the metal plate it make noises and I’m afraid it will damage the image page in the long run.
2. Nail Stamping Plate
About the nail plates, the Konda one is the most expensive of the brand because it was their idea to begin with i guess. 1 plate usually contain 6-7 different stamp design and cost about 5 dollars per plate. I did a more affordable brand called “SHANY” that sell 25 plates for $ 14.95. So i put it in my wish list for Christmas and let my husband get it for me. The price was amazing and the quality of the image was spectacular. I was so happy with the purchase and have no complain.
3. Nail Polish
Now let’s also talk about the nail polish. The main reason i stopped using the nail stamp for a while was because i ran out of the “special” nail polish. The original nail stamp set that i got from Singapore included two bottles of Konad nail polish. Their quality is the best because image is sharp and the texture is perfect for the stamper to pick up but the disadvantage is of course it being very pricey. I recently checked with the stand around the mall which sells Konad Products for the normal size nail polish, it cost almost $ 8 per bottle. It can definitely add up if you need to have a few different color for the design process.
Since I am very interested in saving and experimenting new things, I tried to use my existing old nail polish and made an amazing discovery. Some normal polish can be used with the nail stamp as well. Here is the big secret: The polish which can create the most similar result to the “special” nail color from Konad are the ones that is a bit aged! Think about all the old nail polish that is a little bit too dry to apply, this is actually the best type to use for the stamping plate. I guess the concentration level matter when it comes to this product.
4. The Product Design & Idea
The simple idea of the nail stamp is to have a metal plate with image imprinted and engraved. By applying nail polish right onto the empty space and using a scraper to wipe off the excess nail polish, leaving a clear and finish product on the plate so user can easily transfer them with the nail stamper. This product lets you put designs by stamping pre-designed images on your nails in minutes.
The brand new nail polish is too thin so it dry too fast for the transferring process. The stamper work best when image is half dry so it is easy to pick up by the rubber stamper. Once it is totally dry, the stamper will have difficulty pulling the image off the plate. That is why old used and thicker bottle of polish will be perfect for this mission. Another thing that you want to look for is solid color. Transparent or light color nail polish does not give the best finishing result for this task.
5. Top Coat
One more thing about the nail stamp set is the top coat. If you are using the original Konad nail polish for the stamps, make sure you use the same brand top coat as well because all other top coat seems to melt and ruin the stamped image. If you are using old nail polish though you will not have this problem at all.
In conclusion, now that you find out the big secret of using normal nail color to replace the Konda polish, all you need is use the money you saved and go pick up the rest of the tools so you can get your creative juices running ASAP. Post your comments, nail designs or creation pictures here so we can all share our experience.
My Favorite Nail Design Tools- The Basic Stamping Kits
The Konad Set:
The Essence Set:
Extra Plates From Shany:
I bought the essence nail set too! tried some designs (I have some examples on my blog) Using older polish is brilliant!
I haven’t bought any konad polish yet simply because I haven’t seen it in any shop around here and I don’t want to order it through internet, plus it’s expensive. But I do have some older polished lying around here 
haha… that was a lucky discover just like most of my other testing projects. Sometimes you’ll get lucky by trying different things. ^^
I have used several colors of the Sally Hansen Insta-Dry for stamping with great results. In fact, I currently have a stamped french manicure with butterflies. The colors I used are the Whirlwind White, Silver Sweep, and either Brisk Blue or Blue Streak. Sorry, my polish isn’t handy to look at the bottles (I looked up the names on their webpage). The Whirlwind White worked better than the Konad polish, in my opinion. I want to try their black too, but I am in a small town and they don’t have it in our local store. I HATE the Konad black – it is a mess to clean up if it gets on your skin. The key to regular polishes is that it has to be a very opaque color – I have a couple of other Sally Hansen Insta-Dry colors that are more sheer and they don’t work well. I have the Shany/Bundle Monster plates, and also a set called MASH. I ordered both from Amazon. I like the MASH ones better – the full nail designs are bigger. I use CND Stickey base coat and Seche Vite top coat (which doesn’t smear the designs if you put it on correctly) and I am not sure how long my manicures last because I get bored and change it before it wears off – last one was 6 days with no chips before I took it off.
where can i purchase the essence nail art image plates? they have a few images i want. please let me know. thanks.
I purchase mine in ULTA store, I didn’t see this brand on amazon but you should be able to purchase them from the online ULTA store too.
Look for plates made by Cheeky on amazon also. They work beautifully.
The best stamping polish I have is the Kiss nail art polishes. You know, the ones you buy by the 3 pack but I am sure any other nail art pens or polishes will do just as well as the special Konad ones. I was on the verge of getting the Konad polishes when I discovered the nail art ones I already have work great and are a cheaper alternative. I am not a fan of some of the sally hansen insta-dry polishes. I have the silver one and couldnt get a good image with it. Have to shop around for the whirlwind white and the black. Willing to give it a try when I do find it tho.
Wow, thanks for the tips, I already hve the Kiss nail art polish and maybe i will try that instead of the Konad one next time ^^ I feel like any brand plates will work, at least so far i didn’t get a bad one yet. Except for the time that i forgot to peal the sticker and blame the seller for giving me a set of bad plates. Lucky that i realized the MAIN problem after 30mins. HAHA
I am going to buy the new bundle monster plates too, they are really cool- I only have three of the real Konads and a huge bunch of the asian import. one polish that works for stamping is Kleancolor, I think its really old stock but that polish is so thick I would never use it for my nails, but the blue and orange I used and they work very perfectly. also Skin Food polish is great for stamping and just cool polish in general
I wish I can make the beautiful nail organiser like you but it looks way too hard for me- we dont have card holder here either, only cd case and that doesnt work at all 
Cd case or card holder will work the same way, i just didn’t have it so i make mine with the materials i have at home. Thanks for the nail polish tips btw, always good to know for future reference.