Mo You Stamping Plates - Review and 1st attempt!

Today I will be showing you my first attempt at using Mo You London's stamping plates, and letting you know how I got on. I've used stamping plates a while back and had  a reasonable level of success, but had stopped for some time due to the deterioration of my stamper! (it was a cheap one from ebay and I believe the deterioation is due to cleaning it with nail varnish remover, and possibly leaving it in the sun!). It took me a while to get into it again, I think this is partly due to the type of stamper I was using, and partly because I am a novice! 

So, a friend intoruduced me to Mo You after she got some gorgeous tropical stamping plates, and I thought it was about time I gave them a go. Their website, branding and packaging is absolutely beatiful I couldn't fault it! It feels like you're getting a really beatiful and special product (and in my opinion you are!). I started by ordering two stamping plates (£4.99 each), one stamping polish (Black Knight - £6.99) and a classic stamper (£2.99). See below! 

Unfortunately I couldn't get a good picture of the stamping plates as they are quite reflective, but the ones I chose are Doodles Plate Collection 07 (click here) and Rockstar Plate Collection 10 (click here).

So I started with the doodles plate design, and pretty much just stamped at random! I tried using the black stamping polish and a foil effect polish and had more luck with the metallic at first. I think this is because it is a little bit more fluid. The stamping polishes are good for the opaque-ness though, especially if you want to use a pale colour. See below my first attempt, I will certainly be posting more as they improve! I've also included a list of top tips - all things I've learnt through tiral, error and Youtube! Mo You's insturctions can be found here.

Colours used: Bruton Place - Nails Inc, Foil Effect Gold - Barry M

Top Tips:

• Prime your stamper! This is the first step you need to take when your lovely new products arrive, and something I initially missed! Using a nail file gently buff the top of your stamper till it looks matte. If it's shiny it won't pick up the image from the stamping plate.
• Use lots of polish! Be generous with the amount you use so that it fills the design, and you can be sure that the stamp will pick up the image.
• Use metallics! For black and white you'll probably need proper stamping polishes, but I find that metallics work just as well, particularly the foil effect ones.
• Cleaning your stamper: Don't use nail varnish remover to clean your stamper as this can be damaging. Instead use tape, or simply stamp the leftover polish onto some paper.
• Work quickly! When you have scarped the extra nail varnish from the plate, pick it up quickly with the stamper, so it doesn't have a chance to dry.

Thanks for reading :)