Wednesday, April 20, 2016

UberChic Beauty Mini Itty Bitty Icons Stamping Plate and XL Clear Stamper Review

Press  Sample

Hey there!  Be prepared because today I have the cutest post I've ever done.  How, you ask?  Because my adorable 5 year old niece is being featured (with her and her mother's permission, of course).  When Brittany from UberChic Beauty told me she had designed a mini plate with small images and that I'd get to try one, I knew I had the perfect model.  Though this plate is designed with kids in mind, this plate isn't just for kids.  I easily came up with two ideas for my adult nails that I'm showing today, in addition to how my niece's nails turned out.  I also have the XL Clear Stamper to review today.  All the stamping I did for these was done with this stamper and it's specifics can be found at the end of this post.




Itty Bitty Icons isn't the size of plate that we're used to seeing from UberChic Beauty.  Instead of the regular 9.5 x 14.5 cm size, these mini plates measure 6 x 12 cm.  They also have a white plastic backing on them so it's easy to avoid any sharp edges (particularly important around the kiddies).  There are 55 (yes, 55!) images here that range from 3 - 5 mm.  It might look different than the other UberChic plates but the quality is still superb.  


Almost every time I babysit, Elly asks me to do her nails (as she told her mom "Auntie Reney Rene does nails the best") and usually wants stamping.  Seriously, she'd have the fanciest nails of any kid in her class if it ever lasted more than a day.   For her internet debut, here is Elly with the plate (that I've already told her is hers anytime she needs it).  You can even see the penguin UC ornament that I received last year that I keep up year round.  


For Elly's nails, I used pipe dream polish Masquerade stamped with Mundo de Unas White.  I measured all her nails (in case you're wondering if they would work for your child's nails) and they range from 7 x 6 mm (pinky) to 11 x 10 mm (thumb).  As you can see, the great thing about this plate is that is has images of all kinds of things that kids like (animals, sweets, etc).  I tried to convince Elly to do an all food look but she wasn't having it.  She just likes putting things she likes on her nails, no matter how random the end result is.  


I even tried to get her to do some bottle shots like a real nail blogger.  


I also used a pipe dream polish (so we'd match) for my first mani.  I used Harlequin that I stamped with Mundo de Unas Black and White inspired by a shirt that my sister had when she was little.  The purple bled through the white a bit (not the first time I've seen that with purple, not even the same brand) so they're sort of lilac sheep instead of white.  I topped with Essie Matte About You for this matte look.  



I also thought these smaller stamping images would work well for a pond mani so I did just that with Esmaltes da Kelly Soap Bubbles Black and Mundo de Unas White.  I think this was about 5 layers of polish and stamping...definitely overkill!  This plate is nice because it has such a variety of small images that I don't have to go flipping through my binders of plates to find an image that works for what I want.  It's a one-stop shop.  



Now onto the XL Clear Stamper.  This stamping head measures 4 cm across, definitely larger than the other clear stampers I've tried.  A very important thing to note here is that it does NOT come with a handle but Brittany came up with an easy solution that you can see in her video here.  Since I'm in Canada I wasn't able to get the EXACT plumbing washer that she got but I noted the dimensions and found the one I'm showing at Rona and it worked perfect.  The biggest thing is that you need a washer with a lip on it so the stamper doesn't go through when you use it.  I actually really like the solution because it means that there's less distance between my nail and the end of the stamper so there's less distance distortion.  I used this stamper for all of the above stamping and not once did the stamping head go through the washer so I'm not at all bothered by this DIY handle solution.  


The squishy level is good and it doesn't seem particularly fragile.  I think I've seen others show that you can shrink an image with this by pulling in the edges but I like it too much to risk hurting it!  As you can see in my photos, I'm getting small gaps in the images but nothing too major.  But if you have any solutions so I don't get those, I'd love to hear them!  


I hope I've shown you how versatile this Itty Bitty Icons plate can be.  If you have kids around who like some nail pampering, I'd highly recommend it so you don't have to dig through plates to find images that will fit like I used to.  And, while you don't NEED the XL stamper to stamp these tiny images, it sure does work like a charm!  If you have long nails, this XL clear stamper is a treat.   

Available at UberChic Beauty
$7.99/plate
$7.99/stamper head

'Til next time...

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