Stamping with Pueen Encore

I haven't stamped my nails in ages but the new Pueen Encore set was begging me to take it for a spin. I sat there staring at the plates for 10 minutes going back and forth between images, spoiled for choice. Thankfully everything goes with rainbow colours!

I used plate SE04A. 

Zoya - Yummy (blue)

OPI - Jade is the new black (green)

Zoya - Pippa (yellow)

China Glaze - Japanese Koi Neon (orange)

OPI - Funky Dunky (purple)

Stamped with Konad white

Coloured glass crystals available here

This is a picture outside in the sun, the glass crystals are beautiful and sparkly. Hope you like these everyone, they are one of my favs from this year.

Pueen Encore Collection

With Pueen's last release they jumped on the theme plate bandwagon and created the 24B Buffet set which strayed from traditional rectangle sized stamping images to full plate designs. There were many pros to this as it allowed more variation with stamping and less restrictions for those with long or wide nails. Their latest set - The Encore Collection - has taken full plate designs to the next level with bigger "areas" of pattern and images on both sides of the plate. The Pueen Encore Collection is available now from www.dramaqueennails.com

1A and 1B are actually the same plate, just the front and back.  The images are great, lots to love, a few repeats of things I already have but I'm impressed with the amount of pattern, definitely much more area to work with. The little dots are a highlight for me.

This is a GREAT plate. If you love flowers you are sure to love this one.

This plate is my fav in the whole set.  The word LOVE is reasonably sized, unlike the Buffet set where word images were just enormous. The B side is great too with the stars and butterflies and paint splatters.

The plates measure 10cm x 10cm

 The peacock feathers on this plate are awesome. The tear drops I quite like too.

So many possibilities! 

Oh yeah, lovin' the fine swirly lines! 

The big whirl pool on this one gets me excited! I can't wait to have some time to play around with these plates, there are lots of patterns that really appeal to me. Can you spot the lady's face in  4B?

There is one major downside to having double sided plates. The edges are flippin sharp! Pueen has considered this in their design so the plates come with a plastic "edge".  When you get your plates they come in a plastic envelope which is inside the sleeve of the storage case. Cut out the clear plastic window on both sides of the plate but do not remove the plastic window frame. 

Above is a picture with the window still intact. Below is with the window cut out.

Work around the frame to remove the blue film. It makes plate clean up a touch annoying but it's definitely much better than slicing up your fingers. Below is a picture of the plate with blue film removed and plastic window frame on.

The Pueen Encore Collection is available now from www.dramaqueennails.com 

Pueen 24B - Buffet collection - all you can stamp!

Well, well well, what do we have here? Its the new Pueen 24B Buffet stamping collection! Apparently Moyou has started a trend amongst stamp makers with more manufactures trying their hands at themed buffet plates. Buffet plates differ from traditional stamping plates in that instead of having rectangle shaped images designed to fit nicely on your nails, the images cover the entire plate with no space in between. There are pluses and minuses to buffet plates which I will explain as we go along. Pueen 24B available now from www.dramaqueennails.com

I have to say I am really surprised by the design of this first plate. Perhaps environmental activists like to have pretty nails too? Well they are stuffed anyway because the words on this plate are way too big to fit most nails so if your message is "Oi" or "cri" well you'll love this plate! Don't let this one stinker deter you, there are much, much better plates ahead.

One of my favourite plates in the set, its geometric fun all the way. This is the first plate I used from the set and the images picked up well. It scraped evenly without bald spots and the size of each pattern will fit most nail sizes.

Now if you are thinking I'm not really too sure about these plates, I like my images compartmentalised and in nice manageable rectangles. Its time to change the way you think. Make yourself a stamping window and you will start to see the multitudes of options these buffet plates offer. 

   

I really love this plate too. Lots of interesting sections to play with. Which brings me to another minus. What if you just want to use the little dandelion without all the other stuff around it? Well too bad for you, use the dandelion plate from the Bundle Monster set. You could scrape off the unwanted bits from the stamp before you apply it to your nail but you have to be quick. I actually like the little dots all around the dandelion so this isn't an issue for me but I can understand how this would annoy some people.

Cool plate but the words are so darn big, luckily there are few smaller sections mixed in for those of us without talons. 

Meh, could take or leave this one...I promise I'm not going to poo poo all the plates in this set, there really are some very cool ones.

See, told you, awesome plate! Plus #1 - the same pattern on your nail but each nail won't be exactly the same, variations in placement give variations in image.

Another awesome plate.

Love this one too.

I really love this one! The geometric raindrops are great, especially with the reverse version as well. 

Another awesome plate, I'm a big fan of filigree, lots to choose from here. Plus #2, it will cover all of your nail and you can mix and match which bits you use.

Interesting! 

This 24 piece set comes with a storage case like the previous collections from Pueen.

I can see this plate being really popular. Lots of cool sections.

Fab! 

Not a huge rose person this plate still appeals to me.

This plate is sitting on my desk right now waiting to be taken out for a test drive. I see the possibilities for reverse stamping with the polka dots.

Rad, another great plate.

Such a cutesy buffet. The bird is a little disappointing just due to its size but if you follow stamping experts like Mrs Lochness stamping across multiple nails looks amazing albeit needing a little bit of practice. Perhaps this is what Pueen were intending with the larger images in this set.

Again the size here is an issue but I will still use this plate as I really like the face. 

Love this plate, yes I know it has roses but I like to think Ill use this as a rose print rather than a rose.

There is a lot to like about these buffet plates despite the few duds and size issues. If you have really long nails or wide thumb nails then these are fantastic! I love the way stamping continues to evolve and pushes us to think outside the box, moving towards seeing nails as a  fashion canvas for a great print vs cutesy little accent images, I'm all for that! 

Pueen 24B available now from www.dramaqueennails.com

Mr and Mrs.

The past few weeks have whizzed by in a flash with lots of exciting things on the DQ calender. Last Saturday Jules and I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of our good friend and fellow DQer Miss Tamra, to the man of her dreams, Dan. It was a gorgeous ceremony and a super fun reception. Thank you both for inviting us, it was an honour to be a part of your special day.

So what do my nails have to do with the wedding? Well I did them to match my outfit of course!

To create this design was really simple. I started with a white base coat. I then painted messy rainbow stripes using my medium sized striping brush. The polishes I used were:

• OPI Red my fortune cookie (red)
• BC 22 (jade)
• BC 6 (purple)
• Barry M Lemon Icecream (yellow) 
• China Glaze Japanese Koi (orange)

To add the pattern I used a Pueen plate from their first generation stamping set: 25F Sumptuous Gallery which is available here.  Amazingly this was the exact pattern of my very OTT dress. I used Konad special polish in black to stamp with.

I didn't have any good photos of my outfit to share at the time that I wrote this post but I promise to add one soon. The holographic red heart is from a stud set which is available here. 

 

Thank you again Tamra and Dan for allowing us to be a part of your big day. Here's to a lifetime of happiness and good fortune for you, Dan and that little spunk Mr K.

Pueen 25F Sumptuous Gallery Stamping Set

Today we explore the first generation stamping plate set from Pueen. I am a big fan of their second set of plates so I had high hopes for this collection. It's another great set with modern images and thankfully not a french tip in sight. The set is called Sumptuous Gallery as it contains many iconic fashion and decor prints, think romantic antique wallpaper and art deco accents! This set is available now from Drama Queen Nails.

The plates are 5.5cm in diametre. The images are slightly smaller than the ones in the 2nd set. If you have longer nails than mine you would need to double stamp the full nail prints.

Zig zags! 

Butterflies, and the lines...me likey!

I love all the images on this plate, especially the triangles and of course the crowns.

Love this plate too.

Another favourite plate, love the geometric prints and the little flower bunny...awww!

The rubber ducky and the bow are super cute.

Loving the swirls.

This is probably my favourite print from the set, the fan shaped art deco image is really pretty, cant wait to try it.

The flower and butterfly lace is too cute!

This plate gives me a wallpaper feel, or beautiful turkish rugs.

This is the best reindeer image, so cutesy! And the rose lace print is another winner.

The set comes in a little swivel slip pouch with pockets for each plate.

If you like this set it is available now from here.