Tutorial: How to Nail Art--Buffet Stamping Plate Technique for Beginners

Have you tried your hand at nail art stamping?  If so, you quickly found that there is a knack to it and it takes practice to get it right.  Frustration has caused some to give up on it altogether.  Don' give up! There is a way to use minimal skill, limited color palette, and a simple technique to stun onlookers with a simple stamped manicured.  The result is sophisticated, but the technique is very forgiving!

Buffet-style stamping plate images work best, but you likely have something in your plate collection that will work.

Watch the full video HERE.

You will want to choose smooth-finish polishes (nothing textured or glittered) that are very opaque.  Three contrasting polishes in colors that look good together should work, but you should try it on a swatch stick before committing to applying to your nails.  You can mix frosts, cremes, fine holos--infact i think it looks best if you do!

Prep and paint your nails with base coat and one polish shade. You will generously dot a section of the buffet stamping plate with the other two colors.  Scrape twice in different directions to blend the two colors.  Pickup with a large stamping head and stamp onto the nail.  Repeat this random process for each nail being sure to alter the pickup and placement of images.  No two nails should be exactly alike but they should coordinate beautifully!

Here are some advantages to using this technique:
- If you have issues with your topcoat smearing your designs, that might even add to the beauty!
- If part of your design does not transfer, you can stamp over or beside it with another image pickup.  Or you can fill in by dotting polish in bare spots.  (If you work quickly, you shouldn't have this problem.)
- No more struggling with centering your design on a fingernail, hovering endlessly, afraid to commit while the paint dries! Just slap it on!
- You won't have to clean the plate between each impression if you use a buffet plate; just move to a clean spot and keep going!

Disadvantages:
-If you want every nail to look identical, this technique will send your nerves into orbit!  You will never be able to repeat the designs precisely.  You must embrace random coloration, placement, and coverage for this technique to work.