Yours Loves Fee Stamping Plates – Urban Collection

The second set of stamping plates I have designed on behalf of Yours Cosmetics are on sale from today! This set is my favourite yet, I’m waking up every morning and the first thing on my mind is what looks and colour combinations can I try out today?! Seriously, you think I’m joking? This is my actual life.

If you are new to stamping or have been having some challenges, be sure to check out my blog Nail Art Stamping – Rules To Live By! And have a peek at my YouTube Channel for step by steps to loads of stamping techniques for Nail Professionals.

It took me a long time to design this set of plates, longer than the first set and definitely longer than I expected. I found the best way to devote the time to the project that was needed was to get up an hour earlier in the morning and spend that time in my pyjamas at my computer searching for inspiration, trying out different layouts and comparing the new ideas I was coming up with to the designs I had already decided on. The cool guys at Yours Cosmetics were very patient with me, but when we finally set a deadline, I was able to focus all the energy and ideas and finalise the plates, exactly as I wanted them to be. I estimate I spent over 120 hours choosing the patterns and designing the final layout of this set of plates. Then the really interesting part could begin.

No matter how precisely a stamping plate is designed, you really don’t know how it’s going to function in real life till you get your hands on it and experiment with different mediums. This is a really awesome time to be getting these plates what with Lecenté Chrome just launching as well as intense new Shellac & Vinylux colours launching in January, and all the cool opportunities for professional nail art that gives us.

In this blog we’re going to take a look at each of the patterns on each of the new plates and I’m going to share my inspiration behind choosing each design as well as some step by steps for nail designs I’ve created using them.

To get a hold of these plates go via the following outlets:

In the UK & Ireland exclusively from Sweet Squared
In Denmark from Beauty Power
In New Zealand from OMG Beauty Solutions
And the rest of the world directly from Yours Cosmetics
Find out if there is a distributor in your country by checking list of distributors.

 

Plate #1 – Dots & Diamonds

This plate has 4 designs, and each really has it’s own personality! I love the stylised silhouette of cartoon diamonds in art and I think they look totally wicked on a nail.  The bottom left diamond pattern is a top down view of different classic diamond cuts, I think the thickness of the lines and depth of etching into the plate make this the easiest of the four to pull off perfectly when stamping on your clients nails. A straightforward Creative Play stamped onto Shellac will give is a cool end result that only adds  5 minutes to our standard Shellac service. The bottom right pattern is a super tight fishnet with dots, like stockings I remember owing in the 90’s. As with all fishnet and lace, we can make it look uber elegant, or wildly punk, depending on the colour choice – I’m delighted either way.

Top left is is a very fine kind of psychedelic wave, I’m excited to get to work with this design and the new Shellac colours launching in January.

On the top right we have a negative space diamond pattern, and it looks freaking amazing if I do say so my self! Now, I will say that this design is potentially the most challenging to use on this plate, but with a bit of practice you’ll be pulling it off no bother. I like using designs like this with CND™ Additives and Lecenté Stardusts, but you can absolutly use it with polish too. When using it with polish I recommend a REALLY opaque polish, or stamp onto a background that is similar to your stamping colour then apply an additive or glitter to change the uncovered background colour into something bold and contrasting. That’s what I did here; started with Shellac Blackpool, then applied Lecente Layer It, stamped the diamonds on with Creative Play Navy Brat, THEN applied Lecente Rainbow Chrome Powder – remember the powder will not stick to the dry Creative Play, just to the Layer It that is still exposed. I finished this nail with XPRESS5 Top Coat.
A tip for working with this design is to scrape diagonally across the plate and don’t apply too much pressure while scraping.

Plate #2 – Falling Floral

Right now, this has to be my second favourite of the four plates. If you know anything about me you’ll know I’m not girly, but even so, you just can’t argue with beautiful flowers and the organic lines of floral patterns on a nail. It’s just beautiful. The top design is one of my favourites ever, organic swirly lines bordered by sharp geometric triangle frames. I just love it. Looks really wild with double or multiple stamping. I chose the design in the centre of this plate firstly because it looked like I imagine heavy pollen in the air, but in action it looks a lot like bubbles. The repetitive fading dots are almost hypnotic to me.

I couldn’t be happier with the pattern at the bottom of this plate. It’s so fine and yet picks up so well, I actually had tears in my eyes the first time I rolled my stamper over to pick up Creative Play Life’s a Cupcake out of this design. There is a lot of movement going on with this one, and it’s given me a lot of ideas for things to try out. Here it’s pictured over Shellac Starstruck colours. Read more about the Starstruck collection in another blog I did when it launched – Fee’s Starstruck Collection Blog.

 

Plate #3 – Sacred Shapes

I adore these intergalactic swirls and prisms! Whether it’s a traditional mandala, or some sacred geometry, these repetitive patterns really appeal to me and work just beautifully for nail design. The first pattern at the top of the plate has thin lines and the distance between the lines in this pattern make ideal for stamping on any length of nail. The pattern in the centre  couldn’t be more up my street. Perfect for double and triple stamping, this patten makes me think of circuit boards or astrological star maps. At the bottom of the plate we have another cool negative space design. I love this for a bit of ombre colour stamping.

This is a new Shellac colour due to launch in January, it’s called Blue Eyeshadow and it’s the one we’ve all been waiting for!! Here I stamped using Creative Play Skinny Jeans and Polish My Act, blended together on the plate.

For this next design I started with Shellac Dark Lava, then double stamped using Creative Play Toe The Lime and Skinny Jeans. I’m just wild about this colour combo and this style.

Next I stamped with Skinny Jeans over Midnight Swim (comes out looking like Denim Patch with the stamping!) and then applied the Lecenté Stardust Stellar, which btw is also amazing to stamp with!

Like I said, I really loved using this design with ombre stamping, and everyone is going nuts for it. This Rainbow Brite inspired nail design is bringing me unending pleasure.

Creating an ombre with Creative Play on a stamping plate is A LOT easier than it looks! 

 

Plate #4 – Angular Fade

 

In that last pic I’ve used this stamping plate Angular Fade, which is without question, my favourite of the 4. The detail in the top design looks so cool on short nails and works great to cover a smaller area on a long nail as it has an edge as part of the pattern. The middle design is super useful for creating a digital looking fade. I haven’t even begun to properly explore what can be done with this design! The design at the bottom of this plate is my favourite of all. It looks amazing no matter what I do with it. The little bursts of dots and the empty areas create a very unique effect.

I love these mega-goth nails. I used Shellac Oxblood, then stamped with Creative Play Polish My Act, THEN brushed Lecente Orbit Stardust up from the bottom using the world famous Lecenté G1 Brush. I think Orbit Stardust has got to be my favourite Lecenté product of all time… well, it’s up in the top 3 with Green Dragon Foil and Rhubarb Iridescent…

This is another design using Skinny Jeans and Toe the Lime. These two Creative play colours are some of my favourite to stamp with of all time and come with the Urban Stamping Plate Collection of 4 stamping plates from Sweet Squared.

Oh my. I am just so in love with this design. I said that already didn’t I? Well seriously, I can’t even believe it. I wish I’d designed a whole range of stamping plates in this style of design…

These nails were something else. I was freaking out for days over how well they came out. I created a YouTube tutorial for the technique used to create this look, people were just losing their shizzle left, right and centre trying to work out how it was done!

This technique is so useful, I’d love to know how you got on if you tried it out!

This design, while not being everyone’s cup of tea, is definitely BANG ON my style. These are my own nails and I absolutly adore them.

I’m also crazy about these beauties by CND™ Education Ambassador Dieuwertje Timmer. You can follow her on Instagram HERE.

I’ll be back with more info and lots of pics using the plates from the :YOURS Loves Fee Urban Collection and the upcoming CND™ Shellac™ New Wave Collection soon!!

For loads more stamping pictures and ideas please also join me over on Instagram.

I’d love to know what you think here in the comments or join in the discussion over on my Facebook. Thanks for reading! x