Stamped Holo Hexagon Nail Art

It's been a while since I've done a full-on stamped manicure. Like, a very long while. I'd like to say that I was just in the mood for other things, but that's only partially true: I also became kind of disillusioned with my plateaued stamping success. I've talked before about making an effort to improve my stamping skills, but I eventually reached a point where even when I tried my best, I just never felt like I could quite get the results I really wanted.

Well, I'm happy to report that there's been a new development: I have some new tools that are finally helping my stamping efforts be successful and, more importantly, fun.

I heard a while ago that Messy Mansion was releasing some new stampers, and when I watched the intro video about them, I knew immediately that I had to get my hands on some of those soft stamper heads. Soft stampers (sometimes called marshmallows) have always worked best for me, and these looked even softer than any I'd seen before. These new heads are crazy popular, so it took some doing (read: impatiently stalking my email and Messy Mansion's site for signs of a restock), but my lucky day finally arrived a couple of weeks ago and I was able to order sets of the medium-soft and soft stamper heads.

I'm sure you've already guessed that my comments about these things are going to be glowing, but just in case there's any confusion: these stamper heads are THE BEST! Without question! I almost want to store them in a lockbox, because they are already just that precious to me. The two sets I got (the softest ones) are so soft and sticky and wonderful, and they pick up & transfer images absolutely perfectly. I opted for the sets that come in the tins, and I'm also leaving the heads in the little plastic cups used during the manufacturing process when I'm not using them, just for maximum fuzz protection. (Cat hair: it's an epidemic, y'all.)

The set pictured above is the medium soft set, and that's what I used to stamp this hexagon pattern from one of my MoYou London Sci Fi plates. I never would have attempted a full-nail geometric pattern like this with my other stampers, because there was just too great a chance for wobbly, warped results, but as you can see, everything came out almost perfectly with the Messy Mansion stampers. The softness made me feel like I could really take my time and get the image transfer just right.

Needless to say, I can't see myself using any other stamper heads in the future. Well, that's not entirely true: I may use my firmer ones for creating stamped decals, but that's about it. Otherwise, I'm a devoted Messy Mansion girl now.

Oh, and I really should give a mention and some credit to the polishes I used for this look, because they certainly helped, too. The base is ILNP Kings & Queens and the stamping is ILNP Cosmic Barney. Such perfect holos, both of them!

I'd love to hear your thoughts about this design, or about stamper heads in general—which one(s) do you love and use most? Are you going to pick up any of Messy Mansion's new offerings?

Thanks for looking!