Clear gel stampers are increasingly popular because they let you look straight down through the cylinder and see where you’re stamping on your fingernail!
New stamper heads usually have an oily residue on them due to the manufacturing process. If you don’t clean off this residue, your stamps won’t transfer to your nails properly. Do not clean clear gel stamper heads with pure acetone. The clear gel will get cloudy and start to break down. Soapy water is fine for the first cleaning, while alcohol and acetone-free nail polish remover work well to clean off polish residue after use.
If you chose the wrong drying cloth and got lint stuck all over the stamper head, rinse the lint away under clean water and dry the stamper head with a different cloth.
Lightly buffing the rubbery stamper surface removes oils left behind during the manufacturing process. Traditional, “squishy” stamper heads are not see-through like the newer clear gel heads. They can be a little tougher to get the hang of using at first, but they’re just as effective and more durable than clear gel stampers.
Use 100% acetone here, not nail polish remover that contains some amount (and perhaps no amount) of acetone. Look for pure acetone for sale alongside nail polish removers. Acetone is very flammable, so keep it well away from any open flames. Do not inhale more of the acetone fumes than is necessary to complete your task.
Do this before each use, including the first time you use the plate. Nail stamper plates have 4 or more stamp patterns (things like stripes, balloons, hearts, and so on) etched into their surface. To get a clean stamp on your fingernail, you need to remove any dried polish from these etchings. Good-quality nail stamper plates are made of metal and can stand up to regular cleanings with pure acetone. However, check your nail stamper kit’s product guide for specific cleaning instructions, especially if you have a non-metal stamper plate.
Stamping polish, which (as the name indicates) is specifically designed for nail stamping, offers the best results here. Alternatively, you can use a trial-and-error approach with other polishes, including gel polishes. Generally speaking, thicker polishes that provide single-coat coverage work best. In fact, old polish that has started to thicken can work here!
Wipe off the edge of your scraper with a cotton ball and make another scraping pass if there’s still some polish on the plate’s surface. Move on to loading the stamper head and applying the stamp to your fingernail right away. Don’t allow the polish to start drying in the etching, or it will be really tough to clean out when you’re done!
Don’t press straight down and pull straight up—the stamp pattern will smear on the stamper head. You may have to practice this move a few times before you get it right—and that’s okay!
If the pattern didn’t transfer well, skip ahead a few steps to the instructions for cleaning off the stamper head. Then try again!
While you can apply stamps to bare nails, you’ll get the best results by first applying a clear base coat and 1-2 coats of polish to your nails. Make sure to allow each of these coats to dry before proceeding. If the stamp doesn’t look right, quickly wipe it away with a damp cotton ball and try again.
Instead of packing tape, try a lint roller that uses tear-away strips of tape—you don’t need to “de-stick” these any beforehand! If you can’t get all the polish off of the stamper head, wipe it with a cotton ball dipped in a bit of rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover. Do not use 100% acetone on a clear gel stamper head.
