Stamper Comparison & Konad White Review

Last week I received a surprise package from the Born Pretty Store to review! It was a new stamper, and some Konad White stamping polish.

As you can see, I have a few stampers now.  On the left is the new one which I was sent for review. You can buy see that one here on the Born Pretty website.  In the middle is a MoYou London one which I bought earlier this year. On the right is my go-to stamper which I use all the time. 

The new Born Pretty stamper is a double ended one with a nice comfy hand hold. It's the really squishy, sticky type, which I believe is called a 'mushroom' stamper. 

The bigger end is really large, and easily has space for a full nail design. 

I really wanted to like this stamper, but I'm afraid I just really struggled to get it to work. When it arrived, the rubber head was really sticky and oily. I washed it well in hot soapy water, and cleaned it with acetone. It was still very sticky though, and I just found it very difficult to get it to pick up and transfer an image.  It did work sometimes, but not at all in a reliable way. 

Here it is with Konad Black - it has mostly picked up the design, but there are some patchy bits. 

Here it is with Models Own Bubblegum - again, patchy in the way it's picked up the design.

Here I've tried a metallic polish, Models Own Gold Chrome, and as you can see, it's hardly picked up any of the design at all. 

I found this stamper really comfortable to hold, but it just didn't work reliably enough to use with different polishes. Maybe there is a knack to it that I can't work out, because I know that some people really LOVE these types of stampers. If you know what the trick is, please do tell me!  This stamper costs $2.99 on the BPS website, and comes in lots of different colours. 

Contrast this with my usual stamper, which picks up the design perfectly, whatever the polish.  This stamper is firmer and not sticky. I believe that I bought this stamper from the Born Pretty Store a couple of years ago - you can see it here.  I did buy some replacement heads so that I had a contrasting colour - this grey one came from MoYou London.  I love this stamper, and use it all the time, and I have no plans to replace it any time soon.

The square stamper is from MoYou London. It is also squishy and a bit stickier than my regular stamper, although nowhere near as much as the new stamper. It works well, and I tend to mostly use it when my nails are very long, so that I can fit a full design on.  I always go back to my regular stamper though!

On to the Konad polish!  I already have a Konad white and black, and they really are the best polishes I've found for stamping. If you see me stamping with white, then it's this polish.  Here are some of the designs I've made using Konad White. 

As you can see, it stamps cleanly and crisply over all sorts of colours. It's pigmented enough to be clear and visible over dark colours and pastels, and with bold designs or in fiddly delicate ones. My only issue with the Konad polishes is if you add topcoat too quickly, in which case it can bleed. But patience and proper drying avoid any problems.

You can get Konad polishes on the Born Pretty Store website here in a variety of colours (I've got my eye on the pale pink!) for $7.59 each. 

As always, you can get 10% off everything at BPS using my discount code.

I received these products for review purposes, but words and opinions are entirely my own. I do not receive anything if you use my discount code, although when it's been used ten times, BPS will let me host a giveaway for my readers! See my Disclosure page for more details.