I'm back with yet another all out epic full blown stamping plate review! I know I promised this review ages ago and I would have posted it, but I was holding out for some news that I think will make most of you happy ;) . Today I'm going to turn my attention to a brand that created a lot of rumblings and excitement on this blog. That's right let's talk about UberChic Beauty and their new nail art stamping plates! As usual with these reviews each portion is broken up into segments so feel free to scan through, but don't forget to leave feedback and comments as they are not only important to me but keep the blog going! All right lets get started..
UberChic Beauty
Just as a quick refresher though by the number of hits on the blog I know most of you have seen my original UberChic post. Lol. In any case UberChic Beauty was created by the lovely Brittany Hull. She worked like mad over this last year to create this US based brand of stamping plates that resonate with all artistic vision she had in mind along with the design to meet the needs of the stamping community.
The Plates
Backing
Image Size Comparison
The image size on these plates can vary generally they are 2.0 x 1.7 cm length by width but they can and do get larger. These days it's a bit of a breeze for me to show you comparisons of different image sizes across brands since I made my large chart. For now I'll mention my common brands as a point of comparison, but if you are interested in a broader comparison across many brands you can click here to view a comprehensive chart I created with measurements from most brands of stamping plates. Also I have recently added some new measurements to the chart so be sure to check it out!
Bunny Nails HD B: 2.5 x 2.0 cm
Cici & Sisi: 2.0 x 1.5 cm
Fab Ur Nails FUN 14: 2.2 x 1.7 cm
Messy Mansion: 2.3 x 1.8 cm
MoYou London Pro (Non-XL): 1.5 x 1.3 cm
MoYou London Pro (XL): 2.2 x 1.6 cm
MyOnline Shop MJVIII: 2.2 x 1.7 cm
Pet'la: 2.4 x 2.0 cm
Vivid Lacquer: 2.0 x 2.0 cm
Swatches
As with all my reviews when swatching out the images I used Wet N' Wild Black Creme and my gold standard XL marshmallow stamper from Bunny Nails (4 years old) or as in this case my marshmallow stamper from Magno Nails. I chose the Magno Nails stamper because several of the images were quite large and I wanted to be able to capture them with ease. I will switch to Konad Special Stamping polish or Mundo de Unas only in the event I am unable to pick up an image which I didn't have to do with any of these images.
Again for those that don't know the reason I choose to stamp with Wet N' Wild Black Creme for my swatches is because it's cheap and readily available. Furthermore, it is the lowest quality polish I can use for stamping. What does that mean? It means I don't expect images generated by WnW to have near the clarity of those generated using a polish designated for stamping. Stamping polishes allow an image to stamp with even more clarity and crispness than regular polish. Period. In short if I have a plate that stamps well with WnW polish this is my assurance that indeed the etching on these plates is excellent enough that it can support stamping with a polish that is not meant for that purpose.
The image size on these plates can vary generally they are 2.0 x 1.7 cm length by width but they can and do get larger. These days it's a bit of a breeze for me to show you comparisons of different image sizes across brands since I made my large chart. For now I'll mention my common brands as a point of comparison, but if you are interested in a broader comparison across many brands you can click here to view a comprehensive chart I created with measurements from most brands of stamping plates. Also I have recently added some new measurements to the chart so be sure to check it out!
Bunny Nails HD B: 2.5 x 2.0 cm
Cici & Sisi: 2.0 x 1.5 cm
Fab Ur Nails FUN 14: 2.2 x 1.7 cm
Messy Mansion: 2.3 x 1.8 cm
MoYou London Pro (Non-XL): 1.5 x 1.3 cm
MoYou London Pro (XL): 2.2 x 1.6 cm
MyOnline Shop MJVIII: 2.2 x 1.7 cm
Pet'la: 2.4 x 2.0 cm
Vivid Lacquer: 2.0 x 2.0 cm
Swatches
As with all my reviews when swatching out the images I used Wet N' Wild Black Creme and my gold standard XL marshmallow stamper from Bunny Nails (4 years old) or as in this case my marshmallow stamper from Magno Nails. I chose the Magno Nails stamper because several of the images were quite large and I wanted to be able to capture them with ease. I will switch to Konad Special Stamping polish or Mundo de Unas only in the event I am unable to pick up an image which I didn't have to do with any of these images.
Btw I'm watermarking my swatches more consistently now because I have found my swatches posted on various sites with my watermarks removed as if they were someone else's :/ I put a lot of hard work into these reviews and having someone else take credit for that work isn't really something that appeals to me :/
Stamping Polish Comparison
As usual these days I choose a few of the more intricate patterns from some of the UC plates and swatched them out with various polishes. Some of these polishes were purchases specifically with the task of stamping in mind and others are just regular polishes that I have found stamp well in the past. This section is basically just a let's see how well x brand of plates stamps across many different kind of polishes. After all we all own a few of those plates that just won't stamp well unless they are used with stamping polishes only. Ok so let's see how the UC plates swatch out across different brands of stamping polish!
I think the singular flower I chose here is the most finely etched image across any of these 6 plates. So fine in fact that it really does not stamp well with polishes not designated for stamping, i.e. Wet N Wild, or faster drying polishes, i.e. Rica. But when used with stamping polish it stamps beautifully. What impressed me even more so however was that every little detail of this flower picked up so perfectly despite being so finely etched!
Stamping Polish Key:
WnW = Wet N' Wild Black Creme
WnW FM = Wet N' Wild Fantasy Makers
Konad = Konad Special Stamping Polish in Black Gold
Rica = Rica in Blackout
FabUrNails = FabUrNails in Black
SH InstaDri = Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Rapid Red
MdU = Mundo de Unas in Black (#2)
Handy = Handy Nails in Wine
Color Club = Color Club Foiled in Hot Like Lava
Final Impression
These plates are wonderful! Which I knew they would be well before they arrived on my doorstep. After all Brittany spent the time carefully researching and crafting her brand well before its launch to ensure it was just that. You can see the level of care and dedication she put into everything from the careful branding to the precision of etching. You know I firmly believe in supporting these indie brands and moreso empowering women to go after their dreams! I'm fully impressed and excited to see more of what UberChic has in store for us. Now to address a few issues outstanding.
A Little Note About Pricing...
Something has been bothering me since I put up my post announcing the UberChic plates. I noticed several comments related to the pricing of the plates being expensive or that they wanted the plates unbundled. The latter comment is reasonable because not everyone wants every plate in the world, that's just me lol, but the former is plain laughable. Let me explain why. The UC plates are the same size as MyOnline Shop and FUN plates, both of which retail around $16-18USD, and contain roughly the same number of images as the MOS and FUN plates. UC plates contain 24 full-sized nail images vs 25 on the other two brands. The UC plates also contain around the same number of smaller accent images. However in a bundle UC plates cost $24.99USD for 3 plates. If you do that math that's roughly $8.33USD per plate for a plate containing the same number of images as the FUN and MOS plates. Even if they were to be split up and sold individually at $12 a piece, rough estimate from Brittany, they still would be less expensive than similar sized brands on the markets. The reason I took the time to break this down for you isn't that I wanted to say one brand is better than the other. You know damn well I can't live without my FUN plates, rather I wanted to say don't let the bundled price tag fool you. These plates are a bargain and are worth the investment!
About that shipping though.....
I know many ladies especially in the international community were quiet frustrated with the price of shipping on these plates. So here's some good news. UberChic has moved its shipping to a service dedicated to that task which means the price of shipping has dropped domestically from $5.99USD to $5 and internationally from $15USD to $10USD. While that might not seem like a lot every little bit counts right? Especially when we all love and adore buying stamping plates.
So I'm going to leave it here for now. You can found UberChic Beauty products on the UberChic website. These bundles retail for $24.99 USD + the aforementioned shipping. You can also find the UberChic Magic Dust and scraper set there as well! I hope this was helpful for you guys and stay tuned for some upcoming nail art and gasp a tutorial! Please don't forget to leave feedback, questions or comments and happy hunting!
This post contains products sent for my honest review along with products purchased by myself. For more information please see my Policies.