When trying to come up with a name for this design I was stumped. In some ways, it reminded me of decorative outdoor tiles. So I’ve ended up with a pretty unoriginal name for this design just simply calling this week’s design Outdoor Tiles on my nails. This is also my first layered stamping design where I feel confident enough to give you a little more detailed tutorial, compared to sharing just tips in past posts.
Base
I started out with my favourite nude, Dune by Natio. I love everything about this shade from the colour to the slight shimmer it has. If you’re interested take a look at my more detailed review.
Outdoor Tiles on my Nails Stamping | Layered Stamping Tutorial
For the stamping, I used a new Maniology plate from my latest hall! (Use my code THENAILCHRONICLE for 10% off Maniology). Plate Maniology M029 features a mix of small and full size layered stamping patterned designs. This tutorial assumes you have got the hand of nail stamping, which I recommend learning first as this adds a little extra challenge to the design.
The first challenge I faced was where to start, in terms of which image of the set I should apply first. I decided that the outline should be applied last, so I started with the image at the opposite end of the set. For the colours, I initially googled the plate for some inspo. I decided to go with a blue theme selecting three different shades, light, medium and dark blue to provide some contrast. The colours I picked were:
- Hit the bottle – Blueberry Dewdrops (light blue)
- BMC – Mercury bassline (medium blue)
- BMC – midnight madness (dark blue)
*BMC is the previous brand name for Maniology.
You don’t have to go with a colour theme, you could do any set of colours that work together e.g blue, black and gold would look awesome.
Layered Stamping Steps
For the first image, I wasn’t too worried about the placement. I just wanted to try and get at least a solid line, as straight as possible as this would provide the guideline for the remaining two stamped images. So I wanted to give myself as much as possible to work with.
For the second image, I took a lot more care especially on the first nail, as I wanted to get the placement right. I initially went for over the top of the image as I have with past layered stamping designs. However this didn’t look right, and I worked out it was actually designed to go in between. I took so long that by the time I placed it on my nail, it had dried but at least I didn’t stuff it up and all I needed to do was to restamp the image.
The key to this technique is to really focus as much as possible when applying the image. Try not to stretch the image too much as it will make it harder to line up subsequent images.
Repeat this again for the third image and your design will be complete. Don’t forget to add a smudge-free top coat, I used Maniology’s for this design followed by a quick dry topcoat.
This makes it sound way easier than it is. The hardest part of layered stamping is trying to line up everything. I think this patterned design is easier than the Easter or Fruit designs that I initially attempted. That’s because the pattern can hide minor mistakes easier than a small image.
Overall
I’m so happy with how the outdoor tiles on my nails design turned out. They are probably one of my favourite designs. I can see there are so many new designs that I can create from this one plate.
If you’re just starting to learn layered stamping, I recommend going with a small-sized image, take your time and practice. My first attempts looked pretty bad but it’s gotten better over time. I’ve still got some way to go but I’m pretty happy with where it’s at.
Let me know in the comments have you done reverse stamping before? How do you find it?
