Mundo de unas stamping polish swatches and review

Mundo de Unas stamping polish swatches & Review

When I first  began nail art a few months ago, I was looking for an alternative to konad white stamping polish, as it was always out of stock on Indian online websites. I was trying to find another good white stamping polish. So I went through reading several blogs, hoping to find a good alternative when suddenly my eyes fell on swatches of different stamping polish brands of the same color swatched and one particular brand MDU stood much opaque in comparison with its other counterparts, I did more research and came to know it is from a Mexican brand called Mundo De Unas pronounced as "mundh dhaay oonay" not mundo day oonas :-)  yes that's how I pronounced too at first :-) :-).

  ‌Well though it really stood out to me, it looked unreachable to me at that point, as I did not know how to get it, and I was not sure if they were affordable enough, if so how to buy them etc.  I logged into their website to understand  more, I was taken by surprise to see so many stamping polish colors listed, and they were all so unique. I felt overwhelmed with the choice and I did not know what to choose. I started to desire them even more now, I wanted to own them all. I even went a head and added few of their shades in the cart and tried to find out shipping rates, but I was too scared and confused what if the bottles break during transit, what if I never get my parcel, what would be the customs regulations, with all these questions in my mind, I was not ready to order them yet, until recently I mustered enough courage to order them online.So that was that and I continued my hunt and found few other polishes that worked, but my heart was still with MDU and hoped to own it someday.

After so many months of waiting it out ,I finally decided to jump in. Now I feel the limitations were in my own mind, I kept struggling for good quality stamping and was spending more anyways and not getting the results I had wanted. Gosh!! why didn't I order this before ?.

  ‌Enough of personal saga now let us move on to the actual review.

 I ordered 6 of their mini stamping polishes. Yes they do have a mini too, which I did not know until recently .They sell in two sizes 14 ml and 5ml bottles respectively. Prices and shipping vary accordingly.  I choose mini bottles as it was more affordable with shipping, and I could also buy more shades. Their webpage also has clear pictures of each stamping polish names and swatches of how they would look like on both white and black base shades. This helps you to choose the shade you want easily.  It took 30 Days to receive my order, it was shipped the very next day, I did not know that since my shipping emails from elmundo reached my spam folder directly, and I was stalking Sylvia Zambrano on every social media to get my shipping info, but she was so patient and always respond quickly. So, it is always good to check your spam folders first. My tracking also had no data after the initial shipping info, so I was blind to what was happening with my order, but mine came in tact neatly packed with a beautiful thank you card from Sylvia :-).

What surprised me was I had only one tracking info when my item was shipped and I knew my items were in transit, but none after that so I had no clue where my parcel was, but during day 30 and 31 I had some info that they reached India and there it was at my doorstep just couple of days later. ‌So if you are vacationing or just not in you address for some reason, Please do not rely on tracking data alone,  like mine suddenly it might knock on your door. Thankfully these are registered posts and post men/women will have to hand over it to you after you sign their slip.

 ‌Bottle Size comparison. ‌How mini is the MDU mini's.?

Now coming to the mini bottles how mini are they really. See below pic comparison with konad stamping polish (small - 5ml). The konad bottle looks bigger but, they are both 5 ml each.

They are very small sized but very cute bottles, but good news is you only need a little bit, they are so concentrated like and spread well so a little goes a long way, if you try using it like your other polishes you risk smooshing your images when you pick up.  I also heard that mdu polishes take time to dry, in my personal experience you definitely need not work with lightening speed with these polishes you do have a tiny bit of time lag with drying time but not so much in a tropical weather like mine Chennai summer can dry almost anything, yes MDU's too :-). I also read in a blog that you need to work with MDUs in a well ventilated area, but I found no unpleasant odour whatsoever.
  
Swatches of the shades

I just wanted to show how these shades look on both black and white background so I really did not bother about the design as much for showing the opacity. So I did quick swatches directly on my nail art mat. Alternatively the bottle themselves have a black and white comparison sticker to swatch on. Also, you can find the name and number of the shade on the bottom of the bottle. So they are all in one place for you.

 

Price/Cost

The bigger bottles 14 ml currently retail at their site for $3.50 currently approx.Rs.235 INR and $1.65 for the minis approx.Rs.110 INR. The cost is same for different shades unlike Konad where some shades are sold at a higher price, here pick any shade for the same price. Now before you get too excited, kindly note that I have not included the shipping charges here, and with dollar fluctuation the cost can vary at different times and may be high or low, it all depends on when you are buying. 

There is no minimum quantity for purchase. you can buy 1 or more but all of the orders have shipping charges. There is no flat rate shipping,the shipping charges increase proportionately to the quantity.  The more number of bottles you buy, the more shipping charges you pay. That apart,you can also additionally purchase insurance from MDU to secure your order, If you fear the risk of loosing package or bottles being broken and it only makes sense to buy them if you order more number of bottles.

  Please do not forget to go through their FAQ section and their Payment and shipping policy before you place your order. http://www.mundodeunas.com/#!faq/c24vq

You also have our own local sellers who can order them for you. Since you order in a group you share the shipping cost and the risk and there are many sellers on Instagram who will pre-order them for you at a reasonable cost. You go ahead and do your research. 

 

Overall experience

I only felt why I did not try them earlier, they are so opaque that you can even stamp on a similar color and they would still show up beautifully. For all you  girls and ladies out there please do give them a try if you have not done so at least once, you will know what I am talking about. Will continue to update this page when I purchase more shades.

Please leave your questions and comments below. Do follow my facebook and instagram  page.

Facebook page Nimmi's nail art ink https://www.facebook.com/nailzart/ 

Instagram: Nirmala_Venkat 

Rectangle white stamper and scraper (aliexpress) cheap US $0.87 apprx INR 60

Its been a month since I last posted on my blog, trying to juggle motherhood, my interest in nail art and updating my personal blog.

I purchased quite a few items during the month, but could not update here.

So in the upcoming weeks I am planning for more new blog posts.

I wanted a soft, squishy rectangle stamper and could not find one here in India, so when Ali-express had their new year sale I decided to grab some and ordered 3 of them from different sellers just to see if they are different. I am yet to receive one of them, out of the other two one turned out to be firm stamper and this was the one that was very soft, so I decided to write about it on my blog.

I purchased this for approx Rs.60  less than a dollar during their sale, it is still selling cheap (US $0.93) as I am updating my blog :-).

This one is soft just like how I had wanted but the head size is not 2.8 cm which might help to print on my long nails, it is a bit smaller in size and you need to print it by aligning very carefully on long nails, but if your nails are not long this is perfect. If you stamp it with more pressure it picks up too thick and transfer of image is not good. But if you just press it very lightly and use a gentle rolling motion to transfer, look at the above image and see how beautifully this 60 rs stamper has worked :-) oh yeah free shipping too. I did not use a stamping polish here, I used black polish from a local brand called Zovi.

I did not care much about the scraper as I had bought this only for the stamper but the scraper works fine too just like any other metal scraper.

Here is the link to the shop. Estimated time of delivery was 15-39 days I received it in 30 days. feel free to update your comments below :-)

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Applied-Nail-Art-Image-Stamp-Stamping-Plates-Manicure-Template-1-Stamper-And-1-Scraper-iTimo/32498164571.html

more stamping images using this stamper, if you are curious to know which stamping plates I used,  stamping plate reviews are coming  :-)

Bloomsberry remover for yellow nails

I first came across the name of this product on you tube nailz4fun video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VSRZubZz6Y. 

This product was meant to reduce the yellowish stains on nails caused by repeated usage of nail polish.
I also have yellow stains on my nails and thought I will give it a try after watching the above video.
I purchased this from amazon for Rs.149 no shipping charges.

This is actually a nail polish remover that is slightly different in its usage, you remove polish and then shake this bottle well, dab a piece of cotton and rub slowly on your nails to remove yellow stains.

After using it I found my nails looked more clean but dry, though the pack says it moisturizes, I felt my nails looked dry, there is only a mild reduction of the yellowness of your nails, I think I will continue to use to see if there is any remarkable change, but for now I did not notice any remarkable change in person. The fragrance is that of a usual nail polish remover but not too strong.

 

 If you like to buy here is the link
http://www.amazon.in/Bloomsberry-Revival-Remover-Discoloured-Fragrance/dp/B012AZ9NI2/ref=sr_1_6?m=A20BL0LQIQ9U1F&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1458642375&sr=1-6

Ali express stamping plates and born pretty stamper

Anyone who wish to practice nail art but are looking for affordable nail art items, fret not aliexpress is the place, you can even buy one item for 10rs with  free shipping :-). Most sellers on this site are ready to ship items individually,  no minimum purchase required to be eligible for free shipping. ain't this great.

Now on to my review on the stamping plates.

I ordered 3 stamping plates US$0.65 each somewhere between Rs.35- Rs.48 per plate you have a nice set of stamping plates to try your nail art. I ordered hehe plates #005,#019,#066, all of them stamp very well.  These plates are small and thin but perfect for stamping nails. The etching is really good that even small details print very well.

here are some pictures.
Remove the protective film before use.

hehe - 005 is an attractive plate with beautiful details

hehe - 019 is also another beautiful plate which I picked up especially for the mermaid pattern.

hehe -066 is a unique plate with bubbles, water, babies and a flying girl, I picked this plate for the bubble and ain't no disappointment it prints so well .

I used the born pretty stamper, it stamps like a dream, no prepping required. this one comes with two scrapers suitable for the different sized dual ends. I bought this for $2.68 approx Rs. 150 during new year sale

Now here is the much awaited swatch . I used the BM lotus mat to stamp over, see how well it has printed, now I cant wait to try a bubble mani :-). Here I used Cemera france nail polish in white for stamping

 links for products:
stamping plates: aliexpress   http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hot-Sale-Premium-Nail-Art-Image-Stamp-Stamping-Plates-Manicure-Templates-DIY-Plate-hehe-Series/32401582742.html

Stamper: Born Pretty   http://www.bornprettystore.com/3pcsset-sell-double-sided-stamping-nail-stamper-scraper-p-12024.html

Newspaper nail art with alcohol prep pads (for all who have had newspaper stuck to your nails :-) )

                            No top coat                                                                        Top-Coat

 

 Have you heard of any saying that goes "A person who gets it right the first time, never learns anything", If no, you heard it from me now.

Yes, long before I did try newspaper nail art when I was still new to nail art. It was one of my very first attempts after trying some of the more easy nail arts by Sveta Sanders :-), Yes, I was that naive to nail art, I started attempting her very famous drag marble nail art when I was just a novice entering into the world of nailartism.

I had no clue about the difficulties or the expertise hard work and focus that goes into these mind blowing nail arts. I thought it should be as easy as applying nail polish, Oh yes, now I have also learnt how to apply your nail enamel professionally :-).

So here I thought I should do a newspaper nail art again, now that I have my blog and Facebook page. So I sat there attempting and re-attempting this beautiful Idea of a nail art, only to find the ink would transfer lightly, the image was not clear or worse when you think you transferred the image beautifully, only to find later that the newspaper image had stuck to your nails , now that is not a bad Idea either, just cut the newspaper and stick to your nails.

But, I was not going to do that. I had to try no matter what. after all so many have had success with this, what am I doing wrong, I tried rubbing alcohol, water, tried applying varied degrees of pressure, press hard, then a little gentle, tried dipping nails in water or rubbing alcohol and removing immediately and then placing on my nail, then wait for certain seconds, tried them all. They would work once then it wouldn't for other fingers. I can leave it like it is, that imperfection was also looking beautiful. But, I was not the one to give up now, so I found a newspaper cutting that said "You Can". I pasted that right above my nail art desk for  motivation, then put my attempts to rest as I had a toddler who required more focus than this. So once he was asleep I tried again, Painted my nails white, the bottle almost empty now from my attempts.

 Suddenly out of the blue an Idea  struck me. Yes alcohol pads, little did I know then that it was the answer I was so diligently seeking. That, they were going to bring me the beautiful images, so I cut some newspaper aligned it on my nail, took out the alcohol prep pads and pressed, when I removed the pad and paper there was my Image more clearer than ever. Hurrah !!!!!

So yes, all that my curved nail bed required was alcohol soaked in a pad, Gosh! why didn't I think of it before. I love them so much now, what a relief alas to find a friend among foes, Yes my lovable alcohol pads, I love my nails so much now that I am typing this only with my right hand, so much I wanted to preserve my hand just to show to my husband when he comes home, my faithful audience and critic.

Hope someone like me out there found something informative today from this post :-)

Products Used:

• White polish NYN
• SQ Rapid dry topcoat
• Alcohol prep pads
• Newspaper

Bundle Monster water marble plate stamping

 

 

 So I started early today around 5:30 am, and thought I have some time to myself while my toddler is still sleeping. So what color shall I paint my nails with, been using lot of SQ shades, so time for something new. I opened a bottle of steel grey metallic shade from a brand called Lea, I had mentioned earlier that I would do a detailed review of the haul, could not find time, nevertheless I find them a breeze to apply.

So I painted my nails with one coat of polish and little more to fill here and there. I loved how it looked and was wondering what color and design to stamp with. So this was a kid of shade that any other color but white would suit, now that I decided the stamping polish color, what design should I choose, I though the steel grey would look good like fish scale so would opt for a mermaid pattern. Oh I know a BP stamping plate that has the mermaid design, so as I pulled out my brand new BM lotus mat to protect my table, I thought why not try the BM water marble plate.

I have the shangri-la master plates from BM, so this is my second addition from this brand. Look at the pictures to see how beautiful the images are. I mean anyone who have tried their hands at water marbelling know the difficulty of perfecting those beautiful designs, It is just that now you can stamp them way easily any time you want with zero mess of water marbelling.

So here I am stamping the water marble designs, finally. I loved how they turned out they look even more pretty in-person. 

hope you like it too :-)

Products Used:

• Stay Quirky Base-Coat
• Stay Quirky Rapid dry Top-Coat 
• Lea nail color for the base
• Konad white for stamping
• Stamping plate BM-XL210, sloteazzy
• Born pretty jumbo stamper

 

Polka dot nails with dotting tools

A simple and easy nail art this time. In fact it is so easy that any one can do this nail art.
You can use dotting tool or even a bobby pin would do. Take colors of you choice , I prefer using a color palette holder simply because its easy to use and clean, make different random dots with different sizes and colors using your tools, as simple as that.

You will have achieved a stunning manicure with less time and effort. I used a white base to make my colors pop.

Products used:

• Stay Quirky Base-Coat
• Stay Quirky Rapid Dry Top-Coat
• Stay Quirky shade "Unicorn #536"
• Stay Quirky Shade "Serious  Black #32"
• Maybelline color show Shade "Orange Fix #214"
• Maybelline Color Show shade "Blueberry Ice #403"
• Dotting tool from eBay
• Color palette holder from Ali express

Ink blue stamping nail art (non konad stamping polish)

A simple grey blue stamping nail art. I really wanted to use blue on a grey background, so chose these colors. I really liked the grey finish, but took a while to dry, so I just used a rapid dry top coat to speed up the process, really helps for stamping nail art, helps to complete your mani quickly.

The fun part of this mani is finding a new non-konad stamping polish that stamps well as you can see in the above pic. I did a huge haul of this nail enamel, happy to know most of them or can I confidently say all of them stamp really really well. Lucky to find affordable polishes that can stamp well. I will soon update a swatch of all those polishes soon.

A word about the stamping plate from aliexpress very cheap but good, I will do a review of this too. Probably will do a combined review of both the polish and plate together.

Products Used:

• Stay Quirky Base-Coat
• Stay Quirky Rapid dry top coat
• Stay Quirky Gel effect shade Tar-Grey-Rian
• Stamping Polish : Lea nail enamel Shade 00087 
• Stamping Plate: OM - 09 from Ali express
• Born Pretty Jumbo stamper from eBay

Masking tape manicure

My initial plan for this nail art was to include red, blue and white stripes for the accent finger. I kept trying for perfect lines, and finally kept adding, removing, re-painting colors. Finally I decided to use these colors. I just used masking tape for the parallel lines. I used stay quirky nail hardener for the base, because my nail broke and had to file them, so just used the nail hardener before painting my nails.

I chose SQ shade# 260 a beautiful taupe color, love love love this color and the finish, its more beautiful than what is visible in this picture. I just painted my ring finger with green shade and used BP L003 to print the design on the middle and ringer finger using maybelline blackout. Then used masking tape to paint other colors on my ring finger, then finished only the ring finger with a top coat.

Products Used:

• SQ 260
• SQ 564 
• SQ 306
• SQ gel finish top coat
• SQ nail hardener
• Maybelline color show 302
• Maybelline color show Blackout
• BMW (no number green polish)
• Babby Doll nail enamel metallic coppery shade (no number)
• Stamping plate - BP L003
• Stamper - BP marshmallow big stamper

Valentines day water marble nail art - Originally created for stay quirky

This nail art for Stay Quirky Valentine's Day contest 2016 was my attempt at water marbeling using only SQ polishes, one of their rules,  I tried to create a heart design, but just ended up wasting polishes, so finally I decided to do this.  First I painted my nails using shade Unicorn, this helped the water marble colors pop. Then, I did my water marbling.  Hope you like it :-).

Products Used:

SQ Shades

• Nude Unicorn 536
• Shade 592
• Conditional access 585
• Coral nail swag 520
• Gel effect top coat

Sparkly Monochrome - Dual stamping

This sparkly monochrome felt just right to celebrate the weekend :-). Another easy to do nail art.

Products Used:

• Top coat : Before stamping : Oriflame crystal base & topcoat : After stamping : Sally Hansen Mega Shine
• Stay Quirky base-coat.
•  New U Nail Enamel Glitterati,  Icy Cool 79
• Maybelline color show - Blackout 220
• Stamping plate -XY13 Nail Art Stamping Kit Decoration Jumbo Image Plate from eBay
• Stamper - 4 cm marshmallow stamper from born pretty

To achieve this look apply your base-coat, let dry. Now apply your favorite white glitter polish, let dry. I always like to add a topcoat before I stamp, easy to take the design off without having to re-paint your nails.
Now for the first accent finger stamp your design just like you would normally do. Now for the next accent finger, we will use dual stamping technique.  For this stamp image on your 1st stamper and transfer this image on the 2nd stamper, now use the 2nd stamper to which you just transferred your design to stamp on your nails, this  helps to place the image in another direction just like in the above picture.

For easier understanding imagine you are going to stamp the letter L, when you stamp, your stamper will have the image in reverse, but when you stamp on your nails again, the image is reversed again thereby printing the "L" shape correctly.

In Dual stamping method your are transferring image from one stamper to another stamper and then on to your nails which leaves the image in the direction opposite to the original image.  Easy right, now finish with a top coat.

See below image.

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Nude and white stamping nail art

 

 I applied base coat and after it dried completely, I painted all fingers in a nude color and then the ring finger in white. To match the base colors I chose Konad white and brown special polish. I used double stamping method by stamping the butterfly images in white and then after it dried I stamped the images in brown color on top of it.  For the other fingers I stamped only half of the image in brown. Applied gel effect top coat.

I stamped the butterfly image on the stamper, removed the image prints that I didn't require using a cello tape and only printed the butterfly images I had wanted, this also helped me stamp the butterfly images in the directions I wanted them stamped.

• Stay quirky Base coat
• Stay quirky gel effect top coat
• Stay Quirky Nail Polish Gel Finish Rude Nude 579
• Stay Quirky Nail Polish Nude Unicorn 536
• Konad special polish - White & Chocolate
•  XY13 Nail Art Stamping Kit Decoration Jumbo Image Plate
•  4 cm marshmallow stamper from born pretty

Red & Nude stamping nail art

 
A simple stamping nail art. Choose a nude base and a bright stamping polish and stamp away. Simple and the design stands out.

I found that the images in these plates do not have large images, so I kind of managed to cover my nails. 

Products Used: 

• Stay Quirky Nail Polish Dance Nude 490
•  Konad special polish - Red
• XY13 Nail Art Stamping Kit Decoration Jumbo Image Plate from eBay 
• 4cm Marshmallow Nail Art Stamper Big Stamper from eBay.