I order everything off Amazon. I've listed the prices I have seen recently.
IBD Products:
This is the best deal I've found lately! $7 bucks for a regular sized bottle of .5 oz. With the couple colors I own, I feel this stays on slightly better than the Gelish Brands. Comes off a little harder too if you rip it off like I do. :) I'm starting to accrue more of this product because of the amazing price!
Disclaimer- I haven't used the top coat or base coat of this brand. I'm thinking in the near future, that I'll buy the IBD topcoat or the EZ Flow TruGel topcoat because when I've used those colors, they've stayed on better (no tearing in 2 week period). Of course these colors I paired with my Gelish topcoat. You can pair IBD and Gelish Brands together. I use the Gelish base and top coats with my IBD colors all the time and I know people who have used their Shellac colors with Gelish products and it worked fine.
Gelish Products:
Top it Off (topcoat) ($12), base foundation (base coat) ($14), and ph bond ($6). If you already have some of these by Shellac, you can still team them up with Gelish, instead of buying all new. The gel nail polish colors usually end up being $13 after shipping. You can shop around for whatever brand you want and check out the reviews. Mine is just a cheapo one and works great. Keep in mind that the bottles all last a while.
Shellac Products:
I've changed my tune slightly on Shellac products. I had never tried them until recently because reviews had told me Gelish held up just as well, but I have found that the Azure Wish Shellac Color I purchased (because I have been in search of the perfect blue and no one else seemed to have it...) held up better than Gelish products. It doesn't chip, but after a week and a half or so, it cracks slightly. The cracks are more like slits; unnoticeable to anyone, but you. It was slightly harder to get off too, but I still just pulled it off. Remember that Shellac is pricier because you pay more ($15) for a smaller bottle, but you may find it's worth it if you love a color and find it stays on better for you.
UV Lamp
These can come as cheap as $28 which is what I paid for mine from Salon Supply Store on Amazon. The perks to the UV is that it is cheaper than the LED. Downside is that you will eventually have to replace the bulbs. I've owned mine for a year and a half and haven't had to replace any bulbs. I'm not sure exactly how long they last. In a UV Lamp you have to cure your colors longer. For a dark color and Top Coat- 2 minutes. For a light color and base coat- 1 minute. Meant to fit one hand or foot. (The second picture below shows the top of the box.)
LED Lamp
This is a lot more expensive; around $90 for one give or take what is available. My husband got me a U-SPICY one (pictured below) for $90 and I LOVE IT! It is an 18 Watt one (110-120 volts) and got really good reviews. It has a much shorter cure time. For a dark or light color - 30 seconds, top coat -20 sec and base coat - 10 sec. So it goes really quick. I can't go back to my UV lamp after the LED one!
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| (This is my 5 yr old daughter's feet to give you a sense of size.) |
2012 Cheeky Set of 26 Nail Art Designs
I just got this nail stamping kit from a wonderful friend of mine for my birthday and haven't tried it out yet, but I'm dying to!
$16 plus shipping
This link takes you right to it:
http://www.amazon.com/Cheeky-Nailart-Stamping-Manicure-Accessories/dp/B006OMHR1S/ref=sr_1_14?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1370847381&sr=1-14&keywords=cheeky+2013+jumbo+plates
Bundle Monster 25 pc Nail Stamp Kit
$22 and free shipping. I've used these a lot and really like them. Make sure you get the 25 pc set and not the 21 pc set bc the size of the 25 pc set (believe it came out in 2012) is wider and bigger on the nail than the other set. The link for the right set is below:
http://www.amazon.com/Bundle-Monster-Stamping-Manicure-Accessories/dp/B004XJNQXW/ref=sr_1_2?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1370847727&sr=1-2&keywords=bundle+monster+2012
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| This is the Bundle Monster 25 pc set and shows you what most nail plates look like. They come with the blue plastic covering to protect them in delivery. |
Cheeky has these big nail stamping plates that have bigger sized designs on them. I love it! The designs on the circular plates like the picture just above, are cute, but barely fit or on my thumb they don't quite fit. So I love that these are wider and give me more room to work with. I have slender fingers and so there's room to spare when I stamp with this plate set. If you have wider nails, these should be great for you! This Cheeky plate #10 cost $10.99.
You can buy single plates from Konad for around $5. You only get four regular sized designs on them, but if you love the design, then go for it. The above sets are great for getting a lot more designs for your money. I like the prints on this Konad Plate and own it: http://www.amazon.com/Konad-Nail-Art-Stamping-Image/dp/B000ZV1VDO/ref=sr_1_4?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1370847895&sr=1-4&keywords=konad+image+plates
Stamping Tools:
You will need a stamper and scraper. I ordered my Konad set of these off Amazon like almost everything else I buy for my nails. :) The set is $4.37 right now and I highly recommend it. The stamper is double sided with two different sizes. The small size I use to stamp little designs on my daughter and the bigger one is great for all other designs.You can find the set at http://www.amazon.com/Nail-Art-Double-Stamper-Scraper/dp/B002MZ8BK2/ref=sr_1_2?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1370929379&sr=1-2&keywords=konad+stamp+set
Nail Plate Holder Case
If you get a set of nail stamping plates (highly recommend this by the way), it's nice to have a case to view them in. Then you can simply flip through your plates to see which ones stand out to you as opposed to laying them all out on the table or floor like I've done in the past. I bought this one off Amazon for $15.99 and love it! It's cute and holds 168 plates! Room to grow my collection. :) Each slot is meant to hold one plate per slot in comparison to some other similar products that have you double up on the plates per slot to get the same total amount in the case. (Details: PUEEN Super Slim 168 Nail Stamping Plates Synthetic Leather Holder Case Organizer in Hot Pink Rosy Lace Pattern)
Fun Add Ons:
Dotting Pen:
Adding dots onto a stamped design makes it that much more fun and detailed. It also adds more variety of color. Dotting pens usually come in sets and are really cheap (around $2 or less even with shipping). You can get several sizes in a set. Mine actually came in a brush set, since I like having a brush to get excess glitter off.
Use acrylic paint when dotting on your gel nails. And if you stamp a design, seal it with a top coat before adding the dots. Then if you make a mistake, you can get the acrylic paint off with a swipe of your finger like me, or if you wait a little bit, then you can wipe it off with water. Make sure to seal the dotted design in with another layer of top coat. If your dots are bigger, you will want to do two coats of top coat. I like to do two coats over any size of dots because I'm paranoid it will wear off if I don't. :)
*Art Deco by L.A. Colors: I have found these at the dollar store and they are perfect for adding stripes. They have a thin pointed tip brush that better facilitates this.
*Kiss Nail Art Paint by Vernis works fine too as I'm sure many brands do. I always go with the cheap stuff. I got the Kiss Nail Art in a set of 3 for like $6 I think.
Glitter
You can buy glitter really cheap online. I got a set of 12 colors for $2.56 and free shipping. I liked the set I got because the glitter was fine and powdery. Some glitter you buy has bigger flakes which doesn't appeal as much to me. Here's the link for the set I ordered in case you're interested: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AA8DQQM/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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