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Cream with Stencilled Pink Swirls

I’ve bought and used smART nails stencils for my manicures quite a few times before, and the company that makes them noticed and asked if I would review some for them.

I decided to try out one of the more complicated stencils. This is P053, which has some swirly lines on it that go off the edge of the nail. That’s what makes using this kind of design more difficult, as you have to ensure that the edges are really well stuck down.

I used OPI Cream In My Coffee as the base. I thought it would be like My Vampire Is Buff, but no, it is very sheer and I needed 4 coats. This is one of the “mystery OPIs”, which are labelled differently to the main range, and are thought to have come from discontinued celebrity or character branded collections. It’s thought that this one is possibly Nicole by OPI Others Pale By Kim-parison. I found it for sale in my local Original Factory Shop with a number of other OPIs, all at 3 for £10.

The dusky pink is OPI Krème De La Kremlin, which I bought at the same time as Cream In My Coffee. It’s a little too sheer to go over cream; I should have done a couple of coats really or chosen a more opaque colour.

The stencil is smART nails P053, a swirly design. I always use use a dotting tool to press them down. As with any stencil, you have to make sure they are well adhered, otherwise the polish bleeds underneath. What’s particularly good about these stencils is that they are fairly transparent, so you can not only see where to place them, but can also see if you’ve pressed them down properly or not.

Pink  swirls on cream, using smART nails stencil p053
Pink swirls on cream, using smART nails stencil p053

The stencils come in a pack of ten, and these ones have five different designs, each of which is reversed for the other hand. They can be bought online from smART nails and cost $1.99 a pack. They ship worldwide (from Romania) and take a week or two to arrive in the UK. At the moment, during November, there’s a 25% discount – just use code NOV25 during checkout.

smART nails stencils P053
smART nails stencils P053

I’ve managed to successfully re-use my stencils several times. You do have to be sure to replace them on the sheet, then allow them to dry, then clean them carefully with non-acetone remover, and then leave to dry again. For the simpler patterns, I’ve been able to reuse mine several times. They’re not designed to be reused, so it’s a bonus if you can manage it.

 

For this manicure I’ve used:
  • Base colour: four coats of OPI Cream In My Coffee
  • Stencils: smART nails P053
  • Pink: OPI Krème De La Kremlin
  • Top coat: Glisten & Glow HK Girl


All manicure images are copyright to Kerruticles unless otherwise mentioned.
The stencils used for this post were sent to me for review. All views expressed in this post are my own, honest and unbiased opinions.