Monday, December 5, 2016

Cici & Sisi Acrylic Stamping Plate Review

Press  Sample

Hey there!  Today I'm reviewing a product that I've never tried before - the acrylic stamping plates from Cici & Sisi.  I first purchased from Cici & Sisi years and years ago when I bought their first two collections.  Even back then, their quality was on point so I was excited to try these acrylic plates out.      And they've also ventured into the world of layered stamping images which are always fun.  In today's review I have two of these layered stamping plates (Flowers 02 and Mandala 01) and one regular plate (Wedding Season 02).


So what's the difference between acrylic and metal stamping plates?  I'm not entirely sure.  These acrylic plates are thicker than a standard plate but they feel very light, which would be nice if you're transporting plates around like I do back and forth to the lake in the summer.  Other than that, I can't say I found much difference.  The etching looks like it isn't very deep but the images do work like a charm.  After scraping, it looked like too much polish was left on the plate but they picked up as desired.  And I did like that the plate looked pretty because the colors from the back show through a little.  Each plate measures 9.5 cm x 9.5 cm.  Here's a picture of the thickness.  As you can see, it's nothing extreme.  




Flower 02 is the first of the plates I'm looking at today.  As you can probably tell, it's layered-style stamping plate with 4 full flower images and 2 leaf images.  However, and I might be blind here, I'm not sure what the second row from the top is.  The shapes don't seem to coincide with any of the detailed images so, if you know, I'd love to hear it.  


For my mani, I used most of the flowers on this plate.  I used a base of Femme Fatale Cote D'Opale and did the layered stamping with Mundo de Unas White, Blue, Navy Blue, Black and Yellow.  The only issue I had was the scraping of the first layer (with the most wide open space).  This is always an issue with layered plates like this so be sure to scrape lightly and at a shallow angle.  




Mandalas are hot image these days and Cici & Sisi did a great job putting together two mandala plates so far.  There are three different sized circles which could be mixed and matched in almost any combination.  


My mani was super easy to do.  I used KBShimmer My Life's Porpoise and then stamped with Mundo de Unas Aqua, Pastel Pink and Yellow.  I finished by adding a tiny Swarovski crystal to the centre of each mandala.  





Cici & Sisi have titled this series Wedding Season but these images are pretty for every season.  They're all classy and feminine images.  The larger images measure 16 x 20 mm and the smaller ones measure approximately 14 x 10 mm.  Of the three plates I tried out for today's post, this is the only non-layered plate so I did some really simple stamping with it. 


For these I simply stamped Mundo de Unas White over Cirque Colors Tanzanite and topped with HK Girl.  Easy peasy.  


Overall, I'm pleased with these acrylic plates from Cici & Sisi.  While I'm still not sure if acrylic has an advantage over steel, I was happy that the stamping method/results is equal to that I get with most steel plates.  And they have a mid-price point at $5.99/plate - not the most or least expensive plates on the market.  I'd suggest checking out their website and see if any of the designs pique your interest.


$5.99/plate
Available at Cici & Sisi

'Til next time...


No comments: