Can You Use Regular Polish For Nail Stamping – Pros & Cons

In this article, we will be discussing whether you should use regular nail polish to do nail stamping or whether you need to invest in specialized stamping polish.

Can You Really Use Regular Polish To Do Nail Stamping

Regular nail polishes can be used for nail stamping. But, in my opinion, they come with a lot of drawbacks.

You see normal polishes are much harder to work with and they won’t create amazing imprints like stamping polish. Citation.

Stamping Polishes are super affordable and they make amazingly brilliant nail art.

But most importantly they are much easier to use and as I am sure you already know nail stamping can be tedious especially as a beginner. So anything you can do to make it easier is a huge plus.

That’s why I would advise anyone who is serious about nail stamping to invest in good tools such as a great set of stamping polish. You can click here to read my top recommendation for stamping polishes.

Additionally, if you are on a budget you can also thicken your regular polishes to make it a bit better for nail stamping. I have a short guide on how you can easily do so click here to read it

Cons of Regular Polishes in Comparison to Stamping Polish

1- Harder To Work With

Regular polishes are much more watery and thin in comparison to stamping polish.

So this means that the polish won’t cling to the ridges and grooves of the stamping plates instead it would just run off making it harder for the nail stamp to pick it up and get a clear imprint.

2 – Won’t Give You Vibrant Colors

Regular polishes tend to have much less colored pigments so this means that these polishes won’t create brilliant designs like a stamping polish.

You see the imprints made on your nails are very thin so you need your polish to be as bright as possible for it to show clearly and the more pigmented a polish is the more bright the design will be.

3- Dries Too Fast

Normal polishes dry faster than stamping polishes, this means that if you use regular polishes for nail stamping you have to move more quickly so as to prevent the polish from either drying on the plates or on the stamp.

Nail stamping can be a bit tedious so the last thing you need to do is hurry and if you use a stamping polish you would have more time so you can be more accurate.

You can click here to read my recommendations on the Best and Cheapest Nail Stamping Polishes.

Bonus Tip

Now if you are planning to still use a regular polish I would advise that you look for polishes that would cover your nails fully opaque with one coat.

Added to that metallic and matte polishes work better for stamping this is because they tend to be thicker.