I prefer stamping with this over straight up black because it smears less easily under top coat.

I received this product in my monthly MXM subscription box. This product, and the gold powder, were the main reason I got this month’s box. I didn’t care much for the stamping plates. So, I was kinda disappointed when it didn’t work. I am pretty good at nail art. I’ve been doing it for a long time now. So, I can safely say I can try this product and be confident in knowing if it really works. I tried various methods using this and the powder, that I’ve seen on YouTube videos before. I even went by the specific instructions provided by Maniology. It didn’t pick up the images. It only picked up small bits here and there, and most of the image was not picked up, no matter the method. This just doesn’t work as a sticky black base. It is no better than the regular black stamping polish sold by Maniology. I can actually say, and it was quite strange to find, that the regular black works slightly better as a sticky black base. I did compare both. The regular black does not work as a sticky base either. But, it did pick up a bit more of images than the sticky black...but, not enough to use as a sticky black stamping polish. If I was rating this polish as regular black stamping polish, I would give 4 stars, since this works well as a black stamping polish, other than being slightly more problematic for smearing and cleaning up than some other black stamping polishes I’ve used. Blacks tend to be problematic for that anyways. But, I’ve noticed Maniology’s can be just slightly worse for smearing and such. Smudge Free top coat is your best friend, when it comes to stamping! Being that this is marketed to be used as a STICKY black stamping polish, I have to give it 1 star. Unless Maniology fixes this formula, you’d be better off trying another brand of sticky black stamping polish...unless you need more black stamping polish anyways, and just wanted to try it as a sticky base. This one does not work as a sticky base. *Please continue to bring out more products for stamping, Maniology. You just needed to work on this one a bit more before releasing it. If you get the kinks worked out and it actually begins to work well as it’s supposed to, it would be nice to have a sticky white base, too. Thanks