Nail stamping videos are my new Instagram obsession
This post is part of Hard Refresh, a soothing weekly column where we try to cleanse your brain of whatever terrible thing you just witnessed on Twitter.
Forget soap cutting videos -- nail stamping videos are the brain massage you'll want to watch all day long.
It's possible that you've at one point stumbled across a nail stamping video while scrolling through your Instagram Explore feed. If you're anything like me, you might have let Instagram's autoplay feature take over and drag you down a rabbit hole of women creating dazzling nail art.
It's an incredibly soothing genre of video -- there's something deeply calming about watching a person create tiny works of art on clean nail beds.
These artists get super creative with nail stamping, color blending, and other techniques used for creating elaborate designs, like this ombre flower from @polishpixie92.
Though the designs look complicated to create, the nail stamping process is pretty simple. Artists swipe nail polish over a metal stamping plate etched with designs, and then use a silicone stamper to pick up the polish caught in the etched recesses of the plate. Then they use polish to color in the design on the stamper and press it onto the nail. Lots of artists combine stamping with other nail art techniques like marbling or ombré painting.
Much like ASMR videos, watching artists work with nail stamps just gets to me. I can't quite put a finger on it -- unlike typical ASMR videos, which are often satisfying because of the sounds they produce, watching the stamping process unfold is strictly visual. It's like someone scratching a part of my brain that I didn't know itched.
Plus, the finished product is always gorgeous.
There's something almost hypnotic about watching the stamper pick up the design. Would I go through all of the effort of buying these products, learning to use them, and doing this for all ten of my nails? Probably not. But will I keep watching these nail stamping videos? Absolutely.
Topics Instagram
