Review of CICI&SISI Jumbo Series 1 Stamping Plates

Hi Lovelies! Although a day late, I'm still in keeping with the New Year's resolution to show my stamping plate collection on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Today I would like to review the CICI&SISI Jumbo Series 1 stamping plates. There are now 4 series plus a few single plates available from the CICI&SISI brand. I only own the first two series, the second of which I will show you next weekend...

Each CICI&SISI Series consists of 6 jumbo stamping plates. They are color coded and come in their own album holder. Series 1 is white and includes a white album and white plastic backing with the logo and company website.

The plate holders are set up similarly to a 4x6 photo album. The first half of the pages are loaded from the back and the rest from the front, which can be slightly irritating. There are 10 pages in each album which leaves a few empty slots when all 6 plates are tucked away.

Each plate comes with the standard blue protective cover which needs to be removed prior to stamping. As I already mentioned, the plates are backed with a nice sturdy plastic which has the CICI&SISI logo plus website on it. The backing has been re-designed from when I purchased the set a year ago, but the color remains white.

Each set comes with a small squishy gray stamper and metal scraper. The stamper does need some priming, but then works great at picking up designs and transferring. If you are unfamiliar with priming and are interested in a post on this topic, please let me know. As for the scraper, I have not tried it out since I prefer not to use metal scrapers on my plates to avoid scratching them, instead I use an old credit card.

To sweeten the deal even more, the set comes with some fun water nail decals. This is listed as available for a limited time only so don't count on it being included.

The stamping plates measure 9.5x14.5cm (not including the backing). Each plate contains 24 full size nail images and 12 small images in between. A total of 216 images in this set. The full size nail images measure 15x19mm which I find to be a great size.

Most of the images stamp great, although I have had trouble with some images not transferring properly. These seem to be the images along the edges of the plate where it is slightly curved. I end up trying different ways of scraping (up, down, toward the center or outside of the plate). Although it can be a frustration, I typically end up finding a good angle to pick up the image.

And now finally on to show you the plates! Hopefully I didn't forget to mention anything.

CICI&SISI 01
Lots of great images on this plate. I do wish some patterns, such as the windmill on this plate and beach image on the next plate, were smaller to fit the whole image onto one nail...

CICI&SISI 02

My plate 02 is defective, the bride owl if missing a face. This seems to be a problem with the initial release of the plates and in more recent reviews that I have seen, this was corrected. When I purchased these a year ago, everyone got the same defect so I didn't bother to seek a replacement.

A screenshot from the manufacturer website shows that the owl now has a face. So have no fear all you owl lovers out there!

CICI&SISI 03
Lots of awesome designs on this plate. I'm really drawn to the floral henna like patters in the bottom row. You can maybe see the white glow over the patterns on the right side of this plate. This is because as I mentioned, the plates have a slight curve toward the edges. Since the plate is not laying flat against my scanner, it shows up with this white glow. This curve can interfere with stamping and it works best to scrape toward the middle or edge of the plate.

CICI&SISI 04

CICI&SISI 05
Ah! How cute is that little piggy at the bottom center?

CICI&SISI 06

Overall I am happy with these plates. If I had to do it again, I would definitely still purchase this set. Despite their few flaws, they provide a really great variety of images. The size of the full size images if perfect for my usual nail length (~14-16mm). I don't have to worry about them being too short or way too big and loosing detail. I love that a stamper is included, making it really great for someone just getting started and not wanting to purchase everything separately. Although on the other hand, the difficulty picking up images along the edge might make it rather frustrating for a beginner.

The plates are available from Amazon.com or directly from ciciandsisi.com. Each set retails for $29.99
I'll be honest, this initially seemed like a lot for one set, but here is how I justified it to myself (in case you need an excuse too ;)). $30/set = $5 per plate which is actually cheaper if you compare to plates this size from other plate makers. Moreover, if you compare to standard size round plates such as Pueen Love Elements that typically contains 4 full size images and 2 smaller ones, this one plate contains the same amount of images as 6 Pueen plates. The Pueen Love Elements are $19 for 24 plates or ~79 cents/plate. Six plates at 79 cents is $4.74 which is pretty darn close to the $5 for one CICI&SISI plate. So in other words, although it seems like a lot, per image these are priced comparable to most standard sets which have less images. Plus this set includes a stamper/scraper (and decals for now) which most sets don't. Phew! That was way to intense, right? Are you still with me here?

I seem to have been drawn to CICI&SISI 02 the most because all of my manicures so far using this set, come from this one plate. Guess I better get a move on using some of the other plates...


You can see more of my manicures using CICI&SISI plates here.

UPDATE: My review of the 2nd series of plates is posted here!

What do you think of these plates?  Do you have them? Do the images appeal to you?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Nothing to declare. Stamping plates purchased with my own money. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **