Abstract Beads

Hiya, folks! Mr ACD had to work today, but we managed to go out for a very early sushi dinner. Baby ACD was a total champ and happily played through dinner. She’s very curious, and I’m loving how much she enjoys people-watching and looking around when we’re out. After we got home, I had an hour to play and I did a quick smoosh mani. All the way home, I kept seeing freezing rain warnings on the roads, so I picked some springy colours to brighten up the day.

It was one of the very rare times when I didn’t even apply base coat! I started off with a thin coat of Tonic Polish Light of Alexandria. Once that was dry, I applied a couple of drops each of Tonic Polish Rainbowfish, Luminescent and Light of Alexandria, and Color Club French Tip (a plain white crème). I used a dotting tool to swirl them together, then a stamper to smoosh it. I let the polish dry on the stamper for about 30 seconds, then stamped it on my nails. I love how quick and easy this was and there was practically no drying time involved! I wish I had taken the time to put some liquid latex or Elmer’s glue around my nails, though, because that would have made clean-up a breeze. However, because the stamper applies such a thin layer onto the nail, cleaning up didn’t take too long. Finally, I topped it all off with ILNP Spaced Out, a blue-purple flakie topper, to add a little more sparkle.

I stamped over the smoosh using Moyra black stamping polish and Creative Shop plate-22. This image is one of my all-time favourite ones ever, and the reason I bought this plate.

I love smoosh manis, but don’t end up doing them as often as I would like because they get so messy. I’m glad I’ve found a way that makes it much quicker and easier. I’ll leave you with some close-ups, and try to sneak away from this sleeping baby!

[Edited to add:]

I later updated this mani with some texture polish for #texturenailluminati. I love how it turned out!