Hey guys! I decided to include an extra nail art post this week because I had to put together something on my nails to do the photos for my Nail Art Hack | Alternative Cuticle Barrier post and I really liked what I did, so of course I had to share. If you haven't checked out that post, I think it's a pretty solid hack and something that some of you could probably use, particularly at this time of year. For the nails, I wanted to do a look that really, really required the cuticle barrier, so I opted for a smoosh mani with stamping, since it would be pretty messy without the help of the liquid latex.

Keep reading for more on this look!

For this mani, I started with one thin coat of TiVoli Metallic Silver polish and let it dry completely. I applied my liquid latex around the cuticles and then put together the shades for my smoosh. Along with the metallic silver polish, I dotted Ceramic Glaze Pure (white créme), Essie Lace To The Altar (sheer shimmery white), and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Grease Lightning (cool toned dark grey créme) onto a large stamper. In order to get a good smoosh, I made sure that I kept the white shades dominant and only added a little of the darker shades so thatthey didn't take over the look. I dabbed the polish onto each nail until I got the look I wanted and then let my nails dry completely.

Once the base was dry, I again applied a coat of liquid latex around the cuticles and let it dry. The stamping plate I used is BM-XL25 and the image I used is actually intended (I believe) to be used to create the look of foamy water, but I think it works really well for a marbled image as well. I wanted to do layered stamping and add a little bit of subtle contrast, so I first stamped the image with TiVoli Rose Gold Metallic polish and then stamped again with the same image using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Grease Lightning. I tried to apply the image at a different angle each time I stamped to create some variation in the look of each nail. 

For top coat, I started with a coat of Essence The Gel Polish Top Coat to seal in the stamping and then followed with a coat of Color Club Matte-ified Matte Top Coat to give a more authentic stone-like look to the overall mani. And voila!

All Products Used

TiVoli Silver Metallic

Ceramic Glaze - Pure

Essie - Lace To The Altar

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Grease Lightning

TiVoli Rose Gold Metallic

BM-XL25 Stamping Plate

Essence The Gel Polish Top Coat

Color Club Matte-ified Matte Top Coat

I really, really like how this stone-like look turned out. I wanted to say it looked like marble, but when I really look at it it feels more like a granite or manufactured stone look. Either way, this is actually a pretty simple technique to get a stone look to the nails and I'm super happy with it. Like I said, if you're looking for a great alternative liquid latex cuticle barrier hack, head over Alternative Cuticle Barrier post to check it out!

Thanks for reading!