So I have to admit that even though this is my sixth Valentine's Day themed mani this year and I'm not even really a big Valentine's Day kind of a girl, I'm sad to see the theme go. I am and apparently forever will be a woman who just really, really loves a theme. I decided for today's mani to keep it fairly simple with a pink holo dominant smoosh base and one of my all time favorite heart stamping images, which I just really, really wanted to pull out for a mani again this year. 

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For the smoosh, I decided to lean heavily into linear holos, which I think needed a little love in my collection since I don't reach for them all that often anymore. I decided to go with three different pink shades from Color Club, which I think all lean a little towards fuchsia/purple in undertone. I also decided to add a sort of lighter, cotton candy pink créme shade to add a little bit of dimension to the texture. I find that sometimes a smoosh of only linear holos can actually end up a little bit muddy and flat, so adding that créme finish really helps to avoid that.

To start, I applied one coat of the medium depth pink shade to all of my nails as my base. I always like to put a layer of polish under my smooshes in order to give the smoosh something to stick to as well as ensure that there aren't any bare spots left after the smoosh. Then I applied my cuticle barrier to all of my nails to make cleanup a little easier after the smoosh. 

To create the smoosh, I like to do it straight on my stamper head and I always use a large stamper with good visualization for this step. Basically all I do is apply small dots of each of my polishes to the stamper head, building a sort of random cluster, and then I pounce the stamper onto the nail a few times to blend the polishes and create that marbled look. Once all of my nails had been smooshed, I went in and removed any pools of polish around the cuticles with a clean up brush dipped in acetone since I wasn't going to be removing the latex barrier right away.

Once my smoosh was dry to the touch, I went in with my stamping. I really wanted to keep the stamping on this one super straightforward, so I just went in with white stamping polish and applied the same image on all of my nails. I love this image so much and I really don't think that it needs anything else to make a great mani.

Once I was happy with my stamping I removed the cuticle barrier and cleaned up the edges for a nice crisp edge. Next, I sealed in the design with a nail art top coat before finishing with a generous layer of quick dry glossy top coat. And voila!

Ahhhh I'm just so in love with this stamping image and I'm so happy with how this mani turned out. It's pretty much exactly what I had pictured in my head when I decided to do this mani. Also, I don't think this one has to be for Valentine's Day, even though that was the theme I was going with. Anyway, I love this so much and I'm happy it's what I'll be wearing for actual Valentine's Day. 

Be sure to head over to Cosmetic Proof and See The World In PINK for more #CBBxManiMonday nails!

Thanks for reading!