THIS POST IS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PUEEN COSMETICS. 

I might be a bit of a broken record here, but November is such a weird month for nail art. Sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas, it can be hard to find inspiration. That being said, the idea for this one sort of struck out of nowhere and I am OBSESSED with how it came together in the end. I feel like fall is a perfect time for a smoosh - though I couldn't actually tell you why that just feels like a given to me - and adding some really strong black stamping on top of it creates a beautiful fall design. 

Keep reading for more!

When I was deciding on the color story for this mani, the inspiration really came from the changing of leaves. I wanted those really warm versions of the colors of leaves, so I grabbed for a burnt orange, an olive green, and a mustard-y yellow for a three color smoosh. 

To start, I applied one coat of the mustard shade to all of my nails and let those dry. Next, I went in with my Pueen Latex Cuticle Guard* and applied around the cuticles and right up to the edge of the polish to make for MUCH easier cleanup. If there's one piece of advice that I would offer if you're new to a smoosh - use some sort of cuticle barrier. If you have a latex allergy, Pueen also has a latex free option as well. 

To get the smooshy marble effect, I went in with small dots of my three colors evenly spread over the head of the stamper. Finding the sweet spot for the amount of polish you'll want to use takes a bit of trial and error because too much and too little both have their own issues, so I recommend a bit of practice. I pounced the stamper onto the nail until I got the desired blend and then used a clean up brush dipped in acetone to remove any pooling excess around the cuticles.

Once the smoosh had dried, I went in with a flakie topper just to add a little bit more texture and some shine to the base. Finally, for the stamping, I used this leafy looking image from the Pueen 103 Stamping Plate (from the 24M Stamping Kit) and alternated the direction of placement in order to get a bit more visual interest to the overall design.

Once I was happy with my stamping, I removed the latex and cleaned up the edges before applying a nail art top coat to seal in the design. I finished with a generous layer of glossy top coat for shine and volume - and voila!

I can't even begin to tell you how stoked I am with how this mani turned out. I've been feeling so low on inspiration recently, so it was amazing to sit down to do my nails and come away with this beautiful design. I just absolutely love a smoosh!

If you're interested in any of the Pueen products I used in this mani, they are all available from Amazon and all of them definitely get my stamp of approval.

Thanks for reading!