When I set out to do today's mani, it wasn't really with the explicit intention to recreate art projects from elementary school on my nails... but it's definitely what ended up happening. I'm sure that using leaves to stamp and create fun designs was a pretty common project that most of us did at some point and it gives such a specific look that as soon as I looked down at this finished mani that's exactly what it reminded me of. Well, either the specific use of leaves or carving potatoes to look like leaves and then stamping those, it also very much gives that appearance. 

Anyway, I'll stop rambling about childhood art projects and get to the... adult art project? Ahem...

I decided to go full on classic fall for this color story - more primary school than pumpkin spice, if you will - using bright yellow and orange créme stamping polishes along with metallic golden red stamping polish to add a little bit of subtle shine to the stamping design. I really do think that the stamping polishes I used for this drove that youthful art project vibe.

For my base, I decided to go with a polish that is very, very quickly becoming a favorite nail art base for me - Girly Bits' Budget Smudget *(which I CONSTANTLY want to spell Schmudget....) This was, I believe, a Polish & Beauty Expo exclusive shade that I had a friend pick up for me because I just... absolutely had to have it. Had to. It's described as an ivory crelly base with copper/pink to copper gold shimmer and orange/pink/copper/gold shifting iridescent flakes. It's a pretty sheer polish that stays quite see through even built up. Honestly... this is so stunning and is going to be another one of those shades that I'm so madly in love with and want to use constantly, but also hoard because I can't get a backup and wahhhhhhh me. 

Anyway, I applied two coats of Budget Smudget as my base. 

I really think this sort of marbled stamping technique is pretty much perfect for fall leaves designs because they sort of mimic the almost random feeling way that the leaves change color and really evoke that classic, vibrant fall foliage that I think we all get in mind when we think of changing leaves. This technique is actually pretty easy as long as you're able to work fairly quickly. I started by applying dots of each of the three polishes sort of randomly over the stamping image, being mindful of spacing them out and also balancing the amount of each color. Next, using a very, very light hand I scraped over the image twice to blend the colors and then used a firmer hand to go in and do my final scrape for pickup. And then just... stamping as usual. For this design. I applied the full image to my two middle fingers as well as my thumb and then used my lint roller to remove about half of the image at a diagonal for application to my first and pinkie fingers. The partially covered nails ended up being pretty subtle, but I do think it adds a little bit of visual interest for sure.

Once I was happy with my stamping, I sealed it in with a nail art top coat and then followed with a generous layer of glossy top coat for shine. And voila!

Honestly, in the middle of doing this mani I wasn't quite sure how it was going to turn out, but I really do love the final result. It's just a super simple, a little bit nostaligic fall mani and I just love that. It's also one of those designs that's sort of deceptively easy to put together. It looks much more complicated than it really is and I think it's definitely something that a beginner stamper starting to transition into more complicated techniques should definitely give a go!

If you want to see the video tutorial for this mani, be sure to head over to @pblnails on Instagram and follow me there to keep up on all of my nail art designs! Also, don't forget to head over to Cosmetic Proof and See The World In PINK today for more fall themed nails for this week's #CBBxManiMonday!

Thanks for reading!

asklfja