Polishing

The player polishing a garden wagon.

Polishing is a gameplay element introduced in the Happy Home Paradise DLC for Animal Crossing: New Horizons that gives players the opportunity to add effects to furniture items. While inside their own home, or while customizing another villager's interior or inside Photopia, the player can press the L button to switch to polishing mode. While in polishing mode, the player's outfit will change accordingly. The outfit that the player dons cannot be purchased separately.

The polishing outfit used by the player. These pieces of clothing are only worn when polishing and cannot be obtained as items.

Once the player is in polishing mode, the player can select a furniture item to polish by pressing the A button. The player can hold the A button to boost the polishing effect dramatically. If the player wants to delete the current polishing, they can simple press A on the furniture item to wipe it off. The player can also select another polishing effect to override the current effect on a furniture item. Custom designs can also be used in tandem with the polishing effect.

Polishing can be learned from Niko while in the process of completing the fourth house for Paradise Planning. Initially, only one polishing effect, Sparkleblast, is obtained, but after completing the twelfth house, the player will unlock the remaining 13 polishing effects and have the ability to use custom designs with polishing.

List of polishing effects[edit]

Polishing effect		Description
Sparkleblast		When used, furniture items will give off a spark of light. This effect is the only one available at first after unlocking the ability to polish.
Pitterpat		When used, furniture items will pop out heart icons.
Dizzyspin		When used, furniture items will sporadically pop rotating swirl icons.
Spaceblip		When used, a beam of blue light will appear in and around a furniture item.
Dripdrop		When used, water droplets will continuously drop from a furniture item.
Fuzzybubs		When used, furniture items will have a fuzzy bubble effect.
Gloomswirl		When used, a black dust will swirl around a furniture item.
Steamshine		When used, steam will surround the highlighted furniture item.
Brrrbrrr		When used, a freezing effect will be applied to a furniture item.
Zappamatic		When used, electricity will be applied to a furniture item.
Stressbuzz		When used, streams of four lines will sprung away from a furniture item.
Bobbleshock		When used, a rumbling effect will occasionally pop around a furniture item. This effect will grow larger if polished longer.
Flutterflap		When used, yellow, pink, and white butterflies will fly around a furniture item.
Chatterblurb		When used, a chat bubble will appear on a random part of the furniture. If polished long enough, the chat bubble will be larger and will only appear in one place.