how do i get my buttercream to look smooth, i try and try and i can get it almost right, but not quite, i'm sure this questions been asked a thousand times, but any advice would be appreciated
thanx

You need to start with a great butter cream recipe. I had the same problem until I tried sugarshacks butter cream. She has a video(it is great and it helps!!) here is the link, you can watch it here

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=zB4ibkH0V_4


and here is her recipe. I know there are a lot of amazing butter cream recipes on here, this is just what worked for me! Hope it helps!

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-5163-Sugarshacks-icing-and-Tips.html

There are many helpful ways to get perfection.
SugarShack's recipe & method are great!
But most of all it takes practice, practice, practice

Agree with the practice, practice practice.

I use a bench scraper to take the preliminary layer of icing off, then I Melvira it (home page ... articles ... scroll down).

thanx everyone for your advice i've checked out several videos and am on my way to practice practice practice, i'm not sure how much more buttercream i can convince my family to eat,
also i'm going to try the sugar shack recipe, and see if that helps
thanxx