Tutorial: Cheetah/Leopard Print Nails
Right now, I am very much into leopard print everything and anything. I have been buying leopard print wedges and pumps, jewelry, office decor, you name it! I decided to do an at-home leopard print manicure to go along with my current affinity for the print, and you have to trust me when I tell you, it is very easy! You can easily do this manicure by hand at home, like I did, in under thirty minutes. To see a full photographic tutorial,
Materials You Will Need:
- Tan, beige, or gold base nail color, which acts as the color of the leopard’s coat
- Bronze or orange nail color which will mimic a leopard’s spots
- Black nail polish to encase the spots – I used a striping nail art polish, but you can use any black nail polish you own
- Toothpicks
- Paper towel and/or scrap paper
- Top coat
STEP ONE: Apply your base color.
To mimic the natural color of a leopard’s coat, you will want to use a gold, beige, or tan shade as your base nail color. You can use whatever color you have handy. I went with a very neutral beige-tan shade, China Glaze’s “Ingrid,” from the Vintage Vixen Collection.
Apply two coats of your neutral base coat color to all of your nails. To save time and make things easier, you will want to do all of your nails at once, since this polish has to dry in between steps.
STEP TWO: Apply your spots.
Using your bronze/orange nail color, you are going to create your “spots.” I used Sinful Colors “Serena and Chloe,” which is a fiery bronze orange that has shimmer to it.
Using a piece of scrap paper, drop a few drops of your polish down, and use your toothpick as a dotting tool. The tip of your toothpick acts as a perfect, inexpensive dotting tool. As you go along, you may need to drop a few more drops of your bronze/orange color down, which is perfectly fine.
Using your toothpick, dipped into the drops of nail polish, carefully place random dots on your nails. Remember that since every animal is unique, your dots don’t need to be symmetrical or perfect. In fact, the more random and awry your dots are, the more realistic it will look.
STEP THREE: Enclose your spots.
The last step, and the most important in making the look, is to enclose the leopard spots with a black polish. You can use a striping nail art polish like I have above (found at Sally Beauty Supply), or you can use regular black nail polish that you have, and again, use a toothpick just as you did in step two, to create a nail art tool. I used both during my manicure, and I did find the nail art polish to be easier, however.
Using your striping polish or your toothpick, find the natural outlines of the spots you created. Draw random “C” and backward “C” designs in and around the leopard spots. No need to be precise here, since again, every leopard has different spots! In general, you are enclosing the spots natural shape with half-moon type shapes.
To further make the spots look realistic, you can add random black “C” and inverted “C” designs in between the spots as you see fit.
At this point, you will want to let everything dry for a few minutes before applying your favorite top coat. In three easy steps, you’ve created a gorgeous, unique, wild manicure that is sure to garnish a lot of attention!
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