Gradient Leopard Print Nails

 
Arden: Hi everyone!  Today I've got this fun twist on leopard print nails!  I promise I saw the idea for these on the internet SOMEWHERE, but of course I forgot to write it down/save it/pin it, so now I can't properly cite my inspiration.  If you happen to see something really similar to these out there, please leave a comment so I can add the original.

I started by painting my nails with two coats of Essie Blanco.  (This isn't my favorite white nail polish ever, but my OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls is running out, so I've been looking to other white polishes in my collection to pick up the slack.)

Then I sponged on a gradient on the tips using the white and a light purple and teal.  For the purple nails I used L'Oreal Royalty Reinvented and for the teal ones I used Zoya Wednesday and then Essie Mint Candy Apple on top of that.  (I originally meant to use the Essie, but had Wednesday sitting on the table next to it and accidentally picked up that and used it before realizing my mistake.)

Then I made some splotches on my nails using Zoya Mira and Zoya Wednesday.  I irregularly outlined those spots using Lisl's black Color Club striper polish.  I tried to make those black outlines in C shapes (so not fully outlining the colored splotch).  In the below picture the purple ones are outlined, the teal ones aren't yet.

Leopard Print Camo Nails

Arden: I've got a crazy nail design for you today!  I just bought a new skirt + cardigan combo in a military green color palette (is there a better word for that color?  forest green? olive green?) and decided I wanted nails to match.

My first thought was to make camo nails, but I wasn't super confident in my ability to recreate camouflage on my nails, so I decided to use some very camo-like colors in a similar pattern that I'd never tried: leopard print.

I started by painting my nails with two coats of OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window (yes, it is actually called that).  I think this shade might have been discontinued, because I bought it in the mark-down bin at my local beauty supply store, so if you love it go searching for it now!  This was my first time trying it out, and I was surprised by how much I loved the luscious forest-y greenness of this polish.

I then used a dotting tool to make uneven splotches all over each nail using Essie Playa del Platinum.