So it seems the heatwave has sadly gone and Autumn is officially here, which isn't such a bad thing as it can mean different makeup, new trends and for me it definitely means different nails.
In Autumn I live in opaque black tights, black dresses, basically black and more black! So I do like nail art as even when it's subtle it does stand out and I actually get people noticing my nails even when paying for things which is nice!
I know that some people feel that leopard print nails have been overdone now but I personally do like them still and love the shades you can use to create the print in Autumn/Winter especially with bronze/gold nail polishes and even glitter around the Christmas party season. The possibilities with Leopard print nails are endless!
Here are the kind of products you will need to create the print
- Taupe shaded nail polish (I used Models Own Concrete Mixer)
- An opaque white (used Collection 200 French White)
- A toothpick or just something pointy
- A soft brown shade ( used Maybelline Forever Strong Rosy Sand)
- A black nail art pen (used Stargazer) or liquid eyeliner would work*
* I normally would use a liquid eyeliner pen, however I really like the Stargazer Nail Pen as it is really opaque and very easy to handle compared to others I have tried in the past. However if you really let the brown splodges fully dry in step 2 you could use a black Sharpie pen instead of a nail art pen. But the nails have to be fully dry or else the pen will drag the nail polish.
1. Firstly paint your nails in the shade you want the base to be and let them dry.
2. Next you want to dip the tooth pick into the white nail polish and with the side of the tooth pick place some of the white polish on the nail and then with the end and the side softly spread the white polish upwards while also creating different strokes.
3. Do this to each nail and leave to dry. This really doesn't need to be neat at all as it just gives a bit of texture and a background to the print. But you do need a soft hand as you can score though to your base polish if you aren't careful - as you can see with the line on my ring finger nail.
4. For this step all you need to do it create irregular splodges on the nails by removing a lot of the nail polish excess on to the neck of the nail polish bottle and then touching the tip of the nail polish brush onto the nails. You just want to make sure the splodges don't look too sheer - but if they do then just apply a bit more nail polish.
At this step you really want to make sure the splodges are properly dry before continuing as this is the stage that is can be messed up if the splodges are still wet.
5. Again this is pretty easy and you can definitely get away with being slightly messy. You want to basically go around the splodges and do a few dots on the background just so it doesn't look too neat. Also doing different marks on each nails looks good.
6. Finally once the black nail polish is dry you want to finish off with a top coat as I always find it makes everything look smoother and just finished off.
So this is just really simple and quick but it never fails to look neat and detailed. This is ideal to wear on the nails anytime. But I find this looks best when wearing a slouchy jumper or just something warm and comfy.
Over the next few weeks I'm going to try and get a few more nail tutorial up in time for Halloween. So I'm thinking some fun mummy nails, some nails that will be ideal if you are being a cat or witch and whatever else I can think of!
