Although pink nail polish isn’t my favourite, I absolutely am cray-cray about neon pinks!
Confession time from a greeeen fieeend: This may be shocking, but I actually like neon pink nail polish better than neon green nail polish.
My birthday’s in February, and when I was thinking about what I should sport on my nails to be festive, at first I thought of using glitter.
But then I remembered how much I loved doing freehand pink and blue leopard nail art before. (I could’ve worn that manicure for a month because I never got sick of it.)
Since it’s been a long time since I last wore leopard nail art, I decided to try it out with a different combination. So here’s the birthday manicure I came up with: Freehand Neon Pink, Silver & Black Leopard Nails!
With the silver base, I think it gave this manicure the bling I desired for it to be festive. But because there’s no glitter, it’s super easy to remove.
All the nail polishes I used are by China Glaze: Shocking Pink (one of my favourite neons), Liquid Leather (my go-to black that I’ve almost finished an entire full-size bottle of), and Millennium (a metallic silver that can also be used for nail stamping).
I will most likely do more leopard manicures because this nail art is soooo easy and fast to do. Plus I like how you don’t need a ton of different colours or nail tools. Although intricate nail designs wow me, I really enjoy sharing designs on here that everyone can replicate, no matter what your skill level. Nail art should be enjoyed by everyone, not just those who can afford to buy all the supplies or who are professionals.
And what I love about the leopard pattern is that it’s not meant to be perfect. The imperfections are what make it cool to look at. (It totally is in harmony with my philosophy that happiness is more important than perfection.)
Neon Pink, Silver & Black Leopard Nail Art Swatches
All swatches have:
- Essie First Base (Base Coat)
- Neon Pink: 1 coat of China Glaze Shocking Pink
- Black: 1 coat of China Glaze Liquid Leather
- Silver: 2 coats of China Glaze Millennium
- Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
Natural Light Photos
Flash Photos
Lately, I just can’t seem to get enough of leopard-print anything!
If you follow me on Instagram, you saw the purple leopard scarf my mom got me after she went on vacation a couple of years ago. You also saw the grey leopard leggings I love lounging in.
Although I like dogs, I have a softer spot for cats of all sizes. Hehe, so maybe if I continue this growing obsession for a few more years, I’ll turn into a big cat. (The Cheshire Cat may have been lacing my bottles of nail polish…Hmm…) 😉
Rawr!
In case you’re curious to learn more about some of the polishes I used in this post or would like to see my step-by-step tutorial on how to recreate leopard nails, please see the below links:
- Leopard Nail Art Tutorial
- China Glaze Shocking Pink Swatches & Review
- China Glaze Liquid Leather Swatches & Review
What animal print do you love wearing on your nails or in fashion accessories? Do you remember what manicure you wore for your most-recent birthday? What was the last freehand nail design you did?
These look great Mary! At first glance I thought it must have been difficult to do them, but on the close up these are easy but very great looking patterns! Love the colour combination! 😀
Hey Stella!
YES – that’s the beauty of the leopard print! 😀 I really want to discover more of these kind of designs that are super easy to do, but that make a big statement. Those are the kind of designs I want to share with you all, too. The more accessible nail art is for everyone, the better!
awwww cute
Hey Icequeen81!
Thank you! And…*RAWR* Hehe, I had to say that. Wish I was a big cat.
I must confess that my favorite nail polish color is neon pink. i have THREE of them.. and I would wear them every single day
I loved these nails, i may copy the color combo.
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Hey mariaemmafaria!
YES – there’s just something about neon pinks, isn’t there? China Glaze Shocking Pink and China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy (more coral pink) are my favourites! If I didn’t have a blog, haha, I might wear those for months straight!
Sure, go ahead and copy the colour combination! Feel free to post a photo of your manicure on my Facebook wall. I’m sure we’d all love to see your beautiful nails!
OMG!!! I just did neon pink yesterday!! XD This is eerie. I absolutely adore your leopard print!! Every time I try to do it I have a hard time getting them to look random. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! *throws confetti*
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Hey Lizzy!
Great nailphiles think alike! Hehe, we’ve been drinking from the same punch! 😉
A little trick for getting the leopard print to look more random? You can try adding irregular-shaped black spots to fill in the spaces in between the colours spots. I didn’t do it for this manicure, but if you look at the link to the pink and blue version, I did that. You can see how just adding those extra black bits really do wonders to blend it all together.
Thank you so much for the birthday wishes! 😀
I love doing leopard nails, because you’re right, they are SO easy! I actually did a leopard mani a couple weeks ago and also used neon pink and black 🙂 (but I had mine on a pale pink base)
Hey Amanda!
Neon pink and black is always a winning combination. You really can’t go wrong! 😉
P.S. I love how yours was on a pale pink base. That sounds sweet!
I love the colors you used! Very Lisa Frank notebookish. :p
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Hey Jasmine!
Now that you mention it, yeah, I can see the Lisa-Frank vibe! Cool…hehe, even if it wasn’t intentional.
I think your nails would look great, dare I say fabulous, with a Sqouval shape. You should give it a try. Pretty Please
Hey Daphane!
You know what? I’ve tried reshaping my nails a year or year and a half ago because I LOVE squoval nails. However, I’m not great at shaping my nails, so it turned out awful…haha! So, while I admire squovals on others, I seem to only be able to pull off my natural oval-ish nail shape. Aww…
what a lovely colour comb , lovely design !
Hey shaimaa!
Thank you so much! I seriously didn’t want to remove this design. I could easily wear leopard print on my nails for months straight!