Lisa Frank Inspired Ombre Leopard Print Nail Art

These Lisa Frank inspired nails are definitely in my top 5 favorite nails I've ever done. That being said, I thought I would give you a tutorial on the simplified version of this look that still pays homage to the iconic look of Lisa Frank!

Step 1: The Base

Paint your nails with a white polish. This will help your colors really pop!

Step 2: The Iconic Gradient

Using a makeup sponge and generous amounts of polish, paint stripes of the colors you want to use in your gradient, overlapping the colors just a bit. I went for the full gradient, using dark purple, light purple, pink, yellow, mint, and blue. The trick to getting a good stamp out of it is to make sure you paint wide enough strips on the sponge (as to cover the full width of the nail), and to NOT press down hard when you stamp your nail. You just want to use a light amount of pressure. This allows the polish to transfer thickly to your nail versus absorbing more into the sponge.

I wasn't quite happy with the opacity of my colors, so I took my purple, blue, and pink and dabbed a little bit more onto the nail. I wouldn't recommend doing this as you can really tell the difference between where you did and didn't do this step, and that can get messy.

Lastly, I used a cheap clear coat to smudge the colors around before they dried too much. This helps the gradient look more complete, in my opinion. I used a cheap clear coat because I find that those are more likely to smudge your work, and in this case, that's exactly what you want! But be careful with this step. If you work on any area too much you risk wiping away the color to reveal the white, or picking up a color on the brush and bringing it where it isn't meant to go!

Step 3: Showing Your Spots

Using a black Migi Nail Art pen (or a nail art brush dipped in black polish), create your basic leopard print shapes. The best way I can explain to do this is to make various crooked horseshoe/"n" shapes, or sort of ( ) shapes. Mix it up, play around with the shapes - no leopards are perfect! That's what I love so much about leopard prints - they are supposed to be imperfect!

Step 4: Filling in the Gaps

Finally, fill in the gaps between your spots by creating little dots or tiny lines.

Make sure to let your nails dry completely before *carefully* painting your top coat. Black polish has a big tendency to smudge and I would hate for you to ruin all of your hard work and cute nails in the final step!

Enjoy! :)