Espresso Houndstooth nails
Espresso with a Bare Rosé houndstooth repeat — four strokes per tooth, and they have to interlock.
3 bottles: Espresso, Bare Rosé and Bitter Chocolate. Espresso against Bare Rosé is a hard contrast, so the motif reads from across a room, and any wobble in the line reads with it. The bottles are not all the same finish (crème and sheer), so the pattern picks up light differently from the ground.
On a squoval the design has real width to work across, and the rounded corners are what stop the straight walls catching on things.
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Bottles for this nail
Tap a bottle to open it on the shelfWhat you need
How to paint Espresso Houndstooth nails
- 1 Buff, dehydrate and base coat, then cure. Two coats of Espresso. A dark base shows every ridge, so the ridge-filling base coat matters more than usual here.
- 2 Build each Bare Rosé tooth from four short strokes and let them interlock with the next.
- 3 Gloss top coat, cure, then cuticle oil once it is out of the lamp.
Questions about Espresso Houndstooth
Is Espresso Houndstooth hard to do at home?
It is the hardest tier on the site. It is doable at home, but the technique is the point rather than the colour. Budget an hour or more for a full set, and three colours means three chances for something to bleed, so cure between each one rather than working wet on wet.
What polish do I need for Espresso Houndstooth?
3 bottles: Espresso (crème), Bare Rosé (sheer) and Bitter Chocolate (crème). Plus a base coat and a gloss top coat, which every design here assumes you already have.
Does Espresso Houndstooth work on short nails?
A squoval works short: you lose canvas width rather than length, so the motif just sits closer together.
How many coats does Espresso Houndstooth need?
More than you would expect. Bare Rosé is translucent, so the colour builds over three thin coats rather than covering in two. Stop wherever you like the depth — that is the point of a sheer.