Espresso Leopard Tip nails

Coffin · Leopard Tip

Salon or steady hand

Espresso with print rather than colour at the tip — Bare Rosé rings, Bitter Chocolate accents, inside the smile line.

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 coffin shape there is more flat nail than almost anywhere else on the site, so a dense or textured finish has room to be seen.

Make it yours

Pick a part of the nail, then a shade
Base: Espresso · Crème Open the bottle

Bottles for this nail

Tap a bottle to open it on the shelf

What you need

Sheer base milky wash
Tip colour liner brush
Gloss top seal the smile

How to paint Espresso Leopard Tip nails

  1. 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. 2 Mark the smile line, then fill inside it with broken Bare Rosé rings and Bitter Chocolate flecks.
  3. 3 Gloss top coat, cure, then cuticle oil once it is out of the lamp.

Questions about Espresso Leopard Tip

  • Is Espresso Leopard Tip 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 Leopard Tip?

    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 Leopard Tip work on short nails?

    Coffin is the one shape here that genuinely needs length. On a short nail there is not enough free edge to cut square, and it will read as a squoval instead.

  • How many coats does Espresso Leopard Tip 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.

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