Finger-fabulous Friday: I heart leopard print Beauty Care

Since I'm a bit (ehem) late with today's (yesterday's?) Talon-tastic Thursday, I thought I'd show you two slightly different takes on my current favourite heart 'n' leopard print design to try and make up for the tardiness. 

{taken with Instagram, colours are brighter In Real Life} 

This here is China Glaze For Audrey with Barry M Peach Melba on the accent nail. The leopard print and heart details were created using my black Sally Hansen nail art pen.

Does the accent nail remind you of anything? Like, say, a pair of shoes that one might covet with covety covetousness?

Like, say, these beauts, which will never be mine because I didn't buy them when they were actually in the shops and they are now absolute unobtanium?

*Weeps quietly in a corner.*

That paint job lasted a solid 7 days before any of the nails chipped, and I'm damned if I can work out why. I slapped on a layer of basecoat (Orly Bonder) and topcoat (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri) as normal and then did all the things you're not supposed to do with your nails (as normal) and it still looked almost perfect when the time came to take it off. 

Usually I get about 2-3 days out of a mani before the first chips appear, so that kind of performance is almost unheard of.

Yesterday, I decided to try Rimmel Lycra Pro in Peppermint. Now, Peppermint's not a dead on dupe of For Audrey. It's lighter, brighter, reads more like a pastel, and is a smidge more green-leaning. 

It isn't, however, a hundred million miles off. Here's a more colour-accurate shot of China Glaze in action and one of Rimmel Peppermint:

{Yuck. Those nails are waaay too long on me.}

{Ah, that's better.}

Of course, within 24 hours I'd gotten busy with a nail art pen (the black from my Nails Supreme set this time) and OPI's ElePhantastic Pink and scrawled all over Peppermint's shiny blue-green ass.