Polishment

'Ello there! May I introduce one of my new favorites: butter LONDON's Teddy Girl*. I've been hoarding this color since spring; I was waiting until I had a whisper of a tan so that I could really show her off. And oh, some things are truly worth waiting for. I LOVE this color.

At first glance, Teddy Girl looks very similar to Essie Fiji. I know, I know — I was thinking that, too. My issue with Essie Fiji is that it is very streaky. You must have a light hand, and even then, the consistency tends to be a bit thick, so the only manicures with Essie Fiji that I've been satisfied with are when I glopped on three coats. And I really hate to do that.

I brought my brand new butter LONDON Teddy Girl to my nail appointment at Bellacures recently. I warned the nail technician — with colors like this, they tend not to go on evenly, so three coats might be a necessity. He admitted that this sometimes happens.

Together, we watched with anticipation as he worked on my right hand. The first coat was done... time to inspect. I raised my eyebrows in disbelief as I turned my hand this way and that.

It looked like I had two coats on already! Incredible! I hmmmmed with pleasant surprise. He nodded in agreement. This was fine polish. Nail polish of The Quality. Smooth, highly pigmented and such a great color for anyone's stash. [Side note, it's not a dupe for Fiji, don't let your eyes deceive you. Teddy Girl is a cooler, brighter, whiter pink. Fiji is softer and warmer; somewhat more subtle.]

I love this shade so much that I even got a pedicure with it, too! For the first time in eons, all 20 of my nails matched. I felt like such a lady.

Two days passed. I was staring at the pale pink canvases that were my ladylike nails and I thought, well I suppose I could spice it up, just a little bit... and BAM! Leopard nailz.

Leopard spots are a piece of cake. I used a dotting tool to make small, irregular gray dots using ORLY Mirror Mirror. Then I used my bottle of ORLY Instant Artist in black to outline the dots I'd made. The outline doesn't need to be perfect (in fact, if it's a little sloppy...or we can be kind and say "organic," all the better). I was inspired by some of my pins on Polishment: THE BOARD!

Have you guys tried any DIY leopard spots? I was thinking it might look cool if I added some smaller dots next time, like this:

dotdotdot, Francesca

*product provided for honest review