35 Nail Art Ideas You Can Actually Do at Home
Most nail art ideas you see online were done by a pro with a gel kit and an hour of patience. The designs below were picked because they look good and can be done at home with regular polish, a toothpick and a bit of tape. Each one lists what you need, and the harder ones say so.
Tools that cover almost every design
You do not need a salon kit. These five things handle nearly everything on this list:
- A base coat and a glossy top coat. The top coat hides small mistakes and makes cheap polish look expensive.
- A dotting tool. A bobby pin, the end of a toothpick or the tip of a ballpoint pen (cleaned) works too.
- A thin brush. An old eyeliner brush or a cheap art brush.
- Striping tape or regular tape. For clean lines and color blocks.
- A makeup sponge. For gradients and fades.
Keep a small brush dipped in nail polish remover for cleaning edges. It does more for a neat result than any design skill.
Easy nail art ideas for beginners
1. Polka dots. Paint a base color, then dot a contrast color with a bobby pin. Try white on red, gold on black, or one dot near the cuticle on each nail for a minimal look.
2. Accent nail. Paint four nails one color and the ring finger a glitter or contrast shade. The easiest way to make a plain manicure look planned.
3. Half moons. Stick a round reinforcement sticker (the kind for hole-punched paper) at the base of each nail, paint over, and peel. You get a clean bare moon at the cuticle.
4. Single line. One thin vertical or horizontal stripe in gold, silver or black over a nude base. Use striping tape if your hand shakes.
5. Mismatched pastels. Each nail a different pastel. Looks deliberate, needs zero skill.
6. Hearts. Two dots side by side, then drag them down to a point with a toothpick. Red hearts on pink, or tiny black hearts on white.
7. Glitter tips. Paint a sheer base, then dab glitter polish only on the top third of the nail and let it fade down.
Nail art ideas for short nails
Short nails look best with designs that make the nail look longer or that use small details.
8. Vertical stripe. A thin stripe from cuticle to tip makes the nail look longer.
9. Micro French. A very thin tip line, almost a hairline. On short nails a classic thick French tip makes the nail look stubby; a micro tip does the opposite.
10. Tiny dots at the base. Three small dots in a curve near the cuticle.
11. Negative space. Leave part of the nail bare: a diagonal half, a thin bare stripe through the middle. Short nails grow out more gracefully with this style.
12. Dark glossy solid. Deep wine, navy or forest green. A dark shade on short, rounded nails is one of the most classic looks there is.
French tip ideas
13. Colored French. Swap the white tip for any color. Pastels in spring, deep red in winter.
14. Double French. Two thin parallel lines at the tip in two colors.
15. V-tip. Paint the tip as a sharp V instead of a curve. Use two pieces of tape to get it clean.
16. Side French. Paint the tip only on one corner of the nail, at an angle.
17. Glitter French. A fine glitter polish on the tip over a sheer pink base. Works well for parties and weddings.
Fall nail art ideas
18. Tortoiseshell. Base of sheer amber, then dab irregular spots of brown and black, and finish with another coat of amber. Looks hard, is mostly random.
19. Plaid. Base color, then crisscross thin stripes in two contrast colors with a brush or striping tape. Red and black, or mustard and brown.
20. Leaves. A single small leaf shape on the accent nail, made with two strokes of a thin brush.
21. Matte burgundy. A deep red with a matte top coat. Simple and very seasonal.
22. Sweater nails. Thick polish painted in short raised lines to imitate a knit pattern. Use a gel or a thick cream polish and let each layer dry.
Winter and Christmas nail ideas
23. Snowflakes. Three crossing lines with a thin brush, then a dot at each end. White on navy or silver on pale blue.
24. Candy cane stripes. White base, then diagonal red stripes with tape.
25. Ornament dots. Big round dots in red, green and gold on a dark base, with a tiny gold line on top of each one as the hook.
26. Icy chrome. A chrome or pearl powder over a pale base. Needs a gel top coat for the powder to stick, so this one is harder at home.
27. Sweater plus glitter. Four sweater nails and one glitter accent. A good choice for holiday photos.
Bold and trendy nail art ideas
28. Aura nails. A soft blurred circle of color in the center of each nail that fades out to the edge. Dab it on with a sponge while the polish is wet.
29. Chrome. Mirror-like silver, gold or pink. Uses a chrome powder over gel.
30. Swirls. Wavy lines in two or three colors, like marbled paper. Draw them with a thin brush in one slow movement.
31. Checkerboard. Small squares in two colors. Use tape for the first set of lines.
32. Smiley faces. Yellow dots with two black dots and a curve. One on each nail, or one on the accent nail.
33. Cat faces. Two small triangles on top of a dot for the ears, then whiskers with the thinnest brush you have. The design that gets the most questions from strangers.
34. Stickers. Nail stickers and decals cover anything you cannot paint: flowers, fruit, cartoon animals. Put a top coat over them so the edges do not lift.
35. Gradient (ombre). Paint two colors side by side on a makeup sponge and press it on the nail two or three times. Clean the skin around the nail with remover afterwards.
How to make nail art last longer
- Push back cuticles and wipe each nail with remover before the base coat. Oil from your skin is the main reason polish peels.
- Paint thin coats. Two thin coats dry faster and last longer than one thick one.
- Wrap the tip: run the brush along the very edge of the nail with each coat, including the top coat.
- Add a fresh layer of top coat every two or three days.
Practice nail art in a game first
Want to try a design before you commit a Saturday afternoon to it? Sticker Nail Studio is a free nail salon game where cat and dog customers bring a reference picture: sunny yellow with stars, midnight claws with grape tips. You pick the shape, paint, add tips, dots, stripes and fades, put on stickers and dry it under the UV lamp. Then the game compares your work with the reference and gives you a match score. There is a Nail of the Day and a free paint mode for trying your own ideas.
More creative games are on our girls games page.