Valentine’s Day Nail Designs: The 17 Beautiful Valentine’s Day Nail Designs + Photos
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs: Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! One thing you need (besides a gift for your Valentine or BFF) is a killer on-theme manicure. It’s the perfect occasion to sport hot pink nails, French tips, ease into pastel colors for spring, or try those heart shaped nail stickers you’ve been holding onto.
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, From hearts and flowers to pretty pearl accents, creating your own Valentine’s Day nail look is easier than you think. Need a little inspo? We’ve rounded up some super fun mani ideas with help from celeb nail artists Hannah Lee and Steph Stone, plus lots more to get you started. Continue reading for our best Valentine’s Day nail art ideas that you’re sure to fall for.
1. Mini Hearts
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, [Insert heart eyes emoji] and that’s us when we saw these adorable, tiny heart accents by Lee. With a neutral base coat and alternating colored hearts, it’s a fresh, and fun take on your traditional Valentine’s Day heart nails. The best part? You can customize it with any colors you want—blues, purples, even neons—keep the base color muted and it’ll go with all your looks.
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, To create it, apply two coats of MISCHO Nail Polish in Angel and let it dry. Then, use a dotting tool or toothpick dipped in light pink, purple, or red polish and apply two vertical dots at the base of your nail (one for the tip of the heart, and one where the arches of your heart will meet). Use the dotting tool to finish your heart shape, then fill it in with polish using a thin paintbrush.
2. Modern Animal Print
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, Edgy, sexy, a little bit wild—we love this take on the animal print nail trend by Stone. She uses nude, black, and red to create a totally unique mani that’ll pair perfectly with your LBD or your fuzziest sweater.
To create it, Stone says to alternate painting your nails with nude and black polish. On your black nails, use a white polish to paint two half circles on each side of the tip of your nails as the base for your heart-shape French tip. While they dry, move on to your nude nails and use a dotting tool to paint tiny spots with brown polish. Then, use a striping brush to add little black C-shapes around the brown spots. Go back to your black nails and paint red polish over the white areas (the white helps the red pop!), then apply a clear top coat over all.
3. Matte Candy Hearts
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, What’s sweeter than this candy heart-inspired mani by Lee? Not much, tbh. It’s guaranteed to bring some joy to your Valentine’s Day and a smile to anyone who sees it. Make it your own by writing your own sayings on each nail—they sky’s the limit.
To create it, apply a clear base coat to each nail. Then, pick out 3-4 polishes (one option we love is MISCHO BEAUTY Nail Lacquer in Manicured) and draw two curved lines that meet in the center of each nail. Fill them in with polish and let dry. Take a bright color (like red) and use a thin paintbrush to carefully write in your letters. Then, finish with a clear matte top coat.
4. Red French Mani
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, When we think of romantic nail ideas, we almost always think French mani—a style that’s timeless, classic, and looks good on just about everyone. And this modern, colorful twist takes it to a new level of gorgeous. We love red for Valentine’s Day, but feel free to switch it up with any color you want—soft pink, lilac, and deep purple are equally fun to play with. Just don’t forget the gold accents for a little touch of luxe.
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, To create it, apply a clear base coat and let your nails dry completely. Then, take a piece of tape and section off the tip of your nail. Paint the section red using a thin paintbrush and let it completely (totally) dry. Peel the tape off, then apply a dot of gold polish (you can use nail glue and a gold stud, too!) to the center. Seal it all in with a clear top coat.
5. Solid Mauve
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, If you’re either not into or not great at executing nail designs, you’re not alone (we’ve had some eye-opening Instagram vs. IRL moments ourselves). Instead, simply opt for a soft nail polish that’s both romantic and effortless.
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, Red nails or pink polish are always popular for Valentine’s Day, but we’re loving this sweet and slightly unexpected shade of mauve that you’ll want to wear well past the holiday. Apply it on all fingers, paint it on an accent nail, alternate with other shades you love—it looks great on all skin tones and pairs well with your pink Valentine’s Day makeup looks.
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, To create it, start by applying a base coat. Then, top that with a mauve polish like PRETTY WOMAN’s Black Raspberry polish. Finally, finish up with a clear coat to keep it looking flawless.
6. Soft Pink Marble
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, What’s more luxurious than gorgeous marble? It’s one of our favorite nail trends and surprisingly, not as complicated to create as it looks. Instead of using a plain white or nude polish, infuse a little bit of V-Day spirit into this look by using a light pink nail polish like DEFY & INSPIRE Pinky Swear nail polish. Need some help to expertly execute the marble nail art technique? Follow our marble mani tutorial here.
7. Pearl Accents
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, There’s a common misconception that in order to create epic DIY nails you have to be able to master super intricate, hand-painted designs. Sure, it helps, but there are other ways to create standout nails. Take these delicate pearl nails for example. Here, the only real skill required is gluing a pearl accent onto each finger, so go for it—you got this.
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, To create it, start with a clear base coat, then top that with a nude pink nail polish. Once everything has dried, use a small drop of clear nail glue to adhere a pearl accent to each nail. Keep things understated by only applying one pearl (or many) to each finger. Lock it all in with a clear top coat.
8. Geometric Shapes
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, We’re in love with the shape of you, geometric mani. This triangle nail art is a little bit edgy, a lot chic, and perfect for shaking up your Valentine’s Day nail look. You can create it in almost any color you want, like red or bright pink, but we love how modern it looks in deep, rich purple.
To recreate this manicure, start by applying pink nail polish as a base coat. Apply tape in a triangle on the side of your nail. Paint in the triangle using the purple polish (we love PRETTY WOMAN’s Don’t Be Jelly Nail Polish). Allow that to dry, then remove the tape and top everything off with a clear top coat.
9. Random Hearts
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, If you’re looking for something fun, flirty, and Cupid-approved, this look will win hearts. Choose two colors (like soft pink and mauve) and alternate nails and heart shapes in each color. Add one or two, create a custom heart pattern—you can’t go wrong!
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, To create it, paint a few fingers using the pink polish and the rest using a darker mauve nail polish. Once that’s dried, dip a toothpick or a super fine nail polish brush into the darker color to create small hearts on the lighter nails, and light hearts on the darker nails.
10. Diagonal French Tip
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, This one is for our long-nailed friends. It’s a new take on a French manicure but using a diagonal line while still covering the tip of your nail. Set out to create just the French manicure-inspired tip with pink polish or go the extra mile and add in these cute tiny red hearts.
To create this manicure, start with a sheer base. Grab a striping brush to create your diagonal line and fill in the rest of the blank space with your pink nail polish of choice. Once dry, adorn with a tiny red heart (you can use a striping brush or a decal) and finish with a top coat.
11. V-Day Waves
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, Who doesn’t love a wavy, retro mani? The truth is, you can create this nail art no matter what time of year. Of course, the pink and red are what make it Valentine’s Day approved.
To create it, choose two shades of red and two pinks. Like the inspiration photo, you’ll notice one of the pinks is a bright pink and one is a bit more sheer or baby pink. The idea is to choose colors that will complement each other and create dimension. Grab that striping brush, you’ll need it to create the waves.
12. Yellow Hearts
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, If pink isn’t quite your thing but you still want to have a festive manicure, why not pick another color for dainty hearts?
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, This look is so simple, choose your sheer or nude base coat and grab a striping brush for the tiny hearts. We love the use of yellow as it feels like spring is right around the corner but might we suggest a sky blue as well. We think it would be super cute!
13. Natural with Black Hearts
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, Here’s a manicure idea that you can sport all year long. We see minimalist black and clear nails like this during Fashion Week all the time. It’s a clean look and it shows off your natural nail shape. Use a true black for these itty bitty hearts. We suggest Absolute Black from JINSOON.
14. Jelly Heart Accent
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, Another barely there manicure that looks so sweet and chic. 3D gel has become more and more popular with the rise of indie nail trends. Designing a clear gel heart or choosing a light pink would make the perfect jelly manicure. You’ll need to show a picture of this to your manicurist. They’ll know what to do and can create the free form shape.
15. Rose Gold Hearts
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, Don’t forget about rose gold during Valentine’s Day. While the color is great for jewelry, it’s often overlooked as a metallic nail color. It pairs well with other pinks, white, even black accents. All you need is a striping brush for this look to create all of the hearts. Check out Penny Talk from ESSIE for a great rose gold color.
16. Brown & Black Hearts
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, If you loved the above black manicure but want something a bit more maximalist, this is the manicure for you. We never thought to blend a mocha-colored base coat with black accents, but this manicure is more than just Instagram worthy.
To get the look, choose a light brown or nude base. You’ll want to choose something that compliments your skin tone without looking too similar. Have your manicurist place a heart on the majority of nails and add a V-shape French tip to the others.
17. Velvet Rhinestone Tips
Valentine’s Day Nail Designs, We say it all the time, but every single manicure we come across that features baby pink or blue and rhinestones makes us think of Cassie from Euphoria. These nails also remind us of early 2000s accessories when everything was seemingly pink with bling. This specific look uses a cat eye gel. Ask for cat eye gel or ‘velvet nail polish’ at your salon. It’s best to show them this photo.
Also Read:
The 21 Beautiful Nail Designs For 2024 New Year+Photos
The 12 Gorgeous 2024 Nails Ideas That You’ll Look Stylish+Photos
The 18 Best Easy Christmas Nail Design Ideas You Can Do At Home
