The Best Nail Design Ideas for 2024

From the classic French mani to gold glitter and coffin nail shapes, there are nail designs for every look, occasion, and budget. Check out some of our favorite nail art designs for inspiration.

Jump to the Section You Like

• What Are The Latest Trends In Nail Designs?
• The Best Nail Design Ideas
• Recommendations

What Are The Latest Trends In Nail Designs?

Changing our nails is one of the easiest ways to express ourselves, and a good nail appointment can leave you feeling like new after a stressful week.

If you’re interested in getting an eye-catching mani that’s on-trend, here are some of the latest simple nail art designs and shapes that are sure to make an impression.

Seasonal Nails

These trends aren’t as simple as using a different shade for every season (although pastel shades do make a comeback every spring). Try deep, moody shades like burgundy or sea clat for fall and winter- you can brighten them up with a bit of silver and gold foil for special occasions.

French Manicure Variations

This can involve painting the half-moons at the base for a reverse French manicure, or trying out subtle blush nails that fade from white at the tips to a blush or nude base. This is a look that works year-round.

Lip Gloss Nails

This simple nail trend is an instant classic. It uses an ultra-shiny nude base that matches your skin tone, then adds a glossy shine. This neutral background can stand alone, or you can add art to one or two nails as an accent.

The Best Nail Design Ideas

Nail Design By Season

Fall Nail Designs

Have your nail artist paint on some autumn leaves, or use nail stickers to customize your own manicure types, this fall. It’s a look that you can wear all throughout the season.

Summer Nail Designs

For summer, try some bright colors like rainbow nails, or go for a beachy look with ocean blue shades and seashell-inspired nail art. Summer is also the perfect time to try out a long nail shape.

Christmas Nail Designs

The holidays are the perfect time to try out polka dots or playful nail art. You can create a simple design using a dotting tool and some thin lines to look like Christmas lights, or go for a dramatic deep red base color with glitter accent nails.

Spring Nail Designs

Create a simple, fresh and fun spring manicure with bright floral nail art against a clear base. This works well, even if you want to keep your nails short. For longer nails, add a colorful french tip to complete the look.

Halloween Nail Designs

Fall is a great time to include neutral colors in your types of manicure, and you can make your fall nails more fun by including some spooky elements like tiny bats or white lines in the shape of a cobweb.

Winter Nail Designs

If you want a winter look that’s not just for Christmas nails, then why not try some frosty blue and white aura nails? This is one of our favorite nail ideas because it’s fun and very versatile.

Easter Nail Designs

Paint bunny ears onto each French tip for instant Easter nails. You can even alternate these with some simple nail art using colorful dots and squiggly lines to make the French tips look like Easter eggs.

Valentine Nail Designs

Try some romantic heart-shaped designs on a base of nude polish for a subtle look, or have your nail artist paint on some pastel candy hearts with tiny messages inside. This looks great on long, almond shaped nails.

Thanksgiving Nail Designs

Create a classy thanksgiving manicure using a warm brown base color, then add a bit of copper or bronze colored glitter at the tips or in sections. This will give your nails a warm and flattering look.

Nail Designs By Color

Black Nail Designs

Instead of a plain matte finish, add some texture to your black polish by applying dots of gloss overtop. If you want some bling, add some jewels near the nail bed to break up the negative space, instead.

Blue Nail Designs

There are so many shades of blue to choose from, and you can pick the perfect one for each season or occasion. Our personal favorite is dark blue with some bright silver shooting stars for any special event.

Nude Nail Designs

Create an abstract look on a nude or pink base by adding some lines to form graphic shapes. It looks like modern art, but it’s too loud.

Pink Nail Designs

Instead of the usual French manicure, why not try pink ombre nails? They gradually fade from pink to translucent white, and are the perfect compliment to any outfit.

Purple Nail Designs

Purple nails look awesome with a bit of sparkle or shine. This is a great way to modernize these shades and create depth. Use an iridescent top coat, or some translucent glitter flakes for a galaxy effect.

Red Nail Designs

Ask your nail artist about red velvet nails- we promise you’ll love them. This simple nail technique layers glitter, matte and metallic polishes for a soft-textured effect.

White Nail Designs

White swirls are a great way to fill negative space on a clear, glossy nail. This looks good on longer and shorter nails, and can be as subtle or busy as you like.

Almond Nail Designs

Almond nails are already a dramatic shape, so why not accentuate the tips with a v-shaped french manicure? This will make them resemble a stiletto shape, but shorter.

Green Nail Designs

Green is a great color, and we think it’s underappreciated. We love the idea of swirling a lighter shade on top of a dark green for a layered effect.

Black And White Nail Designs

Checkered or cow print nails are super fun, and they’re relatively easy to do. If you’re creating a cow pattern at home, it’s easy to layer on the black with a bobby pin.

Orange Nail Designs

Pair orange with bright yellow for vibrant and juicy looking nails. For an ombre effect, you can use a makeup sponge to gradually blend in the shades.

Yellow Nail Designs

Yellow is a great color for anyone looking for a cheerful manicure. We suggest keeping a thumb or accent nail clear and adding some white daisies to complete the look.

Brown Nail Designs

Any beauty editor will tell you that brown is unlikely to ever go out of fashion. For something unique, try a different shade of brown or beige on each nail.

Clear Nail Designs

A clear manicure is the perfect canvas for colorful nail art or jewels. Brighter colors will really stand out against this background.

Gold Nail Designs

Gold foil or swirls can give a dark or neutral base coat a truly royal look. You’ll turn heads if you try a gold reverse French manicure, for example.

Hot Pink Nail Designs

Hot pink screams 90’s nostalgia, and we love it. You can add it as one of the shades in skittle nails, or on its own with a few diamonds.

Nail Art Designs

Easy Nail Designs

One of the simplest “nail hacks” is using everyday items like hole punch stickers to create shapes and lines. In this case, they make perfect guides for polka dots or the tips of a French mani.

Flower Nail Designs

Your nail artist can use white to add shading and make your flowers look more realistic. You can even add in some stems and leaves for a romantic nail bouquet.

Heart Nail Designs

Hearts look fabulous as nail art, but what about heart-shaped French tips? These are a gorgeous reimagining of a classic style.

Rhinestone Nail Designs

You can use rhinestones to create simple nail art by adding a line of them to divide different colors, or you can make them the sparkly centerpiece of your nail design.

Line Nail Designs

Lines can be straight and geometric for a modern effect, but they can also be fun, thick and squiggly if you’re looking for something whimsical and Instagram-worthy.

White Nails With Designs

If you want all-white nails, you can personalize them for any occasion with some gold flakes or floral nail stickers.

Butterfly Nail Design

Butterfly-wing inspired nail art is making a comeback. We love the way that these retro nails look- they’re perfect for all nail shapes.

Classy Black Nail Designs

Add a contrasting color like silver, gold or white to a black base coat to make your nails look classy. The dark color will make the lines of any design really stand out.

Simple Nail Design

Nail art doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated. Simply adding a line or a curve in a contrasting color can make a big difference.

Nail Design Ideas By Shape

Short Nails Designs

One of the best designs to flatter short nails is a micro French manicure. This is something you can do at the nail salon, or at home. Adding a very thin line at the tip of the nail creates the illusion of extra length.

Trendy Almond Nail Designs

One of the top almond nail trends that’s gaining a lot of attention is the negative space mani. Try it in bright, contrasting shades to make your nails pop.

Long Nail Designs

Long, nude nails with white swirls look fantastic because the extra length allows you to extend the pattern and create a lot of depth. Of course, you can try this with any color.

Square Nail Designs

Minimalist flame nail art is perfect for square nails, and it’s a cool twist on the trendy flames that we keep seeing on Instagram.

Stiletto Nail Designs

Why not try some mermaid-inspired nail art and colors with stiletto nails? This nail shape is already attention-grabbing.

Coffin Nail Designs

Coffin nails are usually a bit longer than other acrylic nails, which means that you have plenty of space to add creative and funky designs like these.

More Nail Design Ideas

Classy Short Nail Designs

A reverse French mani is perfect for short nails, and it’s an absolute classic. We suggest trying it with a chrome or gold polish instead of the usual white.

Do not miss our post on Christmas Nails Ideas.

Gel Nail Design

Gel nail ideas lasts a lot longer than other kinds, so it’s perfect for nail art like this. You can be a bit more ambitious than usual, since you won’t have to worry about chipping.

Acrylic Nails Designs

You can build long acrylic nails easily, which means that you have a lot more space for nail art and cool patterns like these.

Cool Nail Designs

These navy blue nails with silver flakes are trendy and versatile. We think it looks like denim or the night sky.

Dip Nail Designs

Ask your nail salon to include some glittery flakes in your manicure for a fun, confetti-like look. This is easy to do with dip nails.

Pretty Nail Designs

This pink plaid nail art is both pretty and professional. It’s something that you could wear on a girls night out or at the office.

Trendy Toe Nail Designs

Painting vines and leaves on your toes (and a matching set of nail art on your fingers) fits the modern minimalist trend while still making you look a bit fancy.

Classy Nail Designs

A few black or gold lines on a pale or neutral color base can instantly transform your manicure. There’s a reason that this trend keeps coming back.

Cute Short Nail Designs

Ask for gems, pearly or other tiny embellishments on the tips or base of your manicure at your next nail appointment. These pretty details will help shorter nails to look their best.

Elegant Nail Designs

Nothing says elegant like a clear or nude base with white airbrushed florals. This pattern is something that anyone can wear for a special occasion.

Nail Designs With Diamonds

A recent trend that we love is using diamonds to form patterns on one nail, or across multiple nails. It adds sparkle, while also making you look closer.

Do not miss our post on Beautiful Wedding Nails Ideas For Your Inspirations.

Recommendations

The fun thing about nai art is that you can use it to make some pretty dramatic changes to your look, then try out a whole new style a few weeks later. It’s not too expensive, and you’re not stuck with any one color for too long.

Don’t be afraid to try out new nail designs. You can take your inspiration from almost anything.

Citations

Nail anatomy
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/

Finger nail plate shape and size for personal identification – a possible low technology method for the developing world - Preliminary report
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajhs/article/view/30795

Physics of nail conditions: why do ingrown nails always happen in the big toes?
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/