Going to nail salons every week or two can be expensive. Maybe you’ve looked at what they’ve done and thought to yourself you could do that for much less. Here are some tips, tricks, and ideas for the next time you decide to add a little extra to your normal nail routine. The only limit to the easy nail art designs you try is what you can imagine and create! You have a whole world of opportunity in front of you.
Make your own matte nail polish
Before you grab your car keys to go get a new bottle of matte nail polish, try making your own! All you need is clear top coat nail polish and eyeshadow. Take a little bit of both and mix them together until it’s an even color and apply to your nails. How’s that for an awesome easy nail art designs idea?
Easy Nail Art Designs: Polka Dots
Continuing with our easy nail art designs theme, who doesn’t love easy to draw polka dots? Just the thought of painting small circles on your nails sounds horrible. Use this simple trick to get perfect dots with minimal effort. Just take a bobby pin and use the round end. Lightly dip it in the nail polish and start applying to your nails.
Keep it simple
Keeping nail art simple makes it easier and sometimes more eye catching. Using the trick with the bobby pin simply line the edge of your nail with polka dots. Simple, easy, eye catching.
Create fancy edges with tape
Get some craft scissors where they cut jagged or wavy or some other line that’s beyond the basic straight line. Get a piece of tape big enough to go across your nail and cut it with the craft scissors. Apply the newly cut piece of tape over your nail and paint on the second color. Let it dry then remove the tape. You’ll have a perfect, clean edge with a pattern.
Stone Texture
This couldn’t be any easier. Paint your nails with the main coat of color then get a piece of plastic you can crumble up, like a plastic bag, snack wrapper, or something else. Crumble it up into a ball, but not too tight or small. Lightly paint the second color onto the plastic and lightly dab it onto your fingernails. Little to no effort for a nice look.
Easy and DIY ombre or gradient look
There’s no need to use a bunch of different colors to achieve the best gradient look. Start by painting your nails with the lightest of the two colors you choose. After that dries, take that color and your second color and pour two little puddles of each on some plastic or wax paper. With a toothpick, carefully swirl and mix the colors together where they touch. Once the gradient you created is nice and smooth take a sponge and dab it directly in your custom gradient. Apply to the nail by moving it slightly up and down and side to side. Salon style at home.
Intentionally chip your nail polish
Nothing is worse than when you just do your nails and a couple hours later it’s chipped. All the effort for so little in return. So why not take advantage of it? Paint your nails and add some flare then take a toothpick and scrape a little nail polish away. You can do lines or shapes or whatever you can imagine. No matter what you do you can’t mess it up.
Abstraction and Interpretation
Maybe spending some extra time on nail designs can be a little overwhelming with all the ideas and possibilities. Instead, do your own thing. Take any two colors and add splotches here and there on your nail. Swirl them together to make them flow and let it be. Nothing fancy and it’s all abstract.
Easy Checkered Pattern
Use tape to your advantage. Paint your nails one color and after it dries, cut thin, small pieces of tape into stripes. Place the cut stripes on your nails in a hatch pattern and paint over your nail again with a second color. Before the nail polish dries, remove the tape and check out the easy checkers you just made.
Lace Pattern
Don’t fuss about those intricate patterns of lace. Simply take an old piece of lace and wrap it around your nail. Apply nail polish to a makeup sponge and dab the nail polish on. Amazing results with so little effort.
Thin Stripes
Get thin stripes using something other than a nail polish brush. Get a fan brush and lightly dip the tips into nail polish. Lightly brush over your base color and keep adding more colors to your liking. Just make sure to let the nail polish dry between adding stripes.
A smooth continuous line from one nail to the next
After you add your base color and it dries, paint on your top coat. Before the top coat dries, get a piece of thread, any color your prefer. Take the thread and place it in the wet top, clear coat and make it wavy and loopy and whatever you like. Once you’ve painted all of your fingernails and you’re happy with the results, let the top coat dry then come back and trim the string. Turn the string into Christmas lights, vines, or leave it as is for a simple, but eye-catching design.
Think outside the brush
Maybe using brushes is too much of a hassle or too difficult. Try using markers instead. It makes it easier to do more intricate designs and looks just as good. Sharpies work really well. After you draw your pattern or picture, seal it with a topcoat so that it stays.
Make your own nail stickers
Don’t stress about trying to paint the same design on each one of your nails. Take the easy route. Get a plastic sandwich bag and paint your sticker on there. It makes it easier and comes out nicer than trying to paint it on. Also, it’s pretty easy to make them in bulk if you need to. They peel off easy and just use a top coat to attach them on. You can also purchase nail stickers very inexpensively and apply them yourself!
DIY French Tips
Use ring reinforcement stickers to add that nice curve for french tips.
DIY Amazing Watercolor
No, you don’t need to dilute your nail polish in water. You can use nail polish remover. Yes, this seems a bit contradictory since you’re putting nail polish on. However, it actually works! Seems a bit contradicting considering you’re trying to put nail polish on. Start with your base coat. We recommend using white polish, as it works best to make the colors stand out. Add a small dot of your first color and take a brush dipped in acetone to spread out the nail polish. It won’t remove the base coat, but it will thin the first color. Let it dry, then add another color and repeat until you get what you like.
Finding easy nail art designs to do is really simple! There are a million different ideas out there, you simply have to choose. Don’t be discouraged if maybe they don’t turn out exactly like the photo the first time. Like anything, doing these easy nail art designs can take practice. But remember, practice makes perfect!
Did you love this post about easy nail art designs? Then check out our post about Nail Art Supplies for even more awesome DIY ideas!
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