Nail Art Tips for Eye-Catching Nails

When I was a teenager, I was obsessed with manicures. I wanted my nail to look beautiful and colorful at all times. I used to maintain a small notebook where I jotted down all the hacks that I’d tried and learned over the years. Well, after so many years, I’ve recently found that notebook in my basement buried under a huge pile of old books! When going through the pages, an idea came up in my mind – what if I could share some of my manicure tips with you all? Well, here I am, giving you some amazing yet simple nail art tips so you can do your manicures right at your home any time you want.

Nail cleanup: This is the very first step to getting your manicures and pedicures done at home. Add some liquid latex around your nail to easily remove nail polish from the skin and cuticles. Just paint on it, let it dry and peel it off. This is very helpful for simple nail arts, such as sponging. But if you are allergic to latex, you can use latex-free skin barriers.

How you can stop biting your nails? You can use an anti-nail biting polish that you can find at your local pharmacy. These nail treatments taste very bad when you put them in your mouth. So, you would finally stop biting your nails.

Quick and easy snakeskin nail design: This is a quick, cute and simple design that you can create using a common household item – bath loofah. Just place a piece of a bath loofah over your nail and sponge nail polish over it.

Perfect French manicure: If you have shaky hands, add white nail polish on the tip of your nail. Then dip a small flat brush into the nail polish remover and use the brush to easily create the perfect French tip by removing the extra polish. Once you’re happy with the line, just apply the sheer French pink nail polish over the entire nail.

Long-lasting manicure: All you need is vinegar for this purpose. Rub it over your bare nail beds before doing a manicure to remove oils and residue from your nails. This will keep your nail polish long lasting.

Dot without dotting tool: You don’t need a dotting tool, just try using a bobby pin instead. It’s a simple nail art design, but very effective.

Perfect stripes: Use clear tape and cut it into strips with scissors. Apply them over the nail polish that’s fully dried. Now paint over your nail, remove the tape, and voila! Perfect stripes!

3D nail art decoration: Use oven-bake modeling clay to model the 3D decoration. You can find such type of clay at any craft store near you. After you’ve shaped the clay, just place it on a baking sheet and bake it according to the temperature time indicated on the package. When they’re done baking, let it cool down and finish by adding in little design details using your nail polish. Finally, glue it on your nails and now you will have a one-of-a-kind manicure!

Color changing nail polish: Use a color-changing pigment, which is also known as powder nail polish. Create a funnel out of rolled paper to pour the pigment into a clear nail polish. Shake it up so the pigment mixes completely and it’s ready to use on your nails. Your manicure will now change its color based on how warm or cold your nail is.

Glow-in-the-dark nail polish: Mix some glow-in-the-dark pigment with clear nail polish. Mix it well and apply on your nails so they will glow in the dark.

Super soft hands: Without having to buy expensive hand creams, you can go for the DIY method with 3/4 a cup of sugar, 1/4 cup olive oil, and 1 tbsp lemon juice. To use it, just rub a teaspoon of it over your hands and then rinse it off with water. You will now have the softest hands you have ever had!

Decal Stickers: To create the perfect little nail polish decal stickers, begin by painting big strips of polish onto a sandwich bag and leave it for a few hours or overnight to make it completely dry. Then peel it off the sandwich bag to create the sticker shapes. You can use different types of specialty hole punchers that can be found at your local craft store. Once you’ve created your decals, you can apply them on your nails using a clear topcoat. It’s easy to pick them up with a dotting tool. But don’t forget to seal them with another layer of topcoat.

Watercolor design: You can have cool watercolor-looking designs using just sharpies to create flowers. For example, you can draw the petals with two different colors of markers. Then you can have the watercolor effect by rubbing alcohol over it with a small paintbrush. This is a really chic and beautiful way to do watercolor manicures right at your home without having to visit a nail salon.

Removing glitters from your nails: Everyone knows glitter is super hard to remove if you don’t have a peel off base coat, underneath your glitter polish. The easiest way to remove it is by soaking a cotton ball in a hundred percent acetone or a nail polish remover.. Place it over your nail and then wrap it in a tinfoil. Let it set for about 10 minutes and then check to see if it’s ready to be removed. If not then leave it on for another five minutes and check again. Finish by rehydrating your nails with cuticle oil.

Quick and easy splatter nail design: Use a drinking straw, scoop some polish into a straw and then blow it over your nail. Go ahead and repeat the process with some different colors for a cool layered look. Give it ample time to dry and then finish it off with a glossy or a matte topcoat.

Tiny stripes: This is a pretty design that is easy to make. Use a fan brush and acrylic paint to create a nail full of tiny stripes. Just remember to layer two to three colors or shades for the best results and then finish it off with a shiny top coat.

Design with Tattoo: Another very easy way to add characters to your nails is using temporary skin tattoos. Just peel off the backing and place the tattoo over a light colored nail and then transfer the picture with water. Pull off any excess tattoo and apply a topcoat to seal the design.

Broken nail: Have you ever broke a nail but didn’t want to cut the rest of your nail down. To match it, you can actually add a full cover fake nail over it. Then shape it with a nail file to match the length of your other nails. Paint all of your nails and I bet nobody will be able to tell the difference.

Metallic jewelry tattoos: I hope you have seen these metallic jewelry tattoos all over Instagram. These are super cool because of their metallic finish, something that might look perfect on your nails. You just need to transfer them onto your nails with water and seal with a topcoat so they don’t come off.

Tired of waiting for your manicure to dry? Add some ice into a bowl and fill it up with cold water and dip your nails in it to speed up the process. Another nail drying hack is to spray cooking oil over your nails. You can also rub this onto your skin and cuticles to moisturize them, just make sure to rinse your hands off afterwards.

Nail Striper: You can DIY your own nail striper just by taking an old or inexpensive nail polish and cutting the brush into a thin one. Make sure you go slow so you don’t accidentally chop the entire brush off. Now you can easily paint thin or thick lines depending on the amount of pressure you will place on the brush when you will use it.

Custom nail polish: Take a clear nail polish and add an old or inexpensive eyeshadow to it. This won’t create a high-quality nail polish but it can be a fun little craft you can make if you’re bored. In fact, you can also add glitter to the polish this way.

Dried flower decals: Pick some tiny flowers from your yard. Press the flowers for a few days by keeping them between some heavy books. Once they’re done drying out, add them to your manicure using a topcoat for a really unique and custom manicure.

Marble Sticker: Add three thick stripes of nail polish onto a sandwich bag making sure the colors touch each other. Then drop some white polish over them and swirl it all together using an old nail polish brush or a toothpick. Give lots of time to completely dry and then peel it off and cut it up into small nail sized strips. Now place it over wet nail polish. Use a cuticle stick to cut off the excess and file off any remaining polish from the tip. Seal it with a topcoat.

Gel Polish: Turn any regular nail-polish into a gel polish with a special product, such as Hydracol. Mix Hydracol with your regular nail polish and then apply it over your nails and dry it under UV rays so it lasts for weeks without chipping away.

Marble eyes design: Add some colored polish drops onto paper, scrunch up some plastic wrap, dip it in and tap it over your nail.

Struggling with painting a design with your non-dominant hand? Create your own custom decals to fix this problem. Just paint your design over a clear topcoat on a sandwich bag. Then add a final layer of topcoat over it and allow it to dry and peel it off. Apply it to the wet polish and remove the excess with a cuticle stick and a cleanup brush by dipping into acetone. Don’t forget to seal them with another topcoat.

Ripped nail: If you’ve somehow ripped a nail, you can reattach it with nail glue. Apply the nail glue over your ripped nail and give it a few minutes to dry. It will dry flat and your nail will be attached again.

Nail Stamps: Your nail stamps don’t have to be a one-colored empty stencil. You can fill your designs with tons of colors using the reverse stamping hack. Just color in the stamp while it’s on the stamper and then apply a topcoat. Once it’s completely dried, you can remove it, shape it to your nail with scissors and then apply it to wet nail polish. Remove any excess with acetone.

Perfect square nail: People often ask me how I shape my nails perfectly square. There’s an easy trick for this – just clip your nails with a straight nail clipper or use a big toenail clipper. Clip your nail straight across and then file the edges so they aren’t sharp. This is a quick and easy trick that I’ve been using for years and it also saves so much time.

Hard time positioning the design you want to stamp over your nail? Get a clear nail stamper. These are so handy because you can see exactly where you’re about to stamp the design on your nail.

Realistic marble nails: This is a cool hack! Pour water that is in room-temperature in a plastic cup and drop dark gray polish over it. Then spray hairspray over the water. It will create a little vein-like texture on the marble that is perfect for a stone marble design. Now you can dip in your nail and then clean up the surface with a toothpick. Seal it with a topcoat.

Newspaper Nail: This chic design is quite a throwback. Dip either your nail or a piece of newspaper in rubbing alcohol and then transfer the print to your gray nails. Apply a topcoat and you’ll get yourself a classic newspaper design. You can also do this with comic books or the comic section of a newspaper. Whether you like Archie or Garfield, this is an easy and cool way to quickly get it on your nails. You can make use of such simple nail art designs for short nails as well.

Water Marbling: This is one of the oldest yet simple nail designs. To do this, you will need a cup of room temperature water and some very liquid nail polishes. But remember, the old thick ones won’t work in this case. Drop in each color into the center of the cup one at a time and repeat this process until you have a ton of colorful rings in the cup. Then use a dotting tool or a toothpick to create a design. Make sure to clean off the tool that you’re using for the best results. Dip your nail in, clean up the surface, and then pull it out. Clean your nails and then apply a fast drying topcoat.

Marble design without water: If you’d like to create a marble design that looks like water marbling but doesn’t require any water, just add a few drops of nail polish over a wet nail of yours and carefully swirl them together with a toothpick. A few swirls will ensure the best results but don’t overdo it. Allow it to dry and then apply a topcoat.

How to stop your nail art from smearing?: When pulling the brush out of your topcoat, wipe one side of the brush against the neck of the bottle to remove excess polish. Flip the brush 180 degrees with your hand and then tap the big blob of polish on your brush onto the opening of the bottle. Now you will have the perfect amount of topcoat for your nails. Glide this blob over your nail design without letting the actual brush touch your nail. Just let the topcoat touch and smudge.

How to avoid the formation of little bubbles in your nail polish when you apply it: Make sure to just roll the polish bottle in your hands before using it. This way, you will be able to mix the formula. Do not shake the bottle because this is what increases the chances of having those little bubbles.

Removing big sticker from your nail polish bottle: We all know it is very hard to remove the sticker. You need to soak that sticker with nail polish remover and then push it off with a toothpick. The bottle will be perfectly clean. It will always look neat and clean that way; plus, removing this will help you check the amount of polish you are left with.

This is all I had to share with you today. I am sure you will become a good manicurist if you try some of these hacks. But don’t forget to care for your health so you can keep your hands, fingers, and nails good looking in all seasons. Only then any nail art design on your nails would be able to express its true beauty. So, give them a try and make your friends and family impressed!