Summer is the perfect time to go all out and have some fun with your manicure! It’s the season for bold and bright colors, not to mention Pride celebrations, so why not include all of them in one rainbow design? Rainbow nails are playful and have a ton of personality –plus, you can’t help but feel happy when you look at them! What’s not to love?
The heart design takes a bit of patience but the rest is pretty simple, allowing the heart to really pop. Whether you’re heading to the beach, hitting a summer party, or just relaxing on your patio, this is a fun way to celebrate the sunshine. If you’re ready to make a stylish statement with your own rainbow nail art, here’s what you’ll need.
Rainbow Nails Design
Supplies:
- Base coat
- Sheer neutral nail polish
- Dotting tool
- Nail art brush
- An assortment of rainbow nail polish shades
- Acetone
- A small bowl (for the acetone)
- Glossy top coat
Instructions:
- Prep and file your nails to your desired shape, then apply a thin layer of base coat.
- Apply two coats of sheer nail polish as your base shade to your thumb, pointer, and pinky finger. Let them dry.
- For the thumb, pointer, and pinky finger: With the color nail polish of choice (feel free to mix and match the rainbow!) start on one corner in the middle of your nail, creating a slight
swoop upwards and ending in the opposite corner on the top of your nail. You can achieve this with the brush from the bottle or a nail art brush. Once dry, repeat the same steps with your next shade, creating a slight swoop from one side of the nail to the top tip. You’ll create this swoop slightly upwards from your first swoop but following the same shape. Repeat to finish off the tip with your third color! - To create your rainbow heart, put some red nail polish on a piece of foil or surface of choice so you can dip your dotting tool into it. On your middle finger, place two dots next to
each other. Next, take your nail art brush dipped in the same red nail polish, and create a small v-shape below the two dots to connect the two and create the heart shape. Then fill in. You can perfect your heart with a little bit of acetone and a clean-up brush to tidy the edges. - Next, dip your nail art brush in the orange polish and trace your heart, creating an orange border around it. Make sure to clean off your nail art brush periodically
so the lines stay clean as you build up the outline. You’ll want to repeat this process of outlining the previous shape with the yellow, green, blue, and purple shades until your whole nail is filled in. - On your ring finger, dip your nail art brush in the green polish, then draw a small triangle in the corner of your nail. You’ll want to follow the same shape with your red, orange, and yellow
polishes, creating elongated triangles that essentially line up next to each other. As you go along, you can clean up your lines with acetone and a clean-up brush. - Let the design dry, then apply a glossy top coat.
- Cap the edge and finish with cuticle oil.
Did you try this rainbow design? Show us your nails on Instagram or TikTok @lulus and shop our Summer Fashion shop for colorful Pride looks and more!
Melanie Graves is a self-taught nail art enthusiast who loves to create colorful, easy DIY designs for the fellow home manicurist.
This post was originally published in 2021.
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Classy nails are a method to express yourself without saying anything. Nails that are classy are like the cherry on top of a beautiful cake. Take good care of your hands and feet for looking more pretty.