What is your Valentine’s Day plan? Do you want a Valentine’s Day manicure to match? Are you planning a Galentine’s Day party, dressing up for a lovely date night, or spending a peaceful night in with your favorite book? Maybe you’re not completely sure about your plans yet, but you may start planning your nails now!
Wearing red or pink polish or nail art for Valentine’s Day is the obvious (and traditionally lovely) choice, but you don’t have to stick to those colors. Valentine’s Day nails can be anything you want them to be: sweet and romantic, dramatic and beautiful, cheeky, or even punk rock! Whether you go with a solid color, include contemporary nail art techniques, or get creative with rhinestones or stylish polka dots, there’s a Valentine’s Day manicure to suit your style. We’ve compiled a list of our favorite celebrity and street style manicure looks to help you get started.
Sabrina Carpenter’s chrome french tips are a good example of something understated. Though the base colors are identical, giving them a homogenous appearance, the tiny twist in finish provides a touch of flair. It’s a completely chic look.
Valentine’s Day is the perfect occasion to get matching nails! Take inspiration from KATSEYE.
You can’t go wrong with red, one of the defining colors of Valentine’s Day! Whether you choose a classic cherry, a rich burgundy, or a glittering, shining chrome red like Megan Thee Stallion’s set, you’ll have plenty of options for setting the tone with your manicure. Red is romantic, powerful, and magnificent, much like a bunch of crimson red roses.
Another popular color for Valentine’s Day is delicate baby pink. It’s gentle, sweet, and versatile—flirty and sweet without being obviously thematic. We love how One Battle After Another’s Chase Infiniti matched her nail to her petal-pink dress and plan to do the same as soon as possible.
Crocodile print is a trendy way to infuse texture into your ensemble and feels very high fashion, especially for a Valentine’s Day date. Love Island singer Olandria Carthen’s chocolate brown croc nails from the CFDA Awards, created by nail artist Melissa Samuel, merged the reptile design with metallic embellishments for a stunning mani masterpiece.
Ariana Grande adores the classic French manicure, which she has worn almost exclusively for years. But hey, we get why! This flexible piece is suitable for everyday wear, the red carpet, date night, or a night out with friends. This year, consider a softer, creamier version of the pink-and-white manicure for a gently romantic twist on the classic French.
Tyla, Hailey Bieber, and Vanessa Hudgens have all embraced animal print manicures, with tiger stripes and cheetah dots on their tips. This mix of prints and patterns is so much fun and would be a stylish way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, especially if you’re not a fan of pink and red manicure colors. Consider pairing leopard print with a tiny red dress or graphic black and white zebra with a hot pink ensemble, for example.
Blooming gel nails are returned to the manicure style limelight, and we love them! They’re made using a particular procedure that causes the color to “bloom” in various circular patterns, resulting in an almost tie dye-like print on the nail. Sofia Bryant from The Summer I Turned Pretty donned a cool square-shaped set of red flowering gel nails to the season three premiere, made by nail artist Erica De Los Santos, that would look great on Valentine’s Day.
Ultra-shiny lip gloss nails add a stylish twist to the naked nail, and the shine aspect makes them feel sumptuous. First, paint a sheer shade similar to your natural nail color with a tinge of pink. After your base has dried, apply one to two layers of a super-shiny top coat for a reflecting look similar to lip gloss.
Add Valentine’s pink to your manicure with a vibrant, springy set with polka dots, 3D features, and loads of cheery color! This mismatched, whimsical set lets you (or your nail artist) to be creative and experiment with texture and color. The possibilities for a manicure like this are endless; you could combine polka dots, pink, and hearts with 3D or pearls, and that’s only the beginning.
