Whether you are just getting into doing your own nail designs or are simply looking for something that looks amazing and impressive but you can pull off quickly, these simple DIY nail designs will be perfect for you. I’ve found 20 beautiful but very simple nail designs that are perfect to try out any time of year.
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What Makes a Simple Nail Design?
You might be surprised to learn how simple some of these nail design ideas are that I have found. I mean, they LOOK super impressive. People will absolutely think that you got them professionally done or at least be in awe that you are able to complete such a stunning nail at home.
Simple nail designs might look impressive but are easy to make with a toothpick or maybe a small nail paintbrush and a little bit of practice.
Even things like flowers, tiny fruits, and stars are pretty simple to learn how to make. You can practice on paper until you are confident with your design before starting on each nail.
Don’t forget that you don’t have to do a simple DIY nail design on every fingernail to get an impressive result. Simply adding a more intricate-looking design (that is still simple to DIY) to one or two nails can make a really big impact.
Tips for Making the Best Simple DIY Nail Designs
- Practice makes perfect. As I mentioned above, if you are new to painting designs on your nails practice on paper first. Start with circles, curves, dots, and lines.
- Have the right tools. You don’t need a whole lot to make impressive designs on your nails. Actually, fancy nail art designs were originally completed using only a toothpick. (Don’t try using the nail polish brush that comes with the bottle! It’s way too wide). So you need a set of toothpicks or a fine-tipped paintbrush if you are more comfortable with that. They even make nail art design pens you can pick up on Amazon.
- Use a good polish. Nail polishes have gotten so expensive over the last five or so years. But you don’t have to spend a fortune to get a good one. Sure, some are worth paying more, but you surely don’t need to buy a bunch of $9 nail polishes to complete a fantastic manicure. I even find good ones at dollar stores sometimes. I consider a polish good if it provides complete one-coat coverage. You don’t want to try painting over tiny fruit two times.
- Use a great top coat. Even more important than a good polish is a top coat that lasts. This is where it might be worth spending a bit more for quality. Without a good top coat your design won’t last the day.
- Consider adding some embellishments. You can pick up nail glue, rhinestones, nail stripe stickers, French manicure stickers, and more to make designing impressive nails at home a lot more simple.
20 Simple DIY Nail Designs to Try Today
Lemons and Yellow
From Clare @ Nailhustle
This is a perfect example of how you can make an impressive manicure design without detailing every single finger. Bright yellow nails with a few small lemons are perfect for any summer day (or any day you are missing summer too!).
Dots and Branches
From Clare @ Nailhustle
Begin with a solid black base and be sure it is fully dry before painting on the embellishments. Most simple nail designs use the technique where you add a small dot of paint using a toothpick and then drag the paint from there to make your design.
In this design, you tap a dot of paint where you want each leaf. From there you drag the paint with your tool to create the leaf shape and also the stems. Don’t add paint along the stem. If you don’t have enough paint from your original dot to drag a full stem design, add more paint in the leaf where you originally began and repeatedly drag from there for a clean line throughout your design.
Star Tips
From Clare @ Nailhustle
This simple nail design doesn’t even use any paint. Instead, star and round-shaped rhinestones are added using nail glue along the tips where you would normally find the white paint in a French manicure.
Swirls
From Clare @ Nailhustle
Completing nice swirls takes a bit of practice. Start on a piece of paper. But what is great is that once you get down the technique, it’s not too difficult to complete even with your nondominant hand.
Super Sheen Shimmer
From Clare @ Nailhustle
You don’t have to paint a picture on your manicure in order to create an impressive set of nails that looks like you went to a salon. Consider trying a solid gel nail polish with shimmer. Gel nail polish is thick and takes a while to dry, but is well worth the wait as it looks professional and lasts much longer than traditional nail polish (around 2 weeks).
Stars
From Clare @ Nailhustle
This stunning star design is simple to complete if you have a steady hand. Begin by tapping a dot of paint in the center of your star and drag the paint outward from there in each direction. While this look could be completed with a toothpick, I highly recommend using some nail art brushes to make the lines as thin as you can see pictured so it really looks like a pro painted it. Nail art pens are super affordable and really make a huge difference.
Don’t forget to glue a tiny rhinestone in the center of each star. When adding rhinestones add them lightly with your finger and then use your toothpick to move them around to your desired location. If you use your finger for this the rhinestone will end up stuck there instead of your nail.
Daisies
From Clare @ Nailhustle
This is a fantastic simple DIY nail design to start your nail art journey with. First, begin with painting the petals by dropping a dot of color at the outer end of a petal. From there, use a toothpick to drag the paint inward toward what will be the center of your flower. After completing all the petals, add a dot in the center with a clean toothpick to create the center of the flower.
Cherries
From Clare @ Nailhustle
Are you ready for a super-cute simple nail art design? Cherries are completely round making them a great choice of fruit to add to one or all of your nails. Make your manicure even more snazzy with brightly colored French tips like in this photo.
Rainbows
From Clare @ Nailhustle
If you have nail polish in all colors of the rainbow, why not try painting an actual rainbow on your nails? With this design, it is easiest to begin with the purple, closest to your cuticles. While it may seem natural to begin with painting the red line of your rainbow first, beginning at the underside of the rainbow gives a bit more wiggle room for mistakes.
Fancy French Tips
From Clare @ Nailhustle
Try giving yourself a modern French manicure with anything but white tips. Make every nail a different color or even design. Want to know a secret? You don’t even need a steady hand to get a clean line on your Frenchies, pick up some French manicure tape for the perfect line!
Tiny Hearts
From Clare @ Nailhustle
Hearts are another perfect simple nail art design that you can learn right now. Begin by dabbing your toothpick into your desired color and adding two dots close together for the top of the heart. From there, drag the dots downward and in to where they will meet at a point. That’s it! If you keep your design small this is the entire technique to pulling off nail art hearts.
Leaves and Dashes
From Clare @ Nailhustle
First, paint your nails your solid color of choice. Next, pick a color that stands out on your base to complete diagonal dashes all over your nail. Lastly, add some leaves on top.
French Streaks
From Clare @ Nailhustle
Instead of adding French tips consider adding streaks in this portion of your nail. They almost look like icicles and with the right color combo you could pull them off as such for cute winter nails. Begin painting at the tip of your nails and pull the color upward in a straight line. Repeat with various colors.
Mixed Fruits
From Clare @ Nailhustle
When you are ready to step up your nail design a bit but still keep it simple at the beginning, try out different tiny fruits. Most fruits are relatively round and simple to create. Plus they look absolutely adorable.
Spooky Eyes
From Clare @ Nailhustle
If you are a fan of things spooky or planning a nail design for October, try out these DIY spooky eyes nail designs. All you need to do is paint little eyes and eyebrows in various places on each nail over a solid color to pull off this impressive manicure.
Crackles
From Clare @ Nailhustle
Use a fine-tipped nail art paintbrush to add wiggly lines across your nails in various directions to create a crackle or veining appearance. You really can’t mess this one up, and yet it looks so professional.
Fire
From Clare @ Nailhustle
Surprisingly adding flames to the tips of your nails is actually a simple nail design to pull off. Begin with a drop of paint at the tip of your nail and drag it upward into basic fire designs. Remember, with any nail design you are doing on your tips, a great lacquer is even more important, as that is where they are most likely to chip. Doing a double coat of lacquer would not be over the top at all.
Glitter Tips
From Clare @ Nailhustle
This snazzy French manicure can be pulled off in two different ways. You can either paint a French tip on with glitter polish or as I recommend, paint the tip and then dip it into loose glitter. The latter works better because oftentimes with the glitter polishes the glitter isn’t very dense.
Stars and Moons
From Clare @ Nailhustle
If you have already mastered the simple star nail design above, it’s time to try taking it up a notch and adding in moons too! You could even try other celestial bodies like a shooting star or Saturn.
Mix and Match
From Clare @ Nailhustle
Lastly, it looks great to mix and match all these nail designs as well. Pick five of your favorites and paint one on each nail on one hand, then make the other hand match. As long as you use coordinating colors your nails will come out looking amazing.
Wrapping Up Simple DIY Nail Designs
I hope you loved all of these ideas and that it gets your nail art creation off on the right foot. Remember to be patient and use quality polish with good coverage. Are there any other simple nail designs that you really love that I haven’t included in this list yet? Let me know in the comments below!