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Valentine’s Day Nail Ideas

Flirty and Romantic Valentine’s Day Nail Ideas

By 

Kara Jillian Brown

Valentine's Day Nails
PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/RACHELSUE

February is here and Valentine’s Day is in full swing. That means it’s time to rock cute and romantic manicures. It’s time for “the ultimate girly manicure, and it’s personally my favorite time of year,” shares nail artist Rachel Joseph. She says there are lots of ways to achieve this vibe. “Valentine’s Day nails are usually filled with hearts, glitters, reds, pinks, and white,” she says. “There are a ton of different looks you can do to achieve v-day nails, either by going all out with a themed look or keeping it simple with a chic pink or red French manicure.”

MEET THE EXPERT

  • Rachel Joseph is a nail artist who works with Nailing Hollywood.
  • Tara Haye is a nail artist who works with Nailing Hollywood.
  • Eunice Park is nail artist and a research and development manager at Aprés Nail.

To inspire your next look, browse 50 gorgeous Valentine’s Day nail ideas below.

01of 50

Lipgloss Hearts

Valentine's Nails- Lipgloss Hearts
INSTAGRAM/DANATURENAILS

Take your lip gloss mani and make it even sweeter by painting white hearts at the tip before applying your final coat of jelly polish. This gives the hearts a bit of that lip gloss haze.

02of 50

Heart Gradient

Heart Gradient
INSTAGRAM / RACHELSUENAILS

“If you’re like me and you absolutely love pink, try different variations of heart manicures,” sys Joseph. “Have fun by choosing a few of your favorite pink shades and switch them up on each nail.”

03of 50

Red-Pink Ombré

Valentine's Day- Red-Pink Ombre
KARA JILLIAN BROWN

I created this look by painting my nails with two polishes from Aprés. I painted Soulful Ginger ($15), a bold red, to the tips and Electric Flamingo ($15), a hot pink to the rest of my nails. Before curing the gel, I used a makeup sponge to blur the line between the two polishes for a gradient effect.

04of 50

Checkers

Valentine's Nails- Checkers
INSTAGRAM/JESS_NAILS_IT

Hot pink and fiery red are the stars of this vibrant design. A few nails are solid colors, while the others are a mix of checkerboard and graphic hearts.

05of 50

Tic Tac Toe

Valentine's Day- Tic Tac Toe
INSTAGRAM/TIPSXTARA

“People love to connect chocolate with Valentine’s Day,” says Haye. “A dark chocolate brown polish is a unique option for the month of love nail looks. Dark brown used with the colors pink or red creates a beautiful harmony for Valentine’s Day.”

06of 50

Coquette

Valentine's Nails- Coquette
INSTAGRAM/JESS_NAILS_IT

Go coquette with a mix of pink bows on a milky white base. A little crystal in the middle of one of the bows adds a little hint of glam.

07of 50

Pink Bikini

Valentine's Day- Pink Bikini
INSTAGRAM/DANATURENAILS

This simple pink mani features a few coats of Pink Bikini ($10) from Kathleen and Co. It’s a nice and creamy pink with subtle blue undertones.

08of 50

Brightest Red

Valentine's Nails- Brightest Red
INSTAGRAM/DANATURENAILS

Go red with this shade that’s so fiery it’s nearly orange.

09of 50

Dainty Florals

Valentine's Nails- Dainty Florals
INSTAGRAM/DANATURENAILS

This dainty floral manicure is perfect for Valentine’s Day. It uses two shades of pink with half of the nails featuring a light base with dark florals and vice versa. For even more interest, some of the nails concentrate the florals around the tip while the others are focused around the base of the nail.

10of 50

Glitter Hearts

Glitter Heart Tips
INSTAGRAM / APRESNAILOFFICIAL

“On our Instagram page, we have several nail looks created by some very talented nail artists using our new Valentine’s Day Palettes,” says Park. “The looks are super easy to create as the colors are very creamy and opaque, making them easy to apply and create nail art with. And with 16 colors in each palette, the Valentine’s Day nail art combinations are endless!”

11of 50

Wild Pink

Valentine's Day- Wild Pink
INSTAGRAM/DANATURENAILS

This gorgeous look features a hot pink polish infused with finely milled blue shimmer to create a bold and reflective finish.

12of 50

Tea Time

Valentine's Day- Tea Time
INSTAGRAM/DANATURENAILS

This pretty look was created with three coats of DND Gel’s Tea Time ($9), a sheer, milky pink polish. Note that because it is a gel shade it requires the proper base and top coat as well as a UV or LED light for curing.

13of 50

Valentine’s Skittles

Valentine's Day- Valentine's Skittles
INSTAGRAM/DANATURENAILS

Make your Skittles mani on theme with shades of red and pink. This look uses a mix of regular and shimmer polishes to add even more dimension.

14of 50

Heart Tips

Valentine's Nails- Heart Tip
INSTAGRAM/RACHELSUENAILS

With an almond-shaped nail, you can create a pretty minimal design with a range of heart outlines in place of a traditional French tip. The base of the heart perfectly mimics the shape of the nail.

15of 50

Be Mine

Valentine's Nails- Be Mine
INSTAGRAM/JESS_NAILS_IT

This design features a mix of sparkly red tops, a heart-centric tic-tac-toe board, and a love letter. Although there’s a lot going on, the artist kept the base neutral to simplify the look.

16of 50

Love’s Journey

Valentine's Day- Love's Journey
INSTAGRAM/JESS_NAILS_IT

This super cute manicure features red, coral, and pink wavy stripes going down the middle of each nail like a winding road, while little white hearts and dots dance down the line. A few of the nails feature a solid red polish to anchor the look.

17of 50

Raven Red

Valentine's Nails- Eternal Love
INSTAGRAM/DANATURENAILS

Raven Red ($6) from Eternal Cosmetics is a stunning true red polish because it doesn’t lean too blue or too orange.

18of 50

Heart Tips

Valentine's Nails- Heart Tips
INSTAGRAM/NAILS_AND_BEAUTY_BY_DAISY

This look features a nude base with a collection of hearts at the tip of each nail. The layout of the hearts remains consistent across the nails, yielding a super cohesive look.

19of 50

Hot Pink Hearts

Valentine's Day- Hot Pink Hearts
INSTAGRAM/NAILS_AND_BEAUTY_BY_DAISY

This nail look deviated from the classic saccharine pinks associated with Valentine’s Day and uses a cool-toned berry shade. One nail per hand got pretty little hearts in the same shade.

20of 50

Coquette Tips

Valentine's Nails- Coquette Tips
INSTAGRAM/MELANATED.MANI

The black French tip manicure features pink and red bow stickers to create cute coquette vibes.

21of 50

Hidden Hearts

Valentine's Nails- Hidden Hearts
INSTAGRAM/NAILS_AND_BEAUTY_BY_DAISY

I love the peek-a-boo effect of this heart design. Four shades of pink and white were used to create this look. Each nail features a small heart painted in one of the shades most similar to its base, creating a pretty tonal look.

22of 50

Bubblegum Jelly

Valentine's Nails- Bubblegum Jelly
INSTAGRAM/MELISSASNAILS83

This bubblegum jelly polish adds a was of color to the nails while allowing the natural nail’s half moons and smile lines to show through.

23of 50

Simple Hearts

Valentine's Day- Simple Heart
INSTAGRAM/NAILS_AND_BEAUTY_BY_DAISY

This nude manicure keeps it simple with a small maroon heart painted at the base of each nail.

24of 50

Love Is in the Air

Valentine's Day- Love is in the air
INSTAGRAM/NAILS_AND_BEAUTY_BY_DAISY

Red dominated this nail look that features two fingers per hand with a nude base and red and white hearts.

25of 50

Black Heart

Valentine's Nails- Black Hearts
INSTAGRAM/NAILS_BY__BRIDGETT

Get in on the Valentine’s Day nail fun without using a touch of pink with this design. It features a milky white base and black polka dots with one black heart per nail.

26of 50

Candy Hearts

Valentine's Day- Candy Hearts
INSTAGRAM/NAILS_BY__BRIDGETT

Lean into candy hearts with this cute design. The middle and ring fingers feature graphic candy hearts on a nude base while the other fingers have a few coats of a shimmery bubblegum pink.

27of 50

Pink Geometric

Valentine's Day- Pink Geometric
INSTAGRAM/NAILS_AND_BEAUTY_BY_DAISY

If you’re more into clean lines than hearts, go the geometric route and keep the look flirty with the use of pink polishes.

28of 50

Milky Heart

Valentine's Day-Milky Heart
INSTAGRAM/NAILS_BY__BRIDGETT

This design features a milky white base and one big red heart per nail. It’s simple and to the point.

29of 50

Ombré Tips

Valentine's Day- Ombre Tip
INSTAGRAM/JESS_NAILS_IT

This sweet design features a nude base with a sparkly pink ombré tip and a single white heart per nail. The pink polish has a golden shimmer that adds warmth to the overall look.

30of 50

Peach Fuzz Love

Valentine's Day- Peach Fuzz Love
INSTAGRAM/KLAWSBYSONIA

Forgo pinks and reds and lean into Peach Fuzz, the Pantone color of the year instead. This look features a milky white base with a peachy polish coating the pink nail and a few peach hearts on the ring finger.

31of 50

Razzle Dazzle

Valentine's Day- Razzle Dazzle
INSTAGRAM/MELANATED.MANI

Mãi Mãi ($17) from Cirque Colors was used to create this dazzling nail look. Although the design — inverted triangle tips on a nude base — is quite simple, the bold polish makes this look super interesting.

32of 50

Glitter Skittles

Valentine's Nails-Glitter Skittles
INSTAGRAM/JESS_NAILS_IT

This Skittle look uses a blend of pink and purple polishes in both satin and glitter finishes for a fun and dynamic manicure.

33of 50

Dainty Hearts

Valentine's Nails- Dainty Hearts
INSTAGRAM/GOSSIPANDGLOSS

Tiny red hearts sit atop a baby pink base to create this sweet look. It’s finished off with a light coat of silver glitter

34of 50

Dots and Hearts

Valentine's Nails- Dots and Hearts
INSTAGRAM/GOSSIPANDGLOSS

Pink hearts and white dots on a nude base are the stars of this nail look. These nails are surrounded by a pretty pink shimmery pink.

35of 50

V-Day Mix ‘n Match

Valentine's Day- V Day Mix n Match
INSTAGRAM/NAILS_BY__BRIDGETT

For a super festive mix-and-match style, incorporate tons of hearts, dots, swirls, and stars using shades of pink, red, and white. Finish it off with a shimmery top coat for a super cute effect.

36of 50

Mauve Lip Gloss

Valentine's Day- Mauve Lip Gloss
INSTAGRAM/MELANATED.MANI

Simple and pretty, this look features a few coats of milky mauve polish to create this nude lipgloss effect.

37of 50

Sketched Hearts

Valentine's Day- Sketched Hearts
INSTAGRAM/ONENAILTORULETHEMALL

This look keeps things colorful, employing electric shades of pink, green, blue, red, and orange to create hearts. Each heart has a little black outline of a heart inside of it, creating cute sketched vibes.

38of 50

Paper Airplane Nails

Valentine's Day- Paper Airplane Nails
INSTAGRAM/POLISHEDBYMCKENNA

This milky matte look features an adorable paper airplane design, with the plane seemingly flying from one nail to the other flying in a path that creates a heart.

39of 50

Valentine’s French

Valentine's Day- Valentine's French
INSTAGRAM/PINKBUNNYNAILZ

This square nail design features a super sheer base, baby pink French tips, and deep red hearts.

40of 50

Unforgettable

Valentine's Day- Unforgettable
INSTAGRAM/LOLO.NAILEDIT

A few coats of this berry pink polish is more than enough for a solid Valentine’s Day nail look. This look was done with the shade Unforgettable ($16) from Static Nails.

41of 50

Reflective Red

Valentine's Day- Reflective Red
INSTAGRAM/JULIEKNAILSNYC

Celebrity manicurist Julie Kandalec created this look using two polishes from The Gel Bottle Inc. Glass Red ($19), a true red, as a base, and then a coat of Doll ($19), a reflective shimmery pink, on top.

42of 50

Squiggle Tips

Valentine's Day- Squiggle Tips
INSTAGRAM/POLISHEDBYMCKENNA

Go abstract with this squiggle design. It features a nude, sheer base with pink tips with hot pink squiggles. The base of each tip and the design of the squiggles are different on each nail to keep the look interesting.

43of 50

Pink and Red

Valentine's Day- Pink and Red
INSTAGRAM/POLISHEDBYMCKENNA

Pair pink and red with this simple design. It’s anchored with fuchsia polish on most of the nails and a nude, sheer base with pink and red hearts as the accent nails.

44of 50

Outlined Frenchie

Valentine's Day- Outlined Frenchie
INSTAGRAM/POLISHEDBYMCKENNA

This bubble gum pink French tip design is accented by red lines along the smile lines as well as hearts.

45of 50

Bad Romance

Valentine's Nails-Bad Romance
INSTAGRAM/POLISHEDBYMCKENNA

This clean design features simple red French tips. It was painted with the shade Bad Romance ($17) from Luxa Polish.

46of 50

Keep It Simple

Valentine's Nails- Keep it Simple
INSTAGRAM/MELISSASNAILS83

For a minimal design, paint all of your nails a pale pink and add a tiny pink glitter heart to the base of one nail.

47of 50

Baby Pink

Valentine's Nails-Baby Pink
INSTAGRAM/MELISSASNAILS83

This clean look comprises just a few coats of polished pale pink. A healthy dose of cuticle oil makes the nails really shine.

48of 50

Pearls and Hearts

Valentine's Day- Pearls and Hearts
INSTAGRAM/NAILS_BY__BRIDGETT

This look features pearl decals settled among bright pink hearts on a milky base.

49of 50

Patterns That Pop

Valentine's Day- Smile!
INSTAGRAM/NAILS_BY__BRIDGETT

This pretty mix-and-match design features checkerboard print, hearts, and smiley faces using shades of pink for the designs and a mix of nude and white as the bases.

50of 50

Muted Mix ‘n Match

Valentine's Day- Muted Mix ‘n Match
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