Summer is the season of play — and the best summer nails serve as proof. Bright, bold, and buoyant, summer nails are an easy way to show just how much fun you’re about to have. Whether its another Brat summer, or full clean girl, wear it on your nails.
Whether you prefer your manicure short and simple, extended and dramatic, or somewhere in between, summer’s lively nature is the time to make a statement. Eye-catching nails designs, from fluid waves, sweet blooms and fruits, to cheerful al fresco patterns, each rendered in a riot of color. Some of our favorite details include super-saturated aura applications, cabana-like stripes, ‘60s and ‘70s graphics, 3D shells, and painterly (even messy) splashes of color.
Here’s your summer nail inspo — 35 manicure designs to make the season even more fun.
1. Mother of Pearl
Mother of pearl combines the ethereal nature of the sea with an understated collage of color suited to the season.
2. White Swipes
Though fundamentally neutral, white is bright and eye-catching, particularly when applied in swirls and swipes.
3. Sunset Aura
Aura nails are pretty, trippy, and ideal for honoring summer’s vivid palette. This sunset colored manicure plays well on any nail shape.
4. Poolside French
This subtle French mani that draws inspiration from a day spent lounging by the pool.
5. Strawberry Fields
Strawberry season is worthy of celebration — and some sweet nail art.
6. Night Sky Nails
Summer nights, anyone? If you’re in want of a touch of moodiness, try trading all the sun for the evening’s guard of stars.
7. Lemon Lime
One glance at this funky verdant manicure brings fresh-cut grass, citrus, and cocktails to mind.
8. Layered Dots
Long French tips in fun colors become all the more memorable with decked out in 3D dots.
9. Peachy Pink
For an elegant take on aura nails, opts for a soft, closely matched seasonal hues like pale pink and sheer peach.
10. Aperol Season
Summer heat calls for great beverages and even better nails. This negative space French manicure is all about vacation-ready favorite, the aperol spritz.
11. ‘60s Blues
The 1960s were defined by the same free spirit synonymous with summer — so much so that the era’s motifs can make a cool blue manicure skew sunny and fun.
12. Mixed Stripes
Cabanas, beach umbrellas, and more summer symbols help inspire these multi-colored stripes.
13. Rose Quartz
Should the season bring out your inner bohemia, the rose quartz manicure offers a different kind of summer love.
14. Raspberry Cat Eye
A cat-eye application gives summer berry nails a flashy finish.
15. Ocean Tips
Extra-long almond nails serve as a fluid foundation for a swirling ocean motif — even when concentrated at the tips.
16. Groovy Green
More greens, please. When applied to an extended set, groovy graphics seem more elevated than simply retro.
17. Tropical Paint Job
Splashes of tropicals (and ‘90s-inspired) hues meld in a pretty, painterly polish job.
18. Fruit Salad
Why limit yourself to one summertime fruit when you can have have pick?
19. Wavy Blue
The rippling waters of rivers, lakes, pools, and oceans find form in this cool stylized stripe.
20. Classic Polka Dots
Polka dots are back in a big way. This manicure’s mix of classic applications makes the spotty style a touch more fun.
21. Strawberry Red
Red always makes a statement, and this strawberried shade is an appropriate pick.
22. Sherbet Swirls
Swirls in sunny sherbet hues feel sweetly psychadelic.
23. Retro Colorblock
Colorblocking gets a ‘60s throwback with bright-yet-muted shades, rounded shapes, and daisies.
24. Beach Towel
In the summer months, your beach towel is basically your BFF. Let those bright stripes inform your manicure — and go with an almond shape to channel a surfboard simultaneously.
25. Ocean Aura
Water’s varied depths come with many hues, and this blue aura manicure highlights some of these deep, vibrant blues.
26. Watermelon French
Your French manicure just got even sweeter. Reimagined as watermelon rinds, these tips give way to a seriously juicy polish job.
27. 3D Seashells
Another French manicure, this one modeled after a ridged, ocean-soaked seashell (pretty pearl included).
28. Partial Aura
When applied in splashes, the aura effect takes on a decidedly watercolor vibe.
29. Confetti Nails
Multi-colored dots freckled across nail tips have all the playful appeal of thrown confetti.
30. Lakeside French
A pull of lake water blue arched across the tips of a simple, medium-length mani is vivid yet sophisticated.
31. ‘70s Floral
Floral goes full-on 1970s when executed in a palette of mustard yellow and tawny brown.
32. Veggie Bed
How does your garden grow? If sowing summer seeds is your thing — or fashion’s recent obsession with vegetables — this unique nail art may appeal.
33. Two-Tone French
Framing your colorful French in a bolder shade of the same shade punctuates the point.
34. Melting Popsicle
Sheers pinks and yellow-oranges pull inspiration from the stickiness of a melting popsicle.
35. Peach Daiquiri
If fully saturated shades are more your speed, this duet of bubblegum pink and peach celebrates all that’s sweet and tangy.
