Summer nail art designs have been living rent-free in my head since the moment it got warm enough to actually care about what’s on my nails. I’ve been saving everything: the abstract color-block sets on short square nails, the fully illustrated vacation sets, the ones that technically shouldn’t work and absolutely do.
This is the list I ended up with. I’m sure you’ll love them as much as I do, so open up that Pinterest board right now. Things are about to get seriously creative.
1/18
Olive Green Cat Eye
An olive green cat eye base that switches to almost gold in certain light, and tiny yellow crystals scattered across every nail. Unexpected, simple, yet perfectly balanced for summer.
2/18
Holographic Summer Nail Art Design
Holo silver French tips and different color star nail art on the clean base. If you’re thinking of a summer French tip nails design for your next manicure, this one feels bold and cute at the same time.
3/18
Eclectic Mix-and-Match Set
No two nails are the same, and that’s the whole vibe of this set: a rainbow gradient nail next to a chrome star nail next to blue-and-pink stripes, 3D silver accents, soft auras with an outline, and many other combos. This kind of set takes time and a nail tech who enjoys the process. Worth every minute.
4/18
Aura Ombré with Silver Bead Accents
Green melts into orange, then pink, then soft purple, creating an aura effect that looks completely different from every angle. The small silver beads complete the look with a cool touch.
5/18
Cherry Red Mix
There’s baddie energy in the air! Cherry red nails are not the first type of set you’ll think of for summer, yet this one proves, over and over again, how well it fits the aesthetic.
6/18
Colorful Minis
Are you out of ideas for your short nails? The length doesn’t mean that you can’t play with colors and make them fit your personality. Try this summer nail art design when you need a pop and a wave of energy in your life.
7/18
Freestyle Summer Nail Art
A milky white base with blue flowers that have a clear crystal rhinestone in the center, a purple metallic chrome with watercolor white nail art and a rhinestone, a green cat eye with a silver chrome swirl, a milky nude with a line of colorful rhinestones, and a pink French with a silver star nail art. The vision is definitely there!
8/18
Summer Nail Art Designs for Vacation
Hand-painted summer nail art may take more time than we would like to admit, but it is definitely worth it. These vacation nails are the missing piece of your plans, and they don’t even need extra space on the plane.
9/18
Blueberry Nail Art
Blue and butter yellow are a color combo that you can’t sleep on this season. Besides the fact that it is extra trendy, the designs that you can come up with are stunning. Take, for example, this stiletto picnic set with 3D blueberries and a matching bow nail art.
10/18
Garden Fairy Nails
Natural nude nails with tiny scattered crystals in a polka dot pattern, 3D green flower accents, croc nail art, French tip, and lots of gold accents. Delicate and maximalist at the same time, which shouldn’t work and yet here we are.
11/18
Abstract Nail Art
Here’s a bold summer nail art design with abstract pops of color that is the inspo version of an art gallery, with every nail being its own exhibition. Your nail artist definitely needs to be super creative to come up with something like this.
12/18
Ocean 3D Floral Nail Art
While the two shades of blue are the same, there are two concepts being recreated in this design. We have, on one hand, the ocean nails with seashell inspo, and the earthy nails with floral elements. May seem busy at first glance, but every nail art completes the next, while the gold accent ties everything together.
13/18
Simple Summer Nail Art
A clean nude base with thin yellow tips and a few elongated dots on the ring finger is just the element that takes this manicure from a minimalistic and maybe even boring design to a Mediterranean inspo one that instantly makes you think of a vacation.
14/18
Pink Summer Nail Art Designs
This design can’t get girlier than this, and I love it! If your aesthetic calls for pops of color and impossible to miss nail art designs, these stilettos with blue and pink accents will definitely fall under what you’re looking for.
15/18
Picnic Table Nails
A whole menu across your hands — painted oranges with green stems on a blush base, a mustard yellow nail with cherries and black dots, pink stripes with fried eggs, blue-and-white stripes with 3D olives, a gold nail frame with tiny red fish.
Every nail tells a different story, and somehow they all belong at the same table. Kind of makes me think of a picnic that got completely out of hand.
16/18
Tropical Safari Set
Animal print nails, but make them luxurious and give them a sun-bathed glow with lots of orange shades and gold accents. This set brings out your inner goddess in a way that is so earthy yet divine.
17/18
Colorful Floral Nail Art
A clean nude almond base can be the perfect canvas for virtually any type of nail art. So, be creative and don’t settle for less when you can try so many color combos for your summer nails.
18/18
Mediterranean Summer Nail Art Designs
Talavera-style blue-and-red decorative tile, a painted red shrimp on blue stripes, a lobster on yellow, a flower on red, an orange, so basically… coastal Mediterranean on your fingertips. These summer nail art designs feel like you ordered them from a market in Puglia and they somehow ended up on your hands.
Closing Thoughts
The best summer nail art designs are the ones that feel like yours, whether that’s the illustrated vacation set you’ll spend the whole season showing off or the single wildflower per nail you can actually get done in under two hours. Save the one that already has your name on it, show your nail tech, and go from there.
Need more inspo? Take it from these seasonal posts:
- 21 Summer French Tip Nails Designs That Go Way Beyond Basic
- 25 Summertime Nails Designs From Subtle to Seriously Extra
- 28 Simple Nails for Summer You’ll Keep Going Back To
