5 easy Valentine’s Day nail designs your clients will love
It seems like Christmas nail season, with all its candy canes and glitter, was just yesterday and now nail techs in February are faced with yet another important nail holiday - Valentine's Day… So don’t put away the red paint just yet!
If you’re still feeling a little frazzled by the festive season and struggling to come up with inspiration for your lovestruck clients, look no further than this collation of easy Valentine's Day nail designs they will be head over heels for.
Galentine's Chrome
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Whether your client is celebrating Valentine's Day or Galentine’s day, this cute chrome set from Clawgasmic’s Chantelle Vermont is a simple showstopper.
It involves layering pearlecent chrome powder over a nude pink base creating the popular ‘glazed doughnut’ trend. Then by going in with red paint on a dotting tool around the edge of the nail a frill effect is formed - this can then be tidied up with a liner brush before being outlined with white.
Chantelle then uses an adorable silver heart charm sticker in the centre of each nail, but if you don’t have a sticker you could get creative with freehand painting, sequins, rhinestones or a 3D heart charm. The look is completed with a slathering of high-shine topcoat.
Chantelle Vermont will be holding a session at PB London on 06 March 2023 at ExCel where she will be breaking down some of the hottest nail trends like chrome and how to achieve long-lasting results. Register for free and book in to see Chantelle’s session on the Trends and Techniques stage.
Comme des Garcons
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This one is for those clients that love a bit of sparkle. Over a creamy rose bulder base, Dali Artistic’s Emily Ferguson goes in with a reflective pink glitter gel giving a full coat to some nails and applying to only the tip of others. On these, she then uses an ombre brush to drag down some of the gel and blend it, creating a beautiful gradient before curing.
Working on just the ombre nails, Emily goes in with red gel paint on a liner brush halfway down the nail painting a medium-sized heart at a slight angle. After curing, she then adds another heart in pink overlapping the red before curing again..
Using a toothpick (a fantastic tool for detailed nail art) Emily goes in with white paint first dotting and then dragging down to create an oval cartoon eye shape. After this is cured she uses the toothpick again to add pupils that make the hearts appear to be gazing at each other lovingly and adds a little black line for the lovestruck grins. After this is cured she seals it off with high-shine top coat.
No Paint Lovin’
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This design by nail tech @brittany_nailart is perfect for those techs in a time pinch or not as confident with nail art as it involves no painting. Sequins and tiny pearl beads are secured sparingly over a nude base with glue before curing to set them in place. This super simple, classy and understated design is then finished off with a high-shine top coat.
Velvet Nights
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This design looks more complicated than it is thanks to the layering which gives beautiful depth. Nail tech Jen Flores uses silver cat eye gel sandwiched between layers of a sheer/jelly red creating the fast-growing ‘velvet nails’ trend. Before curing the cat-eye layer she uses a magnet to push the glitter particles towards the centre of the nail creating that gorgeous illusion of velvet as the light hits different points.
After the second layer of sheer red, top coat is added before additional nail art begins - this step gives the design even more dimension by adding another layer of separation. Jen then uses a dotting tool to apply two dots of pink paint next to each other which are then dragged down to meet in the middle creating a heart. Stars are then created with a dot which is dragged out to four thin points before a final layer of top coat.
Neon Love
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This one is for clients who want to avoid the reds and pinks and be a little different. The neon nail art trend really started to take off in the run-up to Christmas and this next design shows its versatility. Following a classic black french manicure nail artist and educator Michelle Soto applies some iridescent sequins before sealing them with top coat - this adds depth and provides a twinkly backdrop to the neon art.
Michelle then goes in with a white gel paint on a liner brush to create some heart outlines and squiggles which are then cured. The next step is where the magic happens. By going in with some sheer neon-coloured gels over the white outlines a neon glowing effect is achieved. There is no need to be too neat for this part as the overspill is what gives the illusion of glowing light. The set is finished off with some extra white stars and glossy topcoat.