35 Inspiring Looks For Perfect Summer Nails

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.