48 Valentine's Day Nail Ideas to Fall in Love With

Valentine's Day may be known as a day filled with chocolate, cards, and hearts, but we think that it's a reason to celebrate all sorts of love. Take a page out of the self-care handbook and treat yourself to a Valentine's Day-inspired manicure. Whether you're a fan of minimalist masterpieces, fun designs, bold pops of color, or prefer to keep it classic, the options are endless. Keep scrolling to discover 48 of our favorite Valentine's Day nail designs that are far from cheesy.

Negative-Space White Heart

Sometimes, it's the absence of color that makes the biggest impact. Here, nails get coated in white, but the designs are made out of negative space. We love the statement heart nail juxtaposed with the classic French mani.

Pastel Aura

This manicure radiates from within, giving an aura around the edges of the nail and moving from rich pink to light lilac.

Classic Red

This is about as classic as it gets: a red manicure, made ultra-glossy with a top coat. We love the slightly pointed shape to add further interest.

Preppy Pink and Green

Pink and green are a classically preppy color combo, but they work for the day of love, too. Just add a fun statement nail with a green base and tiny, pale-pink hearts on top.

Simple Dots

We love this simple but bold style, which pairs neutral nails with a minimalist dot design over top.

Red and Cream Floral

Florals typically scream spring, unless you add a jolt of red. Here, the clasically split manicure gets a unique spin, thanks to a smattering of small flowers down the center.

Black and Beige

A typical Valentine's Day manicure might employ pink or red, but this one feels fresh thanks to the unexpected color combo of beige and black. Here, each nail is a unique take on a classic French manicure—with the addition of a fun, heart-bedecked nail.

Split Red and Pink

We love this split style, which sees each nail divided in half between either clear and red or clear and pink. You could change up the color on every nail or stick to two tones to keep things cohesive.

Pink and Red Heart-Shaped Tips

As if the heart-shaped tip wasn't cute enough, this manicure pairs pink with red—adding further interest to the tip while the rest of the nail remains neutral. We love the addition of a glossy top coat.

Negative-Space Scalloped Nails

These pink and red negative-space nails are nothing short of chic. With tiny arcs of color along each nail's outer edge, this manicure is both simple and artistic. To create the look, use an ultra-thin striping brush dipped into the polish color of your choice.

Psychedelic Pink and Purple

We love this 1970s-inspired manicure, which pairs pale-pink nails with light and darker purple details, like tiny hearts and rounded tips.

Red and Nude

These bold red nails create a fun illusion with squiggles of nude throughout. While there’s no rhyme or reason to the lines, the finished look appears purposeful and put-together.

Red With an Edge

This dark twist on the classic French manicure is a great way to give a nod to Valentine's Day without going over the top.

Red Ladies

Valentine’s Day is known for its romantic air. One way to pay homage to the day is with a sultry manicure that shows off the love and femininity of February 14. Case in point: These red line-drawing nails.

Pastel Outlines

If you couldn’t already tell, we’re suckers for well-placed negative space. Here, Paintbox embraces the look with this pale-pink outlined creation, and we’re in love.

Gold Cuticles

Sometimes a Valentine’s Day-ready manicure is as simple as painting your nails the perfect shade of red and adding a bold gold strip of polish at the cuticle. And, we don’t know about you, but we think this red hue might just be an ideal pairing with the metallic accent.

High-Shine Nails

These high-shine red nails have earned thousands of likes—and for a good reason. With seasonal nail art and trendy coffin-shaped tips, what’s not to love?

Metallic Pink Tips

Valentine’s Day nails don’t have to be layered in hearts to look like they’ve been struck by Cupid’s bow. Just look at these pink metallic French tips. We don’t know about you, but we think they look just lovely.

Byrdie Tip

Finish a light-colored manicure with a sheer pink top coat, which will help mask any nail imperfections or yellowing.

Modern Red Mani

Looking for a new way to rock a red nail color without coating your entire nail bed in the bold hue? Look no further than this abstract blob nail art. With two slightly different shades of red, you can create high contrast and head-turning allure. For extra shine, add a dash of gold between the two hues.

Love Pills

Are these supposed to look like pills? Probably not. Do they? Yup. And let’s be real, they’re the perfect dose of Valentine’s Day cheer without being over the top.

Red Jelly Nails

Red for Valentine’s Day and jelly make this see-through manicure a must. Of course, creating the enviable nail look will require enlisting the help of a professional, so be sure to bookmark this image and bring it to your next nail appointment.

French Kisses

With slim French tips and half-hidden hugs and kisses, what’s not to love about these negative-space nails? The black-and-white color palette gives them an undeniably chic allure that could work great well past Valentine’s Day.

Red French

If the idea of bright nails makes you cringe, rest assured you can hop on the Valentine’s Day bandwagon by opting for subtle red French tips.

XOXO

These oversized XOXO nails add all the pink-and-red seasonal pops while getting edgy with black and white, too. If you’re going to try to DIY this look, be sure to have lots of uninterrupted time and a bottle of nail polish remover nearby for touch-ups.

Tiny Black Hearts

Looking for a minimalist way to show off your Valentine’s spirit? These nails will do the trick. Best of all, the teeny black hearts are super simple to DIY. Use a toothpick to paint a dot at the base of each nail and gently drag upwards to create the hearts' arcs.

Kiss Kiss

Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to smother each other (and your nails) in kisses. Since it’s a more detailed nail look, your best bet will be to bring this image to your manicurist so that they can recreate the look.

Thick French Tips

French tips are back in a big way, with modern updates popping up on every corner (and in every Instagram feed). Here, the color is painted on so chunky that it features a negative-space half-moon at the nail cuticle.

Byrdie Tip

Use a circular sticker to section off the nail's bottom crescent and paint from the sticker to the tip in the red polish of your choice.

Shades of Red

Can’t choose a single color but don’t want to deal with nail art? With this multicolored mani you can create an eye-catching nail look by simply choosing five different shades of red. How blessed are we that this nostalgic mismatched technique is now considered a must-wear trend?

Heart-Eye Nudes

What happens when you upgrade the evil-eye nail-art trend with a Valentine’s Day theme? You get a nail look that will leave everyone (yourself included) heart-eyed. See what we did there?

Geometric Hearts

If you’re one to believe the bolder, the better, check out these multicolored heart nails. It's a lot to look at with black-and-white hearts and pink-and-red backgrounds, but a statement nail look nonetheless.

Vampy Coffin Nails

If you’re feeling dark and moody this Valentine’s Day (hey, we don’t blame you), check out these sultry, matte red nails. With a red fade from pinky to thumb, the seasonal nail look capitalizes on the ombré nail trend, too.

Negative-Space Hearts

If you’re prepared to get hands-on with stencils, this negative-space heart manicure is worth considering for your Valentine’s Day nail look. To recreate, stick a heart-shaped sticker in the center of your nail and paint over it. Once the polish is dry, remove the sticker and finish with a top coat to lock in this swoon-worthy style.

Matte Ombré Nails

These almond-shaped nails make our hearts skip a beat. With a seamless fade from red to pink, they’re the perfect nail look for anyone who can’t quite make up their mind about which color to choose for their mani.

Stained Glass Nails

Ready to take your Valentine’s Day nails to the next level? With graphic lines and pops of color, this stained glass window-inspired manicure will make you fall head over heels.

Lips, Hearts, and Eyes

This cartoon-meets-tattoo-inspired manicure makes us want to book a nail appointment ASAP. With hints of red, pink, and nude, not to mention the hearts and lips, the detailed nail art is perfect for Valentine's Day. Plus, who doesn't love a touch of glitter?

Pink Arrow Nails

If Cupid created a manicure, we imagine it would look like this. To shoot your digits with a touch of love, try this metallic pale-pink masterpiece. With gold glitter arrows and negative-space accents, they're minimalist and majestic all at once.

Red Edges

These bright red nails manage to make a major statement without even entirely covering each nail in color. To create the ultra-crisp lines, use striping tape. If you're a crafter or serial planner, you can even use washi tape to create a stencil to paint against.

Matte Stripes

Craving a simple red manicure that still has contrast? This matte-striped monochrome mani will do the trick. To DIY the look, paint on your choice of red polish and use a matte top coat like Essie's Matte About You Top Coat ($16) to create a shine-free stripe across the middle of each nail.

Queen of Hearts

Keep it classic with a heart-covered design for Valentine's Day (or any day). With two shades of pink, the nails feature contrast without adding more colors into the mix.

Red Roses

We're all about buying ourselves flowers whenever we please. If you feel the same, you'll love these realistic hand-painted floral nails. The roses make them Valentine's Day-ready, while the baby-blue background offers a modern take on what's appropriate for Cupid's holiday.

Milk Chocolate

Valentine's Day is synonymous with chocolate. If you don't want to keep it light but still incorporate this sweet color, look to this manicure, that uses some negative space, French tip, and swirl techniques.

Amaretto

We're calling this luxurious brown shade amaretto, because why not? A deeply delicious mix between red and brown, this liqueur color is perfect for fall and all throughout winter, too.

Classic French

There's nothing wrong with a classic. Keep it timeless this love day with a classic French manicure. To make things a little more modern, try a micro-French mani.

Tiny Hearts

Not everyone wears their heart on their sleeve. For those who want to showcase a little love but keep it simple, these tiny hearts over a neutral nail are the perfect way to do so.

All-over Glitter

Valentine's Day has become a day for everyone to celebrate love. Whether it's spent with your significant other, friends, or even yourself (who doesn't love self-care?), add a little glitter and a have fun with it.

Burgundy and Red Stripe

We love this red and burgundy combo together, especially when it is done in such a minimal way with horizontal and vertical stripes. Try OPI's Big Apple Red ($11) and Got the Blues for Red ($11).

Berry Fade

These berry Skittles nails are the perfect colors to enjoy winter but carry you into spring.

Champagne

Love of any kind is reason to celebrate. Pop some bubbly or try a champagne manicure to make this day a little more special.

Up Next: 40 Red Nail Ideas and Designs to Wear All Year Long

Read the original article on Byrdie.