Get professional results at home, even with your nondominant hand.
Go grunge
This technique looks like shatter nail polish but doesn’t use any special polishes or tools. After letting your base coat dry, wipe off most of the polish from the brush of a second color. The almost-dry brush will create a punky, distressed look.
Water it down
Using a flat brush to apply watered-down nail polish results in a plaid watercolor look. Its beauty is in its imperfection, meaning you don’t have to worry about straight lines in your nail art designs. Get the full tutorial from The Nailasaurus.
Try different watercolors
Start with a base coat for your nails. Drop a few blobs of another color on a piece of wax paper, then water it down with pure acetone. Simply dab the second color over the first randomly to create a beautiful watercolor effect.
Use a toothbrush
A cheap toothbrush can be converted into a creative stamp for your nails. Apply polish to the bristles, then press the toothbrush down on your nails to transfer the color. Go for a rainbow scheme like this one, or stick with greens and browns for a cool camouflage.
Start seeing spots
No dotting tool? No problem. Get creative with creating little polka dots for nail art designs. A pinhead, pencil (either point or eraser), nail, bobby pin, and thumbtack can all help you make clean circles. Stick with just one, or use a couple different sizes like Chalkboard Nails does here.
Find a new use for plastic wrap
Use saran wrap as a stamp results to create a cool marbled texture that looks way more complicated than it is.Just don’t do a mani/pedi too often—this is the scary thing painting your nails does to your body.
Floss and gloss
Who knew your dental hygiene tools could help in the beauty department too? Floss picks can form these abstract stripes with just a few colors. Get the full tutorial from Cute Polish.
Rethink straws
Dip a straw in nail polish to create a stamp for funky open circles. Keep it from getting overwhelming by limiting the number of circles you make.
Pick a toothpick
Wait for a small puddle of polish to thicken up, then use a toothpick to guide strings along your nail for a funky take on stripes.
Glitz it up
Gradient glitter looks much classier than a nail of solid sparkles, but getting the right amount of glitter can be a challenge. Use a paper towel to soak up some of the clear polish, giving you more control of the glitter.
Foiled again
Tin foil acts as another tool to get classy marble nail art designs. Form foil into a stick, then dab wet blobs of nail polish to get the look.
Drag those drops
Pulling a needle through simple dots will elevate your nails to a beautiful work of abstract art.
Use sticker reinforcements
To get a simple half moon at the bottom of your nail, start by painting your whole nail the color you want the moon to be. Stick on circular reinforcement stickers to the base of your nail so the hole is mostly around your skin. Paint a second color from the top of the sticker up, then wait for it to dry before removing the sticker.
Taped and straight
The secret to getting perfectly straight lines in nail art designs? A piece of Scotch tape.
