14 Pride-inspired nail art ideas to wear loud and proud
Pride Month is one of the most colorful, creative, and fun times of the year, and nail art is one of the easiest and budget-friendly ways to celebrate it through your beauty look. All you really need is some nail polish, a nail art brush, and inspiration. To help you with the last bit, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite Pride nail art looks on Instagram so that you can copy-paste them into your IRL nails. From bold and bright rainbows to subtle French manicure tips, there’s a look for every skill level and aesthetic. Happy painting!
1Clean-cut rainbow
For this simplistic look, first apply a clear base coat and then, using a nail art brush, draw on a thin arch using rainbow-colored nail polishes. Don’t fret if your arch looks uneven; just wait until the polish dries and then go in with a clean, nail art brush that’s been dipped in nail polish remover to fix any mishaps. Wrap it up with a shiny topcoat.
2Vertical stripes
This bolder nail art look is easier to recreate since all it involves is straight, vertical lines. The one caveat is that this also requires more patience and time since you have to let each line dry before drawing on the next. For best results, you can use a thin nail art brush to create those super-straight lines, or you can get crafty and use tape to prevent going over the lines. Either way, this nail art is dope.
3Pastel tips
Elevate your French manicure with these pastel tips. You can use a hole reinforcement sticker in the middle of your nail to create the perfect arch, and from there, create tiny lines with your pastel rainbow nail polish colors. So cute!
4Poppin’ rainbow
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByRMWFIl6se
Make your colors pop by first applying an opaque white base to create that contrast with the rainbow. After you have your dry base, take your nail art brush and create very thin arches to make the rainbow. This will require a steady hand, so take a deep breath and hold it in as you concentrate on each stroke. Don’t ask me why, but it works.
5Vertical color block
This fun Pride nail art look uses negative space to make the colors pop and create a super-cool visual effect. To get the straight lines, you can cut a piece of tape in half to create that DIY stencil, and paint your nails on either side. Wait for your nails to dry before removing the tape, and for those blocks of colors that have a slim outline, take your thin nail art brush and paint along its edges.
6Holographic colors
These nails are straight out of our candy-colored unicorn dreams, and we can’t help but have a major crush on them. To get this exact Pride nail art look, shop the nail artist’s reusable press-on nail decals and apply them onto clean, dry nails. Yes, it’s that easy.
7Slanted tips
To get this look, first paint on a nude base coat and let it dry. Then, use your tape to block off 2/3 of your nail, slanting it vertically. After, take your nail art brush and gently draw on your rainbow colors.
8Glitter French mani
This Pride nail art is so easy to recreate and is an instant mood-booster. To do this at home, take your glitter polish and swipe it horizontally across the tips of your nails, then drag it down either the same nail polish brush or a toothpick to get that super-thin drip. Most glitter nail polishes aren’t super-saturated with glitter, so you could get this subtle, princess-y feel without any difficulties. To wrap it off, finish by applying a shiny topcoat to lock all the glitter in.
9Subtly Colorful
Unlike the other nail art look featuring vertical rainbow stripes, this one uses subtler tones and leaves about 1/2 of the nail for a nude base coat. To recreate, take your favorite nude nail polish and paint it on all your nails. Once it’s dry, go in with your nail art brush and create those vertical lines with your not-so-bright rainbow-colored polishes.
10Flamin’ hot
This may just be the hottest nail art of Pride Month (pun intended). Apart from being rainbow-colored, it’s also seasonally appropriate as temperatures rise to record highs. To recreate this look, first take your light-toned rainbow-colored polishes and paint one on each nail for the base. Then, once it’s dried, take your nail art brush to create the flames with a bolder version of each nail’s base coat. If that sounds too involved, you can buy flame nail decal stickers instead.
11Spaced out stripes
This cute Pride nail art design almost looks like candy stripes. First, paint on a nude base coat, then use your nail art brush to draw lines from one end of your nail to the opposite side. Easy!
123D polka dots
We love this Pride nail art look for its originality and its trippy optical illusion. To recreate, paint on colorful dots in a color gradient. Once they’ve dried, go in and add a white dot almost entirely on top of each original dot, leaving just enough space for the colored dot to still make a pop. This will give the nail art that 3D effect, and it’ll look super cool.
13Sequined squiggles
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3XahqGj9_x
Your colorful nail polish can take a seat for this look. For it, you’ll first want to apply a base coat so that you’re not gluing sequins directly onto your nail. Once it’s dry, take nail glue and create a squiggly vertical line, and while the glue is wet, carefully apply the tiny rainbow sequins.
14Matted colors
Using negative spaces to create this elegant look, apply your rainbow-colored nail polishes on opposite sides of the nail in vertical lines. Once you’re done, go over each nail with a matte topcoat. Voila!
