It’s back-to-school season! Are you excited or nervous? No matter how you’re feeling, looking cute can boost your confidence and help you make good first impressions.
When you love your look, everything else just seems to fall into place—so let’s get you started with some back-to-school nails. We’ve got lots of looks simple enough to do yourself and cool designs to ask for at the salon.
Let’s get into it!
1. Glass Nails
Glossy, transparent glass nails are the perfect companion to minimalist aesthetics that focus on natural looks and they fit even the strictest school dress codes.
2. Brat Green Nails
School is starting, but brat summer isn’t over yet. The season’s hottest shade is still going strong—because it’s so striking, it will spice up every outfit.
3. Minimalist Nail Art
Here’s an easy and cute nail art idea you can do at home: a single stripe on each nail, followed by clear top coat. You can mix it up with horizontal or diagonal lines, or stick to one color.
4. Milky French Nails
French tips are always on trend, but when combined with the super popular milky base, this look is fire!
5. Ombre Pastels
Can’t choose your favorite pastel shade of polish? No worries! Paint each nail a different color to create a cute and subtle gradient effect.
6. Stars Nail Stickers
Nail stickers are the best thing ever. Pick some designs you love, stick them on top of a base coat or on your bare nails, and seal with a top coat to make your cute mani last.
7. Skinny French Tips
This year’s French tips are as skinny as jeans from ten years ago. Go classic with white or add some fun colors and keep the lines as thin as possible.
8. Pearl Nails
Achieving pearl-like nails is easy with the right polish, but for extra gloss, go for chrome powder over a white base.
9. Metallic Pink Nails
The metallic nails trend is still on the rise and they’re set to get even more popular. Colors don’t matter as much as the metallic sheen, so go with what you like.
10. Nude Nails With Silver Accents
Neutral nails with minimalist details are always a safe and stylish choice for school, but these gorgeous silver accents are on another level. So cool!
11. Pineapple Yellow Nails
Keep summer alive with pineapple yellow on your nails. This warm and cozy color is a great transitional shade going into fall!
12. Glossy Black Nails
Black nails are always cool, but most of us tend to avoid them in the summer. If you’ve missed your favorite nail polish color, now is the time to go back to black.
13. Animal Print Nails
This colorful look mixes multiple animal prints, but you can choose just one for the whole mani or even use it as an accent on a single nail.
14. Opal Nails
Iridescent opal sheen is understated but glamorous. Quiet luxury for your nails!
15. Robin’s Egg Blue Nails
Bright and fun Robin’s egg blue is a great early fall shade that highlights your summer tan and lifts your spirits every time you see it.
16. French Mani With Gems
Bubblegum pink French tips? Cute! Sparkling gems on top? Stunning! This simple mani will glam up your casual outfits and look classy when you dress up.
17. Cherry Red Nails
Cherry red is the eternally beautiful shade that has a huge impact on your look—whatever you wear, red nail polish will make it instantly more elegant.
18. Champagne Chrome Mani
The chrome shade of the season is champagne—less bright than white, but just as glossy, and even more elegant.
19. Ballet Core Pink Nails
Soft pink nails go with every outfit and suit every skin tone. When in doubt, this is the perfect shade.
20. Bright Blue Nails
If you love edgy or fashion-forward looks, intense and dramatic nail polish shades do half the work. This bright blue definitely won’t go unnoticed.
21. Nude Nails With Crystals
Peachy nude nails decorated with crystals make it seem like your nails are wearing jewelry. Snazzy!
22. Ombre Nails
Creating an ombre effect is surprisingly simple: paint your nails a base color, then dab on another shade with a nail art sponge (a makeup sponge will do in a pinch). Easy as that.
23. Glitter French Tips
Nude nails with glitter cascading from the tip to the base is a simple yet striking mani. Just apply polish to the tip and drag down to spread the glitter.