5 Simple Nail Art Designs For People Who Are Bad At Nails

For lifelong manicure addicts, lockdown has been difficult. With nail salons closed due to COVID-19 safety regulations, those of us who usually turn to professionals to make our nails shine have had to tend to them ourselves. For some, this meant revisiting press-on nails or attempting to become a nail tech overnight with DIY gel nail kits. For others it meant going au naturel or trying out a selection of DIY designs.

If like us, you chose to try your hand at nail art, you might have learnt pretty early on that the marbled trend you pinned on Pinterest was a lot harder to create than you initially thought. Still, there are some trends which have become popular during lockdown and have novices in mind. Our favourite? 'Pin and pick' nail art. Made specifically for those attempting their nails with zero proper tools at home, the simple nail art trend is created using just a toothpick and a ball-tipped pin.

Nail salons are no closer to opening and so the style is slowly taking over Instagram, with nail art aficionados like Betina Goldstein and Natalie Pavloski leading the way with handy tutorials. To prove that the designs really are doable for nail art newbies, team R29 tried out the best trends on the Internet, from fruity to floral designs. Here's how we got on.

I enlisted the Elegant Touch Professional Nail File, Nails Inc Nailkale Superfood Base Coat, CND Vinylux Weekly Long Lasting Top Coat, Green Manucurist Nail Lacquer in Green Pansy, a piece of card and one toothpick (snipped at the end with a pair of scissors and filed down slightly to make a circle shape at the end).

Using the file, I whipped my nails into an elegant oval shape and applied one layer of base coat. With the nail polish brush, I decanted a pool of polish onto a flat piece of card, carefully dipped in the toothpick and gently placed the end onto each nail to achieve a polkadot. Some dots needed a second attempt and appeared a little bigger or more rough around the edges than others, but I liked that look. After the colour had dried, I painted on a thick layer of top coat to make my nails glossy. Or, you could take inspiration from Betina Goldstein and make them matte.

It took me seconds and I was surprised by how simple it was. I would suggest waiting for the polish to dry completely before applying your topcoat, though, as it could make the dots appear streaky.

I was really happy with the results and couldn't stop looking down at my nails. The compliments on Instagram speak for themselves!

I’ll definitely try this nail art look again, especially if I'm in need of a little pick me up or if I'm heading to a special occasion. I think next time, I'll go monochrome with a white base and black dots.

I used Peacci nail polish in Tiger and Khaki, 2 in 1 Base Coat and Gel’ous Top Coat, plus a round headed pin, a toothpick and some tin foil.

After applying a base coat, I poured a blob of orange polish onto a piece of tin foil and grabbed one of my pins. Using the round end I dipped it into the polish and then pressed firmly onto my nail to form a small circle shape. After repeating this across all of my nails and allowing some drying time, I then took the toothpick and dipped it into the green polish to form small strokes into stalks. I finished with gel top coat for extra shine.

The main difficulty I ran into was the orange leaves. The toothpick was rather thick and left them looking a little like carrot tops. Half way through I realised I could achieve a more precise line by using the pointy end of the pin, which ended up helping a lot. Apart from that, it was very simple and surprisingly quick to do.

I was really happy with the final product. The oranges are so cute and really make you feel like you’ve made an effort. If I were to do it again, though, I would probably add more than one orange to each finger. Variety is key to the look but I prefer the design with multiple oranges on each nail.

Yes! Little lemons are next on the list à la Natalie Pavloski.

I used CND Vinylux Satin Slippers, Essie Meet Me At Sunset and Peacci 2 in 1 base coat, plus a needle.

I gave myself a full on manicure — soaked my nails, cut my cuticles, filed and buffed my nails before rubbing cuticle oil on them. Then I applied my base coat before dipping my needle (I didn’t have a toothpick anywhere in the house) in the polish and carefully drawing a very straight line in the middle of my nail. I went over the edges then used my nail polish brush to fill in the gaps. I let the polish dry before applying nude nail polish on the other half of the nail. Then I applied my top coat to each side for shine.

At first I thought this would be really difficult. Naturally, I’m really cack handed. But I was really surprised by how easy and quick it was. I was more surprised that I was able to draw the line with such precision using my left hand without ballsing it up.

Really happy. I would usually get something like this done at the salon for twice the price while inhaling dangerous fumes. But I did it at home while watching the telly and sipping Whispering Angel rosé.

Absolutely — in lots of different shades! I'd love to try the same look with rainbow colours or with a shimmering gold line for an added luxe feel. Now I know how simple and quick it is to achieve, it gives me room to be really creative. I think I'm going to try this gorgeous look by Betina Goldstein next.

So I have a bit of an advantage in this area: in my household we're very into crafting and hobbies of that kind. While my knitting and crochet stuff wasn't too much help, my wife's sculpting tools definitely were. For the sake of fairness I did have a look for a toothpick and a regular pin but the closest I could find was a intra dental flossing brush and a kirby grip. Instead I used my wife's Amazon-bought sculpting tools. Polish wise, I used Nails Inc 45 Second Speedy Gloss in Mayfair Made Me Do It for the cherry, Nails Inc GelEffect in Regal Lane for the stems and another 45 Second Speedy Gloss in Find Me In Fulham for the little white dot.

I followed Natalie Pavloski's nail tutorial. My nails are not in their proper state right now so please excuse the shape. I started by cleaning off any old nail polish and trimming them, before diving right in with the red colour and the ball end tool (it was the closest I could find to the pin used in the video). Then I used a pointier tool for the lines and finished with a tiny dot of white. I don't have clear polish because I rarely paint my nails at home, so I left them naked and I'm telling myself I like the matte effect.

It was super easy… if you have a steady hand. I do not and found myself shaking as I dropped dots of red onto my nails.

Given the amount of time they took it's a really effective tutorial!

Maybe. I reckon with some more practice and some other tutorials I could get into nail art. It was honestly quite fun.

The polishes I used were my favourite (slightly battered) clear top coat which is Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Hardener, Yves Saint Laurent La Laque in 26 Blanc Symboliste (but any white will do), and the muted ochre yellow, which is J. Hannah's Fauna. The tool I used was a wooden kebab skewer as I couldn’t find a cocktail stick, which would have probably been easier and more precise. 

My nails are weary from washing up and gardening in lockdown but short as they are, I still wanted to give this a go. After a clear coat, I dipped the skewer into the white polish and dabbed it against my nail at an angle to make each petal. This was a bit fiddly, and tricky to make all nails looks fairly consistent (I had to re-do one). After letting this dry I dabbed the same stick (after giving it a wipe) into the yellow, to create the centre of each flower. 

It was fiddly but using the stick was so much easier than attempting it with a brush, which is what I usually use for my nail art experiments. 

Yes! I would probably choose a brighter yellow, as when this muted tone is used in such a small area against white, you can’t see the full colour and it just looks brown. 

Yes, when I get round to doing my right hand! I definitely would use this technique again and maybe freestyle a bit with different flower designs now that I have the rough technique in mind.