'I always get asked about my nail art. Take these party manicure ideas to your next appointment.'

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Party season is the best time to try nail art. 

Maybe I'm biased; this reformed nail biter has been in a committed relationship with her nail tech for years.

Choosing my monthly nail art is a joy. It started small; a pale pink BIAB manicure with a subtle feature nail. Then, I graduated to French tips before levelling up to… pink crocodile print with diamentes.

Watch: A nail tech explains what SNS can do to your nails, post contines below.

So, if you're thinking about getting your nails done for Christmas Day, a wedding or any party season festivities, may I suggest you try something new?

From beginner-friendly feature nails and chrome, to cat eye and geometric blobs, I've compiled a visual list of my all-time favourite nail art designs to suit every comfort level for you to take to your next nail appointment. 

Best nail art for 2025.

Let's start with some things to consider:

• What events do you have coming up, and have you planned your outfits yet? You'll want to make sure the colours you choose won't obviously clash with a special occassion dress

• What nail length are you playing with? Not everyone has nail beds for days, and that's okay! You can still do nail art on shorter nails, but keep in mind you'll have less surface area — what looks like one person's long nails on Instagram might look different on your nails

• What colours do you like? You'll likely have this nail art on for minimum 2-3 weeks, so choose colours you like to look at, and shades that compliment your skin tone — I find cooler-toned pink base colours suit my hands better than warmer shades (Dolly from Gel Bottle is my go-to builder base shade)

Beginner nail art ideas.

Sheer glitter or neutral chrome.

Image: Amy Clark.

Pretty self explainatory, but I'll often go for a finely-milled shimmer or glitter shade over the top of my neutral nail polish base if my nails are super short, or I'm short on time or cash!

A single feature nail.

Image: Amy Clark.

Image: Amy Clark.

Dip your toe into nail art with a super cute feature nail (usually on the ring finger, but there are no rules!).

Past feature nails I've done and loved are retro flowers, daises, a cluster of small stars or one large abstract star and feature gems, but you might want to try something on-trend like polka dots, bows or ribbons.

Plain French tips.

Image: Amy Clark.

Image: Amy Clark.

This is my failsafe, can't go wrong nail art design of choice.

For party season, I love a festive fire engine red french tips, emerald green, hot pink or indigo, but you can also try something more classic like white, lilac, butter yellow or chocolate brown.

Intermediate nail art ideas.

Chrome French tips.

Image: Amy Clark.

Image: Trophy Wife.

Level up your french tips of choice by adding a layer of chrome over the top. Chrome polish comes in heaps of shades and is a powder your nail tech will rub over the top of your usual colour.

You can also get more of a liquid metal design — this is in my wishlist.

Glitter French tips.

Image: Amy Clark.

Another way to elevate your french tip is to do them in glitter. I've done silver glitter french tips and gold french tips, but you can do any glitter colour you like — hot pink or red glitter would be a vibe for Christmas.

Cat eye nail polish.

Image: Trophy Wife.

You've probably seen cat eye manicures on TikTok — this is a type of polish that contains magnetic particles. When a magnet is held over the wet polish, it creates this galaxy-esque, shofting lift effect that looks like a cat's eye.

Full set of dainty art.

Image: Amy Clark.

Image: Trophy Wife.

Some of my favourite nail art designs are intricate and dainty.

Maybe it's a mix of small stars in differrent colours over a neutral base shade, or a small love heart in the centre of each nail.

Advanced nail art.

Negative space and geometric blobs.

Image: Amy Clark.

Image: Trophy Wife.

Yes, this is (not) the technical term I've coined for one of my favourite full set nail art designs.

It's hard to describe, so just show your nail tech this image as inspo.

Aura nails and bloom nails.

Image: Trophy Wife.

Image: Trophy Wife.

Now we're getting into some funky stuff. Your nail tech can use an airbrush machine to create a really cool 'aura' design using one, two, even three different shades.

I've also tried blooming polish to get this flower effect — the polish naturally spreads or 'blooms', like when you add a drop of ink to wet paper.

Feature gems or diamantés.

Image: Trophy Wife.

Image: Trophy Wife.

There's nothing more festive than adding gems or diamantés to your nail art manicure.

It could be a single gem on your feature nail, gems added to french tips, or multiple gems mixed with small stars, bows and other geometric shapes. And you can get gems in all different colours!

Croc and animal print.

Image: Amy Clark.

These were my Christmas nails last year — berry crocodile print with feature diamantés.

I've always wanted to try an animal french tips, like cow print french tips or tortesiole french tips… I'm waiting for my nails to grow long enough.

Multi-art designs.

Image: Trophy Wife.

Image: Trophy Wife.

My most-saved nail art designs are these multi-design sets that mix all different colours, prints, mediums, colours and textures.

For more tried and tested beauty recommendations, listen to the You Beauty podcast or watch You Beauty on YouTube.

Feature image: Supplied.