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If you’ve been working on your DIY nail skills for a while, you’ve got the basic solid-colored manicure down. 

(I’m also working on a post about nail stickers + gel so stay tuned for that too.)

You may be ready to branch out into some simple nail art! The best option that I love for simple nail designs to get you started is line nail designs, where you’re just using either straight line or wavy nail designs to get a unique design look. 

Depending on your style, you can go for geometric patterns, a few simple minimalist lines, or intricate designs. Whether you’re chic and understated or the center of attention, there is a line nails option for you. 

And it’s easier than you think! With one inexpensive addition to your nail kit, you’ll be all set to start branching out into DIY nail designs. Here are the supplies, some basic rules for getting started, and the inspo pics you came here for! 

DIY nail line ideas supplies

Okay, say it with me: you don’t need a steady hand, you need a striping brush! 

If you can paint your nails neatly and don’t get polish all over your cuticles, you are neat enough to do a simple look. 

These tiny little brushes help you get neat, crisp lines in one pass. That way, you aren’t having to control the thickness of a line by just barely touching the nail with a regular polish brush — you can firmly press with a properly sized brush, getting a perfect line with minimal effort. So, you don’t have to be a talented nail artist to get even, thin lines. 

And because the brushes are so long, it’s actually quite a bit easier to get a straight line than you might think. If you struggle to cut straight with scissors, you can still achieve a straight line using a longer brush head like these. 

You can also get a thin brush like this at any beauty store that’s going to supply nail salons. 

​What is a good starter look for line nail art? 

When you’re just getting started, here are some things to keep in mind: 

• A line design with long lines that extend to the edges of the nail is easier than a design with short lines. You don’t have to get the beginning and the end of the line perfect that way. 
• Low contrast (with relatively little difference between the base coat color and the line color) will be more forgiving while you’re learning. If you make a mistake, it won’t be as obvious. 
• Glitter can be tough — everyone loves a cute glitter nail, but if you’re doing glitter lines, you’ll get the best result from either a microglitter or a shimmer-based polish. Even then, it’s not going to be as pronounced or obvious as a solid polish would be, because the glitter has to be suspended in clear polish in order to work properly. Chrome powder can be a great alternative, and that get done with clear topcoat (more on this later!) 
• Curved line designs are having a moment! If you decide to do squiggly lines, try to make the wavy pattern slightly different on each nail. That way, your work is consistent but doesn’t need to be identical. It’s harder to make curvy lines all look the same!

The easiest possible starter look for medium or long nails is probably a modern take on a French manicure. Paint your nails with a neutral base (or not!), then using a striping brush to paint a straight line across the top of the nail. The proportions would depend on how long the nails are, but typically about 1/4 of the nail unless they’re really long. 

Once you have a straight line, you can curve the edges down at the sides of the nail if you want for a more typical French manicure, and paint from your line to the tip of the nail. 

Or, you can leave the line as is for an 00s-but-updated nail look. If you’re doing your line art gel, cure it, and top with a topcoat. 

When you screw up, before you soak off your polish, ask yourself — can I fix this by adding another line next to it? I feel like 60% of the time, you can.

Nail prep basics for line art newbies

​If you’re going to put the work in to nail art, you want to be sure your manicure is going to last. And that means prepping your cuticles properly so that you won’t experience lifting or chipping around the edges of your nails. 

I really relied on Youtube videos when I started doing my nails at home, and this one is a gem: in addition to showing you how to do a chrome line using no-wipe topcoat, she also shows you what cuticle prep needs to look like if you want to get a full month out of your nails. This was the biggest struggle for me and took the longest to get right. 

So if you have your cuticle prep locked down, skip to the last three minutes of the video to get a sense of how a professional nail artist is hitting these lines. If you’re new, I highly encourage you to watch the whole thing! You can see the still photo of the finished nails down below.

Anddddd from there let’s go look at some nail art inspiration! 

Simple, achievable nail art inspo

(this picture was unattributed on Pinterest. If you know who it belongs to, please lmk so I can credit it!)

I love the thin black lines on this white version. This looks sophisticated but a design like this, with straight lines and each nail different, is a great way to get started. Simple line nail designs that run from the base of the nail to the tip, or one side to the other, will help you get started, because starting and finishing the line is the hardest part. And when each nail is different, you don’t need to worry about hitting the exact same part of each nail with your lines.

For a beginner, I would suggest less contrast than we see in this design while you’re learning. Baby blue with silver lines or burgundy lines over black nail polish will be more forgiving as you’re getting started. 

You will not be perfect the first time! So pick a color combo that you won’t have to soak off at the slightest error. 

So this is actually a set of press-ons, but I think it’s still a great choice to try to imitate! The french tips are made modern with color, and the fact that not every nail is identical will help forgive mistakes.  I love the way the pinky is done on this set (if you click the link you get a large photo if you want to look closer!). If you were setting up these nails and made a mistake, that “twister” design that pulls down on that side would be a great way of covering or adapting. 

(this picture was unattributed on Pinterest. If you know who it belongs to, please lmk so I can credit it!)

This set looks so chic and I love the negative space and drama of this black line nail design. Again — high contrast is very tough for newbies. But these neutral nails base could look just as gorgeous with metallic shimmer for the lines! A silver nail design on top of taupe for the soft summer girls? And maybe gold lines for the springs and autumns. 

Image credit @pegi_nails on Instagram

Very similar to the above design, but a very different effect! This artist used minimal lines in two colors on just two nails to get this crisp, beautiful look.

You can do this! Do one color at a time. If you don’t trust yourself to make your two lines parallel, either put them right next to each other or make them intersect.

(image credit @elina.nails.art on Instagram)

I actually don’t think this was done with a striping brush — I think these gorgeous line art nails were done with stickers! Kind of like nail wraps, these stickers come in metallic colors and can be used to make lines or geometric shapes. The nail tech got such an elegant look here! 

Honestly these stickers always look AWFUL before the topcoat is on, so keep your attitude positive until it’s all done. I’ve used the lines and shapes successfully in the past! I don’t like the curved line stickers that are supposed to sit at the base of the nail, because they have to fit perfectly to look good, and you can’t wrinkle the sticker at all to make them fit or it looks bad.

If you’re going to use the line stickers, the most important part is getting the stickers to end in the right place! If they go over the edge of the nail, they won’t get encapsulated in your topcoat and you’ll have lifting. But if they’re too short, they’ll look funny. Try to cut them so that you’ll have enough space to have your topcoat go past the edge of the sticker, but not much past.

I’ve used the moon and stars sticker from this listing too. It’s a very cute look that is WAY out of my skill set to hand paint or stamp. 

​And the chrome look that has had us in a chokehold this past year! 

This is the final product from the video I linked above — the chrome technique is a little more sophisticated, but it’s really not much more complicated than rubbing in the powder with a makeup sponge. And honestly there is nothing more satisfying than doing a super on-trend manicure yourself.

Even if you don’t love this look, her channel is so educational for beginning DIY nail girls. Here’s the link to the video again.