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​Summer comes, and the ads are showing bright nail colors that pop with your summer look. 

And when you get into color analysis and realize you’re a summer, it can feel a little disappointing to realize that a lot of those vibrant shades are just not for you. 

​There are a lot of great light summer nail colors! But the nail polish shade that works for you in the summer season may not be the bold colors that we tend to associate with summer. 

(If you’re a soft summer, I wrote a post already about the best nail polish, gel, and dip shades for soft summers during the summer! And if you’re a light summer, you might also be interested in my post about the best hair colors for light summers.)

What makes the best nail colors for light summers

​You should start by looking at the nail polish colors you already have for “best” options before you buy anything new! 

A nail color for light summers should be:

• cool (meaning it has blue undertones, not yellow or orange undertones)
• slightly muted or soft (meaning it doesn’t look clear or bright)
• have low contrast from your skin — neither significantly brighter nor significantly darker than your natural skin tone

(I’m gonna talk more about contrast in the next section, because most guides to light summer will call this “value” and talk about light colors, but that’s not the best advice for every light summer woman!)

So, a perfect shade for light summers won’t be those brighter colors we associate with beach vacations: no coral shades, no neon orange, no hot pink. Rather: try to imagine light, airy sophistication. You’ll spend your summer months in cool, soft pastel tones.

So, look through the nail supplies that you already have. You may find that you have options already that are going to harmonize with your season! 

(BTW, this blog does not suggest that you throw out polish that doesn’t match your color season! If you love it, keep it. Wear it, and if it doesn’t match your season but it makes you happy, so be it. There’s more important things in the world than color analysis.)

A quick note about light summers, contrast, and skin tone

Light summers come in every race and ethnicity! For that reason, when I was writing about the best hair colors for light summers, I stopped talking about the “value” of a color (which is how light or dark it is on the color wheel) and started talking about contrast against your skin. 

All light summers are looking for low contrast against their skin, but each light summer woman will have their own skin tone.

For a white girl who’s a light summer, she’s looking for a light, sky blue polish that will offer only slight contrast from her light skin tone. For a Black light summer, even though she’s going to have light skin for her ethnicity, she’s going to need a slightly darker blue to get that same low-contrast look. Women of color who are light summers can often borrow from the soft summer palette, because soft summers are going to have more depth. (And my soft summer nail post is here: TKTK)

So, when you’re looking for your light summer nail polish colors, you’re looking for low contrast with your skin tone! This will get you a better result than just picking the lightest color you can find, especially if you’re a woman of color. 

Okay, now let’s look at some new options!

In the last post I broke it down into different sections by type of polish, but before we do that I gotta tell you:

Sheer colors are a light summer nail polish cheat code

Regardless of whether you’re using nail polish, dip, or gel, sheer colors are a great choice for light summers, because you’re going to nail the contrast level every time. A sheer color will impart a little something, but the base will be exactly the depth of your skin tone. The jelly nails of summer 2022 were one of my favorite summer nail trends ever because they suit a summer season woman so well! 

Your sheer polish still needs to be cool-toned, so you can’t go for a creamsicle orange shade. But a sheer soft pink or any of light summer’s dreamy pastel shades? Gorgeous. 

Best regular nail polish for light summer 

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Essie’s Bikini So Teeny is a classic for a reason — an icy, shimmery blue nail polish that’s going to make your nails pop. This is very very cool and muted enough for a light summer.

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I love this pretty seashell pink for a light summer! Sheer, glittery — like, I’m refined in pink nail polish, but I’m also fun. The listing photos show a very opaque manicure, but if you look at the review photos the color is quite sheer. 

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This purple is a little deeper and better suited to those light summer women with a darker skin tone, but it is undeniably gorgeous! This is about as bold as a bold statement gets for light summers. 

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And Deborah Lippman’s Love at First Sight is just about a perfect light summer sheer, buildable pink. 

Best gel nail polish for light summer 

If you’re a gel girl like me, yo know that gel polish is often sold in sets, and those sets are never based around your color season. But there are workarounds!

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​So, this polish set has six colors. The blue and pink are perfect for a light summer just as they are. The white is probably also pretty good because it’s pearlescent — a pure while isn’t great for light summers, but the dimension will make it work.

The tan and the peach (the fourth and sixth colors in the photo) are not going to be great shades for any summer woman because they have warmish yellow undertones. BUT I have a trick for this. Adding 3-5 drops of the blue polish will rebalance the undertones and give you a soft and cool version of that color. Go slowly! Add a couple drops and shake, add a couple drops and shake.

 If you’re not too sure about this idea, you can do a tiny test batch on a piece of foil by adding 10 drops of the main color and a drop of the blue and mixing with a q-tip. That way you know if you’ll like the direction the color is going in. 

This works on any color but I would suggest staying within the same brand of polish! For light summers, it can also be helpful to commit to one brand and keep a bottle of white nail polish on hand to lighten colors into your palette. 

For the gold-ish/ yellow nail polish…I don’t think adding blue will work for that one, but you can try! Go one drop at a time. Because the color is so warm it may not work. (If you try it, send me a picture!!)

Pearlescent is just such a perfect summer manicure finish!

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This was my very first gel polish color when I started learning! And if you’re looking to get into gel polish I cannot recommend this strongly enough. It’s absolutely the best way to learn because it’s so forgiving and if you mess up it’s very hard to tell. 

This particular shade of pink is super sheer but buildable. It’s barely-there with a bit of sparkle on light skin and a chic visible pink on darker skin tones. 

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And then its inverse: this deeper pink might read as nude on darker skin tones and a gentle statement color on lighter ones. 

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A gorgeous, chic pale blue that’s not quite pastel colors. This one, too, will read as a statement on you!

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and a pretty lilac option that has the softness that a light summer needs.

Dip nail polish options for light summers

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Okay, I’ve linked a lot of pinks today but this one has a little purple and a little more brightness in it. It wouldn’t work for a soft summer but it’s a light enough color that most light summers will probably make it work.

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​If you want a true sheer pink in dip, though, Revel’s Erica is a classic for a reason.

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I also love Revel’s Margo, which will read as a glitter polish with a few coats! Sweet, chic, understated. 

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Okay, this one looks warm in the photo above. I know. And I know you’re thinking “this girl doesn’t know what she’s talking about”. But if you look at the review photos, some absolute queen has swatched six colors from this brand. This shade is cool and so lovely!

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Gosh this is a lovely color! Click through these options for a bunch of lovely light summer options –I also love Calla Me Lily for a light summer!