NAIL ART: Soft & Delicate Gradient Heart Nails

by - February 09, 2021


If there's one thing that is absolutely true about me when it comes to nail art - I love a holiday theme. It's funny, actually, because oftentimes a specific theme will make me feel constrained, but throw me a holiday and I. Am. On. It. It could possibly be because I just generally love most holidays, even ones that are cheesy and commercial like Valentine's Day. Anyway, I decided to do a full week of Valentine's Day themed nails very specifically because I had a whole bunch of ideas and today's mani was very, very much inspired by one of the nail art designs I did over the Christmas season. 

Keep reading for more!


If you checked out my marathon of Christmas/Holiday themed nail art, you probably remember this mani. It was one of my personal favorites and also one that a lot of other people seemed to really like and as a result it has sort of stuck in my head since then, but I hadn't thought to do something similar again until now.

Very much like with that mani, I started with a layer of sheer white polish with silver flakes it in to brighten up the nail and give some texture. I like to keep this layer sheer, which is why I apply a layer of it rather than sponging it on which would build more opacity than I wanted. Next, I went in with a makeup sponge with a medium pink linear holo polish at the tip and clear polish over the rest of the sponge to get that pink holo tip. For this mani, I did two layers of sponging to get to the opacity I was looking for.


For the stamping, I was very much inspired by this delicate full cover hearts image. Even though it's absolutely not a lace design, there's something that felt delicate and lacy to me about it and I really felt like it would be beautiful stamped in white and paired with this really soft base. After applying the image to all of my nails, I was really happy with how it had turned out - soft and pretty lacy bubbles... or something.

To finish, I sealed in my stamping with a water based top coat and then went in with a generous layer of glossy top coat to add volume and shine. And voila!


All Products Used
OPI - Robots Are Forever
Color Club - Miss Bliss
Whats Up Nails - Blanc My Mind
Maniology Smudge Free Top Coat
Quo Flash Dry Top Coat
Pict You PY-J033 Stamping Plate
Whats Up Nails Magnified Clear Stamper


I have to say... I just really, really love this technique and I suspect it's probably going to pop up in my repertoire at least a few more times in the coming months - I already have some ideas, actually. There's definitely something to be said for a really soft and delicate looking mani, especially when there's a very specific theme.

Be sure to check back tomorrow and the rest of this week for more Valentine's Day themed nail art!

Thanks for reading!

You May Also Like

0 comments