PASTEL MOONS
With smoky lavender and a pop of soft coral, this is subtle enough to fly at work but cool enough to boost your fashion cred.
1. Apply a base coat.
2. With the coral polish brush paint over the natural half-moon shape at the bottom of your nail. Drag the tip of a wooden orange stick along outer edges to perfect the shape. Let dry.
3. Position the lavender polish brush at the lower-left corner of the nail, above the coral arc, and sweep it diagonally across the surface. Position the brush at the lower-right corner and repeat. Fill in any gaps.
4. Add a topcoat.
POP ART
If these artful streaks feel too daring to brush over all 10 digits, “try them as an accent nail,” Poole says.
1. Apply a base followed by two coats of white polish. Let dry.
2. Paint on one stripe of red polish; allow edges to appear uneven. Repeat with yellow and green. Let dry.
3. Paint on several streaks of black polish, in varying lengths.
4. Add a topcoat.
GRAPHIC MINIMALISM
Never cared for coloring inside the lines? Use a long, thin striping brush from a crafts store to draw these V-shapes and keep you on the straight and narrow.
1. Apply a base, then two coats of opaque white polish. Let dry.
2. Grab the black polish and place the tip of the brush on the outer edge of the nail; sweep it over to the center. Repeat, starting at the other outer nail edge.
3. Make a dot at the center of the nail; sweep the brush from that dot out toward the tip, creating a V-shape. Fill in any gaps.
4. Add a topcoat.
BOLD FLORALS
This splashy tip is a cinch to master, if you just keep the shapes abstract, says Poole.
1. Start with a base coat, then add two layers of navy. Let dry.
2. Paint a few short streaks of green polish over the nail, pointing the ends so they resemble leaves.
3. Next to the streaks, dab and swirl the tip of the purple polish brush to make petal-like shapes. Repeat with coral polish.
4. Dot the yellow pen over petals.
5. Apply a topcoat.
