From swirls and hearts to French tips: top nail art trends for Valentine’s Day

From Xmas holidays to Halloween, nails are now embracing all kinds of celebrations. And although not everyone’s a fan of Valentine’s Day, it too has gotten the nail art treatment.

In recent weeks, influencers and professional makeup artists have been following one another in presenting manicures and nail art entirely dedicated to this celebration of love. Sure, it’s kitsch, but it’s also hugely popular, with tens of millions of views and search interest soaring for these veritable works of art as Valentine’s Day approaches.

The SpaSeekers* platform took a closer look at these love-themed manicures to find the most popular.

Contrary to what you might think, it’s not hearts or steamy red shades that dominate the trends, although they’re still well-placed.

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It is, in fact, ‘swirl nails’ that have recently risen to the top of these manicure inspirations. With more than 56 million TikTok views and a 45% increase in Google searches, this trend involves applying swirls of colour to nails in colourful waves, bringing a playful touch to any look.

@vwnails_ missed making videos for u guys design ib @nails_and_soul #pinknails #swirlnails #almondnails #longnails ♬ Sure Thing (sped up) – Miguel

Kitsch designs

More classic, it’s a pink version of the French manicure that takes second place in the list of top Valentine’s Day inspirations. This very romantic trend saw search interest rise by 83% on Google, and has generated nearly 2 million views on the Chinese social network.

Red nails – a classic – completes this Valentine’s podium, with a 24% increase in search interest and some 3 million views on TikTok. At first glance, these looks may seem tame, if not classic, but the rest of the ranking makes room for some more creative ideas.

@melmemoir Pink french for V-day “Prettier in Pink” by @gelishpro is my new fave. #gelish #valentinesnails #nails #frenchtipnails #pink #hearts #nailart ♬ Theme from "Twilight (Bella's Lullaby)" – Movie Sounds Unlimited

Further down the list come nail art designs featuring black and white hearts (+24% and nearly 450,000 views), French manicures decorated with hearts (+504% and 20,000 views), ombre glitter nails (+22% and 400,000 views), and red French tips (+22% and 330,000 views).

Note that in tenth place, the smiley makes an appearance on pink coloured nails – an original inspiration for Valentine’s Day, but no less cute and creative. All that’s left is to choose which one is the best fit to send the right message to that special someone this February 14.

*From a long list of popular Valentine’s Day nail trends, the keywords for each nail trend were analysed via Google Adwords to discover the percentage increase in searches year over year. The #(nail trend) hashtag was analyzed via TikTok to see how many views it had. These two numbers were then used to create a list of the top trends.

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