Valentine’s Day Heart Mani

Ever since my short stint as a kindergarten teacher, I’ve absolutely loved celebrating the “smaller” holidays throughout the year. I think it makes the seasons more fun and somehow seems to help slow down time a bit.

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I thought I’d share this fun and easy at-home mani in case you feel like getting in the spirit too! I actually first figured out this trick when I was a senior in college and couldn’t believe how easy it was to create such a fun design.

You’ll need:

Base color nail polish (I used Essie “Blanc”)
Accent color polish (I used Essie “Haute in the Heat”)
Top coat of your choice (I prefer Seche Vite)
Toothpick
Paper plate (or any surface you can dump a little nail polish on)

Instructions:

Paint your nails using the base color as you normally would and allow appropriate time to dry. I highly suggest investing in a fast drying top coat like this or this to make this step go a little faster.
Take your accent nail polish color and drip some polish onto a paper plate. I dropped about 4 drops into the pile I created in my example.
Dip one end of the toothpick in the pool of polish and use it to make one dot on your nail. This will be the top left curve of the heart, so put it just left of where you’ll want the center of the heart to be.
Repeat step three to the slight right of center to create the right curve of the heart.
Without re-dipping the toothpick, carefully drag the left dot of polish down and to the center, this will fill in the left side of the heart.
Repeat step five dragging from the top right down to the center, creating the other side of the heart. The two dots will join together to create the heart shape when you drag them down.
If you need to fill in spots, simply dip you toothpick again and carefully fill-in where needed.
Let dry, then cover with a top coat.

It is seriously that easy! If this is your first foray into nail art, I suggest practicing steps 3-7 a few times on the plate before moving onto your nail.

I love how the heart adds a bit of holiday flair without being too flashy. Even better, you can try this with any color combo you’d like! I’ve tried a light pink and red combo before and am dying to throw some gold into the mix.

Happy almost Valentine’s Day!

xxo, Kris