4th of July Nail Designs

Nail art has become increasingly popular with young girls, teens, and women of all ages. Whether it is freehand painting, air brushed designs, or nail wraps, everyone loves to show their personality on their nails. Independence Day nail designs are a great way to show your pride in 'Old Glory' and the USA.

This design is simple yet dramatic. To achieve a look like this, begin with a white nail polish that would be used for the tips of a French manicure, then apply purchased decals to decorate the nails. Patriotic decals can be found in many stores that carry nail art supplies. They are also available online. This particular set of vinyl nail decals is available at Etsy.

To purchase these decals, click on the "More Details" button at the bottom of the image.

Nail wraps are very popular because of their durability and ease of application. Many, like the ones shown here, are custom made or made to order. To use them, simply peel off the backing and apply them to your nails, then file them down so that they fit the size and shape of each nail. These Tribal American Flag wraps are from Compulsive Nails.

To purchase these nail wraps, click on the "More Details" button at the bottom of the image.

Patriotic nail designs do not have to be limited to one finger. Turn your whole hand into a flag with a few easy steps.

1. After a clear base coat, paint your thumb and index finger with a metallic royal blue polish. Paint the remaining fingers with a basic red creme polish. Spray with a quick drying manicure spray to speed the drying time of the polish.
2. Using a white nail art paint and a small star nail stamp or stamp plate, make the stars on the blue polish.
3. Using a narrow or medium nail detailing brush and the same white paint, carefully make the wavy lines on each of the remaining nails. You can also use a wavy nail stencil.
4. Finish off with a clear top coat.

Why limit the designs to your hands? Show off your pedicure with patriotic toes. To achieve this look:

1. Start by painting the nails of the big toes with a red creme polish and the other toes with a metallic blue polish. Using a quick dry manicure spray between steps will speed drying time and keep the polish from mixing.
2. Using a white creme polish or white nail art paint, make a wide stripe down the center of the big toe nails.
3. Using a nail striping brush and the same white paint or polish, paint a diagonal line at the middle of each of the other nails. Paint another diagonal line on the lower half of each of these nails as well.
4. On the big toenails, use a darker blue polish or nail art paint to make a stripe across the nail. If using nail polish, make the stripe as wide as the brush.
5. Paint small red stars on each of the smaller toes using a fine detail nail art brush and the same red polish used on the big toes.
6. Use the fine detail brush and white paint or polish to paint three stars on the blue stripe of each big toe.
7. Use a striper brush or fine detail brush with silver glitter polish to paint over the division line of the red and white from cuticle area to the blue stripe on each big toenail.
8. Finish with a clear top coat.

Turning your nails into a flag for Independence Day is as easy as painting a line.

1. Start with a white creme nail polish. Use a quick dry manicure spray to speed the drying time between colors.
2. Next, make a small box at the base of the nail for the stars using a blue polish. The one shown here is a blue glitter polish. This may take two coats depending on the depth of pigmentation in your polish.
3. Using a small detail brush and a red creme polish, carefully paint the red stripes of the flag.
4. Use the same white polish and a medium to large dotting tool to make the stars on the blue polish.
5. Finish with a clear top coat.

Nail designs are only limited by your imagination. Designs like this are easier to achieve than they seem. To get this look:

1. Choose a red and a blue polish, either creme or metallic, and a white creme polish.
2. Paint one-third of your nail length with each color. This is typically the width of the brush when slight pressure is applied to drag the polish down the nail. Do this to all of your nails.
3. Using a needle, a straight pin or a toothpick, start at the cuticle area and drag the polishes across each other in a zigzag pattern.
4. Allow to dry or use a quick dry manicure spray before applying a top coat.

Nail art is not limited to long nails. Here the design is shown on long, acrylic nails. However, you can achieve the same look on short nails by adjusting the size of the design or space between. For the fireworks design shown here, two fireworks will fit on long nails or one firework will fit on short nails.

1. Start with rich black polish after a base coat. You will most likely need two coats.
2. Select the colors you want to use for the fireworks. Lighter colors will show up better on the dark background.
3. Use a fine detail brush, or a toothpick will even work for this design as long as the black polish is completely dry.
4. Select the first color for the inner burst of the firework. Starting at the top of the nail, paint short lines with a dot in the center for the burst. At this point, it will look like a flower.
5. Select a second lighter or complementary color for the outer burst, such as a green outer burst with blue as the first color. Paint the green lines between the blue lines, then move out adding another round of short lines between the first green round. Continue this pattern until the burst fills the nail.
6. Follow this pattern for all your nails but use different colors on each nail.
7. For long nails, paint another firework burst toward the tip of the nail.
8. Finish with a clear top coat.

Unless you are superb with using both hands for detail work, get a stencil set with swirls to create this pattern. To achieve this design, you will need a few tools: a small detail nail art brush; a small, medium and large dotting tool; and a fine detail nail art brush.

1. This design is painted over a clear base coat. However, if you have imperfections in your nail bed or want a more pink background color, choose a sheer pink polish used for French manicures.
2. Using a denim blue nail polish, paint the tips of the nails below the smile line as done for a French manicure.
3. Using a nail stencil or a small detail brush and the same denim blue polish, paint a swirl design at the top of the smile line at a diagonal angle. Leave a slight gap between the tip and the design. Then reverse it and paint the design at the cuticle area on the nails.
4. With a fine detail brush and silver glitter polish, fill in the gaps of the blue design along the nail tip and smile line.
5. Use the dotting tools and a red creme nail polish to make dots along the edge of the blue design.
6. Finish with a clear top coat.

This design is a mix of freehand painting and nail stamps. Nail stamps can be found anywhere nail art supplies are sold. To achieve this look, make each nail a different design.

• The thumbs could be made the same as the pinky nails or paint them a solid color such as red.
• Use a quick drying manicure spray between each coat of polish or paint to speed the drying time.
• The pinky nails are painted with a blue glitter nail polish. Then, a star nail stamp and white nail art paint is used to make three stars on the nail.
• For the white nails with stars, use a white creme nail polish as the base color for the nail. Use red and blue polish or nail art paint with various sized star nail stamps.
• For the flag nails, use a metallic red polish, white nail art paint, and a dark blue polish. Apply two coats of the red metallic polish. Use a small detail nail art brush to paint the stripes and the blue box, and a star stamp with white nail art paint.
• The middle fingers use the same blue glitter polish as the pinky nails. Fireworks such as these are extremely difficult to paint by hand. The ones shown here are stickers. The bust of the Statue of Liberty is a nail stamp used with white nail art paint.
• Finish all nails with a clear top coat for the longevity of the designs.

Nail stamping is an easy way to create do-it-yourself nail designs. This design is simple enough for everyday wear, yet dressed up enough for an Independence Day party.

1. Start by painting your nails in a bright blue creme polish. Apply two coats so that the richness of the color shows.
2. Use white nail art paint and a star nail stamp to place the star design on one nail of each hand.
3. Finish with a clear top coat.

Marbled polish is easy to do and creates a unique twist for your patriotic nail art. For this design:

1. After the base coat, apply a sheer white nail polish to the full nail.
2. While the white is still wet, add three or four drops of red creme polish to the nail. Then, add about four drops of a bright blue or turquoise creme polish.
3. Use a toothpick or small dotting tool to swirl the polish around the nail. Use a quick dry manicure spray to speed the drying time.
4. After the polish is dry, use a white nail art pen to draw random lines on the nails. Make sure the lines cross each other.
5. Repeat this pattern on all the nails and finish with a clear top coat.

The background colors of this design have a unique marbled design. Three of the outer nails are marbled and the inner two nails are striped rather than marbled. Nail stamps like the one used for this design are often a stamping plate, which combines multiple small stamps, rather than a single star. To get this look:

1. For the thumb, index and pinky fingers, use a deep red creme polish and a navy blue creme polish. Apply two coats of the red polish to these nails, and while wet add four or five drops of navy polish to the nails. Use a toothpick or dotting tool to swirl the polish around the nails to look like marble.
2. For the middle and ring fingers, apply two coats of the same red polish. Then, make four stripes diagonally across the nails with the navy polish.
3. Use white nail art paint with a star stamp to cover each nail with the star pattern.
4. Finish with a clear top coat.

You can easily make the designs match on fingers and toes. This look is achieved by adding star and arrow stickers over your favorite blue metallic polish. Add dimension to this design by using red and white polish with a small dotting tool to place dots of color around the stars.

Finding nail art supplies such as those used for these designs is not as difficult as it used to be. With the growing popularity of do-it-yourself nails, stickers and stamps can be found almost anywhere that nail polish is sold. Try one of these nail designs to show your patriotic pride this Independence Day.