Considering love is already in the air, why not put it on your manicure, too? Valentine’s Day is more than just a holiday for celebrating the partners, friends, and family members nearest and dearest to our hearts — it’s an excuse to punctuate the long, cold winter with an explosion of happy-go-lucky color and romantic designs. As such, doesn’t it feel like celebrity Valentine’s Day nails often end up becoming some of very best sets of all time? They’re fun, they’re mood-boosting, and they only come around once a year.
Some go all-in on the season’s most time-tested tropes — hearts, glitter, reds, pinks, and cherubic cupids — while others take a decidedly more avant-garde approach to their manicures. Regardless of if you’re going the romantic goth route or keeping it classic, there’s enough nail art, maximalism, and streamlined designs alike to satisfy anyone’s personal style. If Sabrina Carpenter’s retro hearts don’t quite speak to you, for example, Kourtney Kardashian’s goth-lite monogram just might.
Consider the list of best-ever celebrity Valentine’s Day nails to be a form of speed dating. Scroll through them all, get a feel for what you like, and make it official with The One. All the coolest romantic manicures are just ahead.
Olivia Rodrigo
Gen Z will love Rodrigo’s inverted color palette. A deep velvet red is the perfect background for white, hand-drawn hearts to pop in the center of each nail.
Beyoncé
Always one for a metallic touch, Beyoncé’s Valentine’s Day nails are a true cherry red with itty-bitty gilded hearts scattered across each finger. Her long, almond shape offers more real estate for the textured design, too.
Hailey Bieber
By keeping the base of her nails a translucent silver glitter, the big, candy-pink hearts on Bieber’s manicure can really pop. Their placement and the softer colors in general make this look feel a little more low-key.
Sabrina Carpenter
If your beloved elementary school Valentine cards turned into a manicure, it would be Carpenter’s. A classic pink-on-red color scheme that puts the bright hearts at center stage, it’s a fail-safe choice.
Megan Fox
For the creatives, consider a more abstract take on the theme, like Fox’s aura nails. Not only is the pink-and-blue color combination sweet enough to suit the holiday, but it adds a personal touch.
Lala Anthony
Rose quartz crystals are prized for their purported ability to attract and amplify love — so why not follow Anthony’s lead and encrust your nails with rhinestones in the same shade?
Kourtney Kardashian
Kardashian is so committed to black nails, she even wore them to get engaged. This set, though, features a romantic twist. The thumbs spell out her husband Travis Barker’s initials.
Kerry Washington
No one loves a theme more than Washington, and her heart-covered hands prove it. By starting the tiny red design about a quarter of the way down her nail beds, it looks like it’s literally raining love every time she waves.
Nicola Peltz-Beckham
Keep it simple and sweet like Peltz-Beckham by simply dressing up a forever favorite design. Her French manicure is as straightforward as it comes structurally, but the pretty pink tips take it into date night territory.
Jennifer Lopez
Lopez loves husband Ben Affleck so much that she immortalized their bond on her manicure — now that’s dedication. The golden stickers she used to spell out their initials makes the look easy to recreate at home.
Lana Condor
Come Valentine’s Day, spring is juuust around the corner. Condor brilliantly captured the spirit of both seasons with her pink-on-pink floral design that looks so detailed from every angle.
Tia Mowry
Rather than painting hearts directly onto her nails, Mowry used a negative space technique to cut the hearts out — talk about innovative.
