First, choose a base color and paint all of your nails. Then, pick a nail design of your choice. They are in order of easiest to hardest. Feel free to mix and match them. Make sure to let your base color completely dry before creating the nail design.

Design 1: This is a simple single diagonal stripe. There are two ways to do it: if you have a steady hand you can go straight from the bottle and paint across the nail, or you can put a piece of washi tape or masking tape (not scotch tape) diagonally over the nail and paint over it and remove it as soon as you are done painting.

Design 2: Polka dots—you can do as many or as few as you like! Take a toothpick or a bobby pin and paint a little nail polish on it. Then dot it onto your nails where you want the dots.

Design 3: For these stripes, you can either use a steady hand or tape, as mentioned in design 1. The difference is you will use two pieces on either side of the stripe (see picture). Paint over it and remove the tape. Let that stripe dry and then repeat a few more times. This design is the most time consuming, but it looks very stylish!

Design 4: To make a heart, use a bobby pin or toothpick to make two thick dots next to each other. Then, use the same tool as before to pull down the nail polish. Move the polish around until you get the shape of a heart. You can stop there, or to go the extra step, take your base color and straighten out the lines of the heart to touch it up.

Finally, after letting the design dry, paint a top coat over it to make it last. Now it’s time to admire your awesome nails!