Butterflies are the epitome of springtime, so it is only natural that they be featured in the nail art of spring. Butterflies can be portrayed in many different forms, including cartoon, realistic, and other abstract styles. The natural beauty and colors of the butterfly make it easy to incorporate into your nail designs. Use the following ideas as inspiration for how to celebrate spring with beautiful butterfly acrylic nails.
Thumb Butterfly Nails
One of the reasons people find butterflies so beautiful is because of their perfect symmetry. Not only does this symmetry make it easy to create, but it can also be used in the design to make it more interesting. For this, consider creating half of the wing on one thumb and the other half on the other. This way, when you put your hands together, it creates a whole butterfly.
Style of nails these look best on: Square with rounded corners.
Center Finger Butterfly Nails
The same design can be created with a split nail but on the same hand. Choose two of the center fingers, most likely the middle and index finger. By doing the split-wing on the same hand, you will always see the full butterfly, as opposed to only seeing it when your two hands are together.
Style of nails these look best on: Square with rounded corners.
Butterfly Life Cycle
Think back to being in elementary school and learning about the life cycle of a butterfly. Use this concept to paint one step of the life cycle on each finger and mirror the design on the other hand. The order should be an egg (white dot on a leaf), a caterpillar, a chrysalis or cocoon, a butterfly, and finally, a flying butterfly in side profile.
Style of nails these look best on: Almond.
Monarch Butterfly
The monarch butterfly is the most iconic of them all, with its orange, black, and white pattern. To paint this, create a long skinny body in black paint and draw out the wings in orange. For the next coat, create a thin black border around the orange wings and draw the lines from the border of the wings to the center in a vein pattern.
Finally, draw two antennas in black and use white to create white dots around the black border that you drew around the orange.
Style of nails these look best on: Square.
Cabbage White Butterfly
The cabbage white butterfly is not as well known as the monarch, but it is much more simple for someone going for a minimalistic look. The cabbage white butterfly has a charcoal grey body with pale yellow wings. What makes it identifiable are the charcoal grey tips on the tip of the top wing and 2 or 3 vertically stacked grey dots on each side of the wings.
Style of nails these look best on: Round.
Morpho Butterfly
The blue morpho butterfly is another well-known one that is great for nail design. It has a short black body with big blue wings. You can also add light grey veins along the wings, a thin black border along the wings, and white dots on the border as well to make it look more realistic.
A glitter polish like shade 076 would be excellent for the blue base to add dimension and visual interest if your client wants a little more flash.
Style of nails these look best on: Stiletto.
Zebra Longwing Butterfly
The Zebra Longwing butterfly is another beautiful insect that can be recreated in a nail design. Instead of the traditional tall wings, it has stretched-out horizontal wings.
Start by creating a black or dark brown body and long wings. Then, on the next coat, focus on using a light pale yellow to create the long zebra-like stripes on the top and long vertical dots on the bottom in a horizontal line.
Style of nails these look best on: Almond.
Butterfly Wing Nails
Having butterfly nails doesn’t always have to include a photo of an entire butterfly. Instead, you can get inspired by the intricate designs on their wings and paint a close-up view.
To make it even more visually interesting, try to do a different design on each nail. This could mean including dots on one and not the other or making the veins of the wings go in different directions.
Style of nails these look best on: Square.
Tiny Butterfly Pattern
Another take on the butterfly nail is to do multiple small butterflies on each nail to create a butterfly pattern. This will take a steady hand and precision, so it is definitely a more advanced design. Try to switch it up by doing different color butterflies on each nail or doing multicolor butterflies on each nail.
Style of nails these look best on: Almond.
Abstract Butterfly
The natural curves of the butterfly give room to create a design that is not a straightforward butterfly but is still inspired by one. You can create abstract butterfly designs by using their curves, waves, and colors. Choose a butterfly that draws your attention, then simply let your hand paint whatever it feels inspired to do.
Style of nails these look best on: Stiletto.
3D Butterfly
A 3D nail moment always catches the attention of clients and onlookers, and this is no different when it comes to butterflies. To add 3D elements to the butterfly, focus on small details. For example, add a crystal to the areas where there are dots on the butterfly to make the design more apparent.
Style of nails these look best on: Any shape.
Butterfly Glitter Nails
To make any butterfly nail design look more interesting, you can add gel glitter polish. One option is to use an opaque glitter polish for the base of the wing color. The other option is to use a sheer glitter polish as a coat over your entire butterfly design to add shimmer to the whole nail.
Style of nails these look best on: Almond.
Butterfly Stamp Nail
If you are not the best at creating outlines of shapes but are looking for details, you may consider using a butterfly nail stamp. The nail stamp creates a polish outline for you to begin painting your details onto. This can also be helpful if you need to save time, especially with a butterfly that needs to be perfectly symmetrical.
Style of nails these look best on: Round.
Flying Butterfly
In all reality, butterflies do not spend most of their time sitting still and posing for a picture. They are usually found flying around, looking for the perfect leaf to rest on. In your nail designs, you can capture the butterfly taking flight. You could do this with just one butterfly flying or use each nail to create a series of butterflies flying higher and higher.
Style of nails these look best on: Square with rounded edges.
Butterfly Outline
Some clients really just want to keep it simple, and a butterfly outline could be just what they are looking for. The outline could be in any color, but an all-white butterfly is probably the most classic. To take it to the next level, use a thin brush to still create the veins of the butterfly and use negative space to “fill in” the rest of the butterfly wings.
Style of nails these look best on: Almond.
Butterfly Profile
Butterflies look beautiful from the front and the side, so take advantage of this opportunity and paint the profile of the butterfly. This gives you a large advantage to create the butterfly without having to make it perfectly symmetrical. One tip is to have the back wing peaking out to make it seem multi-dimensional.
Style of nails these look best on: Almond.
Butterfly French Tip
A French tip is a classic style, but you can use the basics of this style to create a unique butterfly french tip. The butterfly will be facing out so that someone else is able to see the design.
Paint two black skinny ovals that overlap at the center tip of the nail. The ovals should form a V and make the base of the nail. Then go in with colors to finish off the butterfly, and do not forget to add antennas and a body.
Style of nails these look best on: Round.
In Summary
Now is the perfect time to get going with the butterfly nail designs. You can use any of these design styles to make beautiful designs. Remember, keep it creative and use the inspirations of nature to create something unique and memorable.
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