There is a specific kind of light in April. It is not the hard white light of summer, and it is not the grey light of winter. It is soft and gold at the edges, the kind of light that makes a cherry tree look like it is glowing from the inside, and makes you want to change everything — the coat you have been wearing since November, the dark polish that has lived on your nails all winter, the whole mood of the year so far. April is the month when spring stops being a promise and starts being a fact, and your nails are the smallest, easiest place to say so.

That is what this list is for. Not a lecture on trends, and not a set of designs that only work if you have a nail artist on speed dial and a morning free. Nineteen April nails, each one built around something the month actually gives you: blossom on the branch, tulips in the market, rain on the window, a sky so blue it looks edited, Easter morning, a picnic blanket, the first butterfly. Some are soft enough for the office. Some are the kind of set you wear to a wedding and spend the whole reception being asked about. All of them are wearable, all of them are spring, and every one of them can be bent to fit the length and shape you already love.

Before we get to the designs, one honest note about April nails 2024 as a moment. The spring of 2024 was the season pastels grew up. They stopped being only cute and started being deliberate — a lilac chosen because it matches your skin, a mint picked because it makes your gold rings look richer, a sky blue worn because it is the exact colour of the April sky on a good day. The designs below follow that idea. The pastels are here, but they are doing real work: framing a flower, carrying a shimmer, holding a tiny painted story. Pick the one that feels like your April, and then make it yours.

How to Pick Your April Set (Before You Sit Down)

April gives you more choice than any other month, which is lovely and also a little paralysing, so here is the short version of how to choose. First, decide how long you want to live with the set. A soft pastel looks wonderful on short, neat nails and it grows out gracefully — three weeks in, a pale lilac still looks intentional. A detailed floral or a chrome finish shows growth faster, so book those when you know you will be back in the salon within two weeks.

Second, think about your hands, not just the picture. If your skin has warm undertones, the peach, butter yellow and warm pink designs on this list will flatter you most. If your skin is cool-toned, reach for the lilac, sky blue and mint. And if you are not sure, the sheer nude and cream bases in this list are the safe ground — they suit everyone, and they make every flower and foil on top of them look brighter.

Third, be honest about how much detail you want to maintain. A hand-painted tulip on one accent nail is a joy; hand-painted tulips on all ten nails is a three-hour appointment and a set you will be nervous to chip. The list is arranged so the gentlest designs come first and the boldest come last — start at the top if you are new to nail art, and work your way down as your confidence grows. There is no wrong entry point. April is long enough for two or three of these, if you feel like it.

Part One — Soft Mornings

The first six designs are the quiet ones, and quiet is not the same as boring. These are the sets you wear to work on a Monday, to a family lunch, to the school run — nails that make people say “those are lovely” rather than “where did you get those done.” They are built on the colours April does best: blush, sky, lilac, butter, mint. Soft, but finished properly.

1. Cherry Blossom Branch Tips

April belongs to the cherry tree, and this is the most literal way to wear it. A sheer blush base, almost the colour of skin with a little warmth in it, and then a fine dark branch sweeping across two or three accent nails, with tiny five-petalled blossoms in two shades of pink clustered along it. The blossoms are small — the size of a pinhead, not a coin — which is what makes the set look delicate instead of cartoonish. The remaining nails stay clean, just the sheer blush and a high gloss, so the branches have somewhere quiet to sit against.

What makes this design work is the placement of the branch. It should start at the cuticle on one side and curve toward the tip on the other, like a real branch reaching for light, rather than sitting in the middle of the nail like a sticker. Ask your technician to paint the branch first, then add the blossoms along it, then finish with a tiny gold dot in the centre of each flower. The gold is the detail that lifts the whole thing from pretty to finished. Almond or oval shapes suit it best, because the curve of the nail follows the curve of the branch.

Additional Information: Cherry blossom designs photograph beautifully in natural light, so this is a good choice if you like taking pictures of your manicure. The sheer blush base also grows out very gracefully — even after two weeks, the regrowth line is barely visible. Keep a bottle of the blush shade at home for tiny touch-ups around the cuticle, and ask for a gel top coat so the fine branch lines do not wear off at the tips.

2. Speckled Robin’s Egg

There is a particular blue that only exists in April — the pale, dusty blue of a robin’s egg, the colour of the sky just after rain. This design wears it straight: all ten nails in a matte robin’s egg blue, with fine brown speckles scattered across the surface, denser near the cuticle and sparser toward the tip, exactly the way they sit on a real egg. One accent nail, usually the ring finger, carries a tiny twig line in soft brown, a small nod to the nest the colour came from.

The speckles are the whole design, so they have to be done well. The trick is two sizes of dots — a few slightly larger ones, and many tiny ones — applied with a dotting tool and a fine brush, not flicked on, so they stay round and sit flat under the top coat. The matte finish matters too: it takes the shine off the blue and makes it look powdery and soft, like the real thing. If matte is not your finish, a satin top coat gives you most of the effect with a little more wear. Short to medium lengths suit this design best; the speckles need a clean, even surface to read properly.

Additional Information: Speckled robin’s egg nails are one of the most forgiving designs for at-home attempts, because the speckles are meant to be irregular — there is no pattern to get wrong. They also pair beautifully with silver jewellery, which picks up the cool blue, and with a denim jacket, which is practically the uniform of April. The matte top coat will need refreshing after about a week to keep the powdery look; a quick top coat at home takes two minutes.

3. Tulip Field French

The French manicure never really leaves, but every spring it comes back wearing something new, and in April 2024 that something is tulips. The base is the classic sheer pink, the tip is not white but a row of tiny tulips in alternating pastel shades — pink, butter yellow, lilac — with hairline green stems running down from each flower toward the smile line. It reads as a French from a distance and as a flower garden up close, which is the best kind of surprise a manicure can hold.

The tulips are painted, not stuck on, and they are small — three or four per nail, each one no bigger than a grain of rice, with two little petals and a dot of yellow in the middle. The stems are the detail that sells it: a single fine green line under each tulip, slightly curved, so the flowers look like they are growing out of the tip rather than sitting on it. Square or squoval shapes suit this design best, because the straight tip gives the tulip row a clean edge to sit on. If your nails are short, ask for the tulips on the ring fingers only and keep the rest as a plain pastel French — you still get the effect, with half the appointment time.

Additional Information: Tulip field French nails are a lovely choice for spring weddings and Easter gatherings, because they read as formal from a distance and playful up close. They also work well on natural nails with a gel overlay, since the design does not need length to look finished. Bring a picture of real tulips to the appointment — the exact shades in the flowers help your technician match the pastels to the real thing, and the result looks fresher for it.

4. April Showers

April rain is not the miserable kind. It is the quick, bright kind — the shower that passes in ten minutes and leaves the pavements shining and the air smelling like cut grass. This design catches that feeling: a glossy sky-blue base on every nail, with raised water-drop dots scattered across the surface, catching the light the way real raindrops do, and a single accent nail carrying a small silver-grey cloud with a few tiny drops falling from it. It is playful without being childish, and it is the only design on this list that actually looks better when it catches the light and moves.

The water drops are the technical heart of it. They are made with a clear builder gel or a thick top coat, placed as small domes on the nail and cured, so they sit raised above the surface and catch the light from every angle. The blue underneath should be a true sky blue — not baby blue, which can look flat, and not navy, which is too dark for the joke to land. The cloud on the accent nail is painted in soft grey-white, with a rounded, cartoonish shape; keep it small and low on the nail, near the cuticle, so the drops have room to fall. Short nails suit this design wonderfully, because the drops read clearly on a smaller surface.

Additional Information: April showers nails are surprisingly durable, because the raised drops are cured gel and they protect the polish underneath them. They do make the nails feel slightly textured, so if you are someone who runs their fingers over everything, be prepared for a new sensation for the first day. They pair perfectly with a clear umbrella and a raincoat — and they are the most-photographed design on this list, because the drops photograph like tiny lenses.

5. Pastel Rainbow Arc

There is a reason the rainbow is the oldest spring symbol there is: it only appears when the rain and the sun arrive together, which is the whole of April in one image. This design takes that literally, but gently. A sheer nude base on every nail, and across two accent nails — usually the middle and ring fingers — a soft rainbow arc in five pastels: pink, peach, butter yellow, mint and lilac, painted as thin, even bands that curve from one side of the nail to the other. The remaining nails are painted in solid pastels, one colour each, so the whole hand reads as a set rather than a single picture.

The arcs are painted freehand with a fine liner brush, and the bands should be thin — three or four millimetres at most — with a little nude showing between each colour, so the rainbow looks like light rather than stripes. The order matters: pink at the top, lilac at the bottom, with the warm colours in between, the way a real rainbow sits. If you have longer nails, the arc can sweep across the whole nail; on shorter nails, ask for the arc to sit across the tip only, like a smile. The solid pastel nails around it are what keep the design from feeling like a children’s party — they make it a manicure with a rainbow in it, not a rainbow with a manicure attached.

Additional Information: Pastel rainbow arc nails are the most cheerful design on this list, and they are also one of the easiest to wear with everything, because the nude base goes with every outfit and the pastels are soft enough not to clash with anything. They are a good first step into nail art for someone who has always worn plain polish — the design is on two nails only, so the commitment is small and the effect is large. Ask for a glossy top coat: it makes the pastel bands look like they are glowing.

6. Daisy Chain

If there is one flower that means April more than any other, it is the daisy — the small white flower that appears in lawns before anything else has dared to come up, the flower you picked as a child and threaded into a chain. This design is a daisy chain for grown-ups: a soft lilac base on every nail, with white daisies painted across the accent nails, each one with five or six rounded petals and a warm yellow centre, and a few tiny white petals scattered on the other nails like the chain has come undone and spilled.

The daisies should be small and a little irregular — real daisies are not perfect, and the ones that look hand-painted are the ones that look most like flowers. The yellow centres are the detail to get right: a warm, egg-yolk yellow, not a pale lemon, because the contrast between the yellow and the lilac is what makes the design pop. The lilac underneath should be soft, almost grey in some lights, so the white petals stand out without shouting. Oval or almond shapes are the natural fit, because the curve of the nail follows the curve of a petal. This is the design to choose if you want your nails to look like spring without looking like a theme party.

Additional Information: Daisy chain nails are one of the most versatile spring designs — they work for the office, for a wedding guest, for a garden party, and they look just as good on short nails as on long ones. They also age well: as the lilac grows out, the design still reads as intentional for a full three weeks. If you want to try this one at home, the daisies are the easiest flower in nail art to paint — a dotting tool makes the petals, and a single dot makes the centre.

Part Two — The Garden in Bloom

April afternoons belong to the garden, and the middle seven designs are the ones that bring the garden with you. These are a little bolder than the first six — more colour, more detail, more of a story on each nail. They are the sets you wear when the weather turns properly warm and you start eating lunch outside. Butterflies, lemons, gingham, mint, peach — the whole picnic, on your fingertips.

7. Butterfly Wing Shimmer

The first butterfly of the year is a small event, and this design is built around it: an iridescent shimmer base — a sheer polish loaded with fine, colour-shifting glitter that moves from pink to gold to green depending on the light — with a delicate butterfly wing painted across one or two accent nails in fine black lines and a touch of gold. The wing is not a whole butterfly; it is a fragment, a close-up, the way you see a wing when the butterfly lands on your hand and you hold very still.

The shimmer base is what carries the design. It should be sheer enough that your natural nail shows through, and the glitter should be fine — not chunky, not holographic in the loud sense, but a soft, pearly shift that changes as you move your hand. The wing itself is painted with a liner brush in thin black lines, following the shape of a real wing: the curved top edge, the scalloped bottom, the little veins running through it. A touch of gold along the edge keeps it from looking like a drawing and makes it look like jewellery. Almond nails suit this design best, because the pointed shape echoes the shape of a wing.

Additional Information: Butterfly wing shimmer nails are the most light-dependent design on this list — they look one way indoors and completely different in sunlight, which is half the pleasure of wearing them. They are also a good choice if you like a design that does not demand attention: from a normal distance, these read as a pretty shimmer manicure, and the wing only reveals itself up close. Keep the shimmer polish at home for touch-ups, because sheer shimmer shows chips faster than a solid colour does.

8. Lemon Sorbet

Some April days taste like lemons — the first time you drink something cold outside, the first time the sun is warm enough to sit in a t-shirt. Lemon sorbet nails are that day, worn: a soft buttery yellow base, the colour of lemon sorbet rather than a highlighter, with tiny white polka dots scattered across the nails and one accent nail carrying a small lemon slice, painted with a pale yellow wedge, a white rind and a few tiny seeds. It is the freshest design on this list, and the one most likely to make you smile when you catch sight of your own hands.

The yellow is the decision that makes or breaks this set. It needs to be soft — a sorbet yellow, with a little cream in it — because a bright, saturated yellow is hard to wear and harder to look at for three weeks. Two coats of a sheer-ish yellow, with a white base coat underneath, gives you the sorbet colour without the streaks that yellow polish is famous for. The polka dots should be small and unevenly spaced, like bubbles, and the lemon slice on the accent nail should be no bigger than the nail itself, sitting low near the cuticle so it does not get knocked about. Short, neat nails are the perfect shape for this one; the yellow looks cleanest when the nail is short.

Additional Information: Lemon sorbet nails are the design to choose if you want something cheerful but still wearable to work — the yellow is soft enough to pass as a neutral in most offices, and the polka dots are small enough to read as a pattern rather than a statement. They pair wonderfully with white and denim, the two things everyone is wearing in April, and they look particularly good on warm skin tones, where the yellow picks up the gold in the skin.

9. Lilac Haze Ombré

There is a particular hour in April, just before sunset, when the whole sky goes lilac — not purple, not pink, but the soft haze in between — and this design is that hour, on your nails. A lilac-to-white ombré, with the lilac deepest at the cuticle and fading to a soft white at the tip, finished with a high gloss that makes the gradient look like it is glowing from inside. No art, no stickers, no extra detail: the gradient is the design, and it is enough.

Ombré is one of those techniques that looks simple and is not, so this is a design to get done properly in a salon rather than attempt at home on the first try. The fade is built with a sponge, layer by layer, lilac first and then white worked in from the tip, with each layer cured before the next goes on. The result should be a smooth, seamless transition with no visible line where one colour ends and the other begins. The gloss top coat is essential — it is what blends the two colours visually and gives the set its hazy, lit-from-within quality. Almond or coffin shapes show the gradient best, because the length gives the fade room to happen.

Additional Information: Lilac haze ombré nails are the most elegant design on this list, and the easiest to wear with everything — the lilac is soft enough to be a neutral, and the white tip keeps it looking clean and finished. They are also the most forgiving ombré for regrowth, because the lilac at the cuticle is close to a natural nail colour and the growth line barely shows. If you want to add a little extra, a single tiny crystal at the base of the ring finger is all the decoration this design needs.

10. Gingham Picnic

The gingham check is the print of April — the tablecloth on the picnic table, the dress you wear to the garden party, the blanket you spread on the grass for the first lunch outside. This design wears it straight: a pastel pink and white gingham check across every nail, with one solid pastel pink accent nail to give the eye somewhere to rest. It is the most pattern-heavy design on this list, and also the most joyful: it looks like a sunny day, even when the weather has not caught up yet.

Gingham is painted, not stamped, and it is built in layers: a white base, then soft pink stripes in one direction, then soft pink stripes in the other, and where the stripes cross, the pink deepens into a darker square. That layering is what makes it look like fabric rather than a grid. The lines should be thin and even, and the pink should be a soft, milky pink — not bubblegum, which would be too loud in a check. Short to medium square nails are the natural shape for this design, because the straight edges echo the straight lines of the check. The solid accent nail, usually the ring finger, is what keeps the set from feeling busy: one quiet nail in the middle of all that pattern.

Additional Information: Gingham picnic nails are a wonderful choice for Easter lunch, a spring wedding, or any outdoor gathering — they match the season’s table settings so well that people will assume you planned it. They are also one of the longest-wearing designs on this list, because the pattern hides small chips and tip wear better than a solid colour does. If you want to soften the look, ask for the gingham on the accent nails only and keep the rest in solid pastel pink.

11. Easter Bunny Silhouette

Easter falls in April most years, and this design is the quiet way to celebrate it — no cartoon bunnies, no chocolate eggs, nothing that looks like it came off a greeting card. A soft pastel base, a different pastel on each nail (blush, lilac, mint, butter yellow, sky blue), and on the ring finger, a tiny white bunny silhouette sitting in profile, with long ears and a small round tail, painted in a single flat colour against the pastel. The other nails carry fine speckles, like the eggs in a nest, tying the whole set together.

The silhouette is the detail that decides whether this looks elegant or childish, and the rule is simple: keep it small and keep it simple. The bunny should be no taller than half the nail, sitting low near the cuticle, with clean edges and no face — a silhouette, not a portrait. The speckles on the other nails should be sparse, just a few tiny dots per nail in a soft brown, so they read as texture rather than pattern. The pastel base colours should be soft and a little dusty, the kind of pastels that look like they have been left in the sun. This is the design to choose if you want an Easter manicure that still looks right the week after Easter.

Additional Information: Easter bunny silhouette nails are the sweetest design on this list, and they are also the most seasonal — they belong to April in a way no other design here does. They are a good choice for family gatherings and Easter brunch, and they photograph beautifully against a white tablecloth. If you are not celebrating Easter, the same design works without the bunny: the speckled pastels on their own are a lovely spring set, and you can swap the silhouette for a tiny flower.

12. Fresh Mint & Gold Foil

Mint is the green of April — not the deep green of summer leaves, but the pale, cool green of new growth, the colour of the first shoots coming up through the soil. This design pairs it with gold: a soft mint base on every nail, with scattered gold foil flakes pressed into the polish while it is still tacky, denser near the cuticle and sparser toward the tip, like gold leaf that has drifted down and settled. The effect is fresh and expensive at the same time, which is a rare combination.

The foil is the part that needs a steady hand. It comes in tiny irregular flakes, and they are placed one by one with tweezers or a silicone tool, then sealed under two layers of top coat so they sit flat and do not catch on anything. The flakes should be small — no bigger than a grain of sand — and they should not cover the whole nail; the mint needs to show through, because the contrast between the cool green and the warm gold is the whole point. Short to medium nails suit this design best, and it looks particularly good on cool skin tones, where the mint picks up the pink in the skin and the gold warms it back up.

Additional Information: Fresh mint and gold foil nails are the most grown-up design in the garden section — they read as a luxury manicure rather than a spring theme, which makes them a good choice if you want something seasonal that still looks right in a meeting. The foil will outlast the polish if it is sealed properly, so ask for a thick no-wipe top coat and a second coat around the edges. They pair beautifully with gold jewellery, which is the point: the foil on your nails and the gold on your hands should look like they belong together.

13. Peach Blossom Glow

Peach is the colour April wears when it is feeling warm — the blush on a cheek after a walk in the sun, the inside of a peach, the light at five o’clock on a good day. This design is built around it: a peachy coral base with a soft shimmer running through it, and a single tiny white blossom painted on each ring finger, with five small petals and a gold centre. The rest of the nails stay clean, just the peach and the shimmer, so the blossom has the whole hand to itself.

The shimmer is what makes this design glow rather than just sit there. It should be a fine, warm shimmer — not glitter, not chrome, but a soft pearl that catches the light when you move your hand. The peach underneath should be warm and a little sheer, so the natural nail shows through faintly and the colour looks like it is coming from inside the nail rather than sitting on top of it. The blossom on the accent nail should be small and simple, white against the peach, with the gold centre no bigger than a pinhead. Oval or almond shapes are the natural fit, because the soft curve suits the soft colour.

Additional Information: Peach blossom glow nails are the most flattering design on this list for warm skin tones — the peach picks up the gold in the skin and makes the whole hand look sunlit. They are also the best choice if you are going to a spring wedding, because the peach photographs as a warm neutral and the blossom reads as a deliberate detail rather than a theme. The shimmer base grows out gracefully, and the design still looks intentional after two weeks, which is more than most detailed sets can say.

Part Three — Evenings That Glow

The last six designs are the ones for the golden hour — the long April evenings when the light goes soft and everything looks a little bit magical. These are the boldest sets on the list, the ones with the most colour and the most shine, and they are the ones to choose when you want your nails to be the most interesting thing in the room. Clouds, wildflowers, lavender, strawberries, sage, chrome: the whole evening, on your fingertips.

14. Sky Blue Cloud Nails

There is a game everyone played as a child: lying on the grass, looking up at the sky, and finding shapes in the clouds. This design is that game, worn: a clear sky-blue base on every nail, with fluffy white clouds painted across the accent nails, soft and rounded, with a little shading underneath so they look three-dimensional, and a few tiny white dots scattered on the other nails like distant clouds on the horizon. It is the dreamiest design on this list, and the one that feels most like April itself — blue sky, white clouds, nothing else needed.

The clouds are painted with a small brush in soft white, built up in layers: a rounded base shape first, then a few smaller bumps on top, then a whisper of pale grey underneath for shadow. The shading is what makes them look like clouds rather than cotton balls — keep it light, just enough to give them weight. The blue underneath should be a clear, true sky blue, not too pale and not too deep, the colour of the sky at noon on a good day. Medium to long nails suit this design best, because the clouds need room to be fluffy; on very short nails, ask for the clouds on the ring fingers only.

Additional Information: Sky blue cloud nails are the most relaxing design on this list to look at, and they are a wonderful choice for a holiday or a weekend away — they match the sky wherever you are, and they photograph beautifully against a blue background, which is to say, against the actual sky. They are also one of the easiest designs to maintain, because the blue base is solid and the clouds are sealed under a thick top coat. If you want a little extra, a tiny gold star on one nail turns the daytime sky into a evening one.

15. Garden Party Florals

A real April garden is not one flower repeated ten times; it is a dozen different flowers all blooming at once, in different colours and different sizes, and this design is that garden: a warm cream base on every nail, with a mix of tiny wildflowers painted across the nails — a pink blossom here, a yellow buttercup there, a blue forget-me-not, a sprig of lavender — each flower small, each one different, scattered like they grew there rather than placed there. No two nails are the same, and that is the point.

The flowers are painted with a fine brush and a dotting tool, and they should be tiny — most of them no bigger than a freckle, with the largest no bigger than a pea. The cream base is what holds the design together: it is warm and soft, and it makes every colour on top of it look brighter without competing with any of them. The flowers should be scattered, not arranged in a pattern, with a few tiny green leaves and stems connecting them, so the hand reads as a garden rather than a bouquet. This is the most detailed design on the list and the longest appointment — ask for at least two hours, and bring a picture of a real wildflower meadow to show your technician the feeling you are after.

Additional Information: Garden party florals are the most romantic design on this list, and they are the perfect choice for a spring wedding guest, a garden party, or any occasion where you want your nails to look like they were painted by someone who loves flowers. They are also the most personal design here: no two technicians will paint the same garden, and your set will be genuinely one of a kind. They look best on medium to long nails, where the flowers have room to scatter, and they pair beautifully with a floral dress, which is almost a requirement in April.

16. Lavender Fields

Lavender is the scent of April evenings, and this design wears it the way the fields look from a distance: a soft lavender base on every nail, with hand-painted lavender sprigs on the accent nails — a thin green stem with tiny purple buds clustered along it, like a sprig you picked and pressed between the pages of a book. The remaining nails stay clean, just the lavender and a gloss, so the sprigs have the quiet they need. It is the calmest design on this list, and the one that feels most like a deep breath.

The sprigs are painted with a liner brush, and they should follow the shape of a real lavender stem: a straight green line, with the buds sitting in pairs along the top half, getting smaller toward the tip. The purple of the buds should be a little deeper than the lavender base, so the sprigs stand out without shouting. The lavender base itself should be soft and a little grey, not a bright purple, because the grey is what makes it look like a field at dusk rather than a bottle of polish. Almond or oval shapes suit this design best, because the long, narrow nail echoes the long, narrow stem.

Additional Information: Lavender fields nails are the most soothing design on this list, and they are a lovely choice if you want a spring manicure that still feels calm and grown-up. They work beautifully with silver jewellery, which picks up the cool lavender, and with a linen dress, which is the April uniform. The design also grows out gracefully — the soft lavender is close to a natural tone, so the regrowth line barely shows for a full two weeks.

17. Strawberry Milk

There is a drink that tastes like April: strawberry milk, cold and pink and sweet, the kind of thing you have on the first warm afternoon of the year. This design is that drink: a milky pink base — a sheer, creamy pink that looks like milk with a strawberry stirred into it — with tiny red strawberries painted on the accent nails, each one no bigger than a pea, with a little green leafy top and a few tiny seed dots. It is the cutest design on this list, and the one most likely to be photographed, because it is impossible to look at a strawberry on a nail and not smile.

The milky pink is the key: it should be sheer enough that your natural nail shows through faintly, and creamy enough that it reads as pink rather than clear. Two or three thin coats, rather than one thick one, gives you the milk colour without streaks. The strawberries should be small and simple — a red teardrop shape, a green star on top, a few white dots for seeds — and they should sit low on the nail, near the cuticle, where they are least likely to be knocked. Short to medium nails are the perfect shape for this one; the design is sweet, and short nails keep it from tipping into costume.

Additional Information: Strawberry milk nails are the most playful design on this list, and they are the best choice for a picnic, a birthday, or any day when you want your nails to make you happy every time you look at them. They pair wonderfully with a white sundress and a straw bag, and they look particularly good on fair skin, where the milky pink picks up the rose in the skin. If you want to soften the look, ask for the strawberries on the ring fingers only and keep the rest in plain milky pink.

18. Sage Green Botanical

Not every April design has to be pastel and sweet. Sage green is the other side of spring — the quiet, grown-up green of new leaves, of herbs in a kitchen garden, of the colour you paint a room when you want it to feel calm. This design is sage green with fine white leaf line art: a soft sage base on every nail, with delicate white leaves and stems drawn across the accent nails in thin, continuous lines, like a botanical illustration. It is the most sophisticated design on this list, and the one most likely to be worn by someone who does not think of herself as a nail art person at all.

The line art is the whole design, so it has to be done with a steady hand and a fine liner brush. The leaves should be simple — an oval with a line down the middle, repeated along a thin curving stem — and the lines should be thin and even, in a clean white that stands out against the sage without shouting. The sage underneath should be soft and a little grey, the colour of dried sage rather than fresh mint, because the grey is what makes the white lines look like ink on paper. Short to medium nails suit this design best, and it looks particularly good on warm skin tones, where the green picks up the gold in the skin.

Additional Information: Sage green botanical nails are the most versatile design on this list — they work for the office, for a wedding, for a dinner party, and they go with every colour you own, because sage is a neutral in the way that only green can be. They are also one of the longest-wearing designs here, because the solid base hides chips well and the line art is sealed under a thick top coat. If you want to try this one at home, the leaves are the easiest line art to learn: a single curved line, with a few small ovals along it, and you have a botanical.

19. Sunset Pastel Chrome

The last design is the one for the evening, when the April sky does its final trick and turns pink and lilac and gold all at once. Sunset pastel chrome: a chrome powder burnished over a pale pink base, so the nails shift from pink to lilac to gold depending on the light, with a high gloss that makes them look like they are lit from within. No art, no detail, no extra decoration — just colour and light, doing all the work. It is the boldest design on this list, and also the simplest, which is the best way to end.

Chrome is a technique, not a polish, and it needs to be done properly: a gel base in a pale pink, cured, then a fine chrome powder rubbed over the surface with a silicone tool, then sealed under a no-wipe top coat. The powder is what creates the shift — it catches the light differently from every angle, so the nails look pink in one light, lilac in another, gold in a third. The base colour underneath decides the overall tone: pale pink gives you a warm, sunset shift, while a pale lilac base would give you a cooler, moonlit one. Almond or stiletto shapes show the chrome best, because the length gives the light more surface to play with, but it looks just as good on short nails — the shift is the same, whatever the shape.

Additional Information: Sunset pastel chrome nails are the most photographed design on this list, because they change colour in every picture and no two photos look the same. They are also the most durable finish here — the chrome is sealed under gel, so it does not chip the way polish does, and it stays glossy for a full three weeks. They are the best choice if you want a statement manicure without any nail art at all, and they pair with everything, because the colour shift means they match whatever you are wearing.

How to Make Your April Nails Last

April is a busy month for your hands — gardening, cleaning, opening windows that have been stuck since October — and a spring manicure takes more wear than a winter one. A few habits will keep any design on this list looking fresh for the full three weeks. Wear gloves for gardening and for washing up; water and soil are the two fastest ways to lift a gel edge. Keep a bottle of cuticle oil by your bed and use it every night — it keeps the skin around the nail soft, which stops the polish from lifting at the edges. And if a small chip appears at the tip, do not pick at it: a tiny dot of matching polish and a layer of top coat will hold it until your next appointment, while picking will take the whole tip off.

If you are wearing one of the detailed designs — the garden party florals, the tulip French, the butterfly wing — book your next appointment before you leave the salon. Detailed sets take longer, and the best technicians book up in spring. Two weeks is the right gap for a detailed set; three weeks is fine for the simpler pastels. And when the set finally comes off, give your nails a day or two of breathing room with just cuticle oil before the next set goes on. April is long, and there are nineteen designs on this list. You have time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most popular April nail colours for 2024?

Soft pastels led April 2024 — lilac, butter yellow, sky blue, mint and blush pink — with sheer nude and cream bases underneath the detailed designs. The pastels were worn as solid colours, as ombré fades, and as the base for hand-painted flowers, and they suited every skin tone because the shades were soft rather than saturated.

Are April nails the same as Easter nails?

Not quite. Easter nails are a smaller set inside April nails: the bunny, the speckled egg, the pastel palette that belongs to Easter morning. April nails cover the whole month — cherry blossom, tulips, rain, rainbows, garden flowers, and the first warm evenings — so an April manicure works all month long, while an Easter design belongs to one weekend.

How long do April nail designs last?

A gel April manicure lasts two to three weeks, depending on the design. Solid pastels and chrome finishes last the longest, because they show regrowth the least. Detailed hand-painted designs — florals, tulips, butterflies — look their best for the first two weeks, and the fine lines are the first thing to wear at the tips. Cuticle oil every night and gloves for housework will add several days to any set.

Can I do April nails at home?

Some of them, yes. The speckled robin’s egg, the daisy chain and the pastel rainbow arc are all achievable at home with a dotting tool and a fine brush, because their charm is in their irregularity. The detailed designs — garden party florals, tulip French, butterfly wing — are best left to a technician, because the fine lines and the layering need practice and the right tools. Start with the easy ones, and work your way up.

What nail shape suits April designs best?

Almond and oval suit most April designs, because the soft curve follows the soft colours and the floral shapes. Square and squoval work best for the French-based designs and the gingham check, where the straight edge suits the straight lines. Short nails suit the playful designs — lemon sorbet, strawberry milk, April showers — because the colours look cleanest on a short, neat nail.

What should I ask for at the salon?

Bring a picture of the design you want, and tell your technician three things: the shape you want, how long you want the set to last, and whether you want gel or regular polish. Gel lasts longer and holds fine detail better, which is why most of the designs on this list are built on it. Regular polish works for the simpler pastels, but it will not hold a hand-painted tulip for three weeks.

A Last Word on April

April is the shortest spring month and the one that asks the most of you — it wants you to notice the blossom before it falls, to catch the tulips before they open too far, to sit outside while the light is still gold. Your nails are a small part of that, but they are the part you see a hundred times a day, every time you reach for your coffee or your keys or your phone. Choose a design that makes you glad to see your own hands. That is the whole test, and it is the only one that matters.

If you try one of these nineteen, save the picture. Not for anyone else — for yourself, for next April, when the blossom comes back and you want to remember which one you wore. Spring returns every year, but it never returns the same way twice. Neither will your nails, and that is exactly as it should be.