Comic Book Nail Art Is The Latest BeautyTok Obsession

These days, nostalgia for all things ’90s is truly inescapable in the world of beauty and fashion — and BeautyTok’s latest obsession with comic book-inspired nails that make your tips appear to look straight out of an old-school episode of The Simpsons or (my personal fave show growing up) Rugrats. And while Halloween (and the onslaught of OG cartoon character costumes this year) are officially a thing of the past, manicure-loving gworls are seemingly still looking to add a bit of creativity and color into their daily beauty routines.

Luckily for at-home polish painters, the trend taking over TikTok’s viral platform only requires a few things: A pop of any color of your choice (and a darker hue in the same color family for some optional added dimension), a pure black shade, an opaque white nail polish, a tiny detail brush for precision, and of course, a steady hand.

Here’s a quick how-to: First, paint on two layers of your chosen colorful shade. Next, take the deeper colorful shade and create a somewhat thick outline on one half of the nail. Once that has dried a bit, fully outline the nail with a thin black pigment (which is meant to mimic what an inkist would do in a comic book). Just before a final clear top coat, add some highlights and lowlights with some thin white and black lines. Et voilà.

If vibrant pop art is not your vibe, TikTok is no stranger to experimenting with nail art trends that range from off-the-wall to minimally chic, with fresh new ideas popping up on For You Pages every single day. Some of the standouts IMO? Velvet nails, Hailey Bieber’s infamous glazed donut nails, aura nail art, Old Hollywood-inspired half moon manicures, and an easy trend that doesn’t take much artistic skill: the red nail theory.