Almond Acrylic Nails Inspiration and Ideas: 25 of My Favorite Designs - Nail Aesthetic (2024)

I have been shaping my nails into an almond shape for years now and always recommended it to my nail clients, but it wasn’t stylish yet. That’s why it makes me so happy to see it becoming trendy and people finally recognizing how beautiful this nail shape makes your fingers and nails look. This nail shape looks especially good with specific designs, so I’ve included all the almond acrylic nails inspiration and ideas below.

Funny story, I started doing almond-shaped nails on myself by accident. I have almost always been more into rounded nail shapes over nail shapes with sharp edges, like square nails and stiletto nails. I was sporting oval nails for a long time, and I let my nails get so long that I over filed the edges during my weekly shape clean-up and ended up with almond nails. I liked the look so much that I kept it like that for a long time.

Best Almond Acrylic Nails Up Front

My favorite look to do with almond acrylic nails is an outlined french tip. French tips work exceptionally well with almond-shaped nails because creating a line that follows the shape of the nail’s tip accentuates the length and slenderness that an almond nail shape gives your fingers already. I specifically love the outlined french tip because of the modern spin it gives to a classic look.

What Are Almond Nails?

Almond shape nails are longer nails similar to oval nails, except they are brought to a slender round end or even to a rounded point sometimes, mimicking the nut they are named after. This nail shape first became popular in the 60s for its classic look that makes your fingers look longer and thinner. This nail shape is usually done with minimalist, feminine nail designs but can be done with some modern looks.

Top Five Almond Acrylic Nails

1. Wavy Lines
2. Daisies Over Nude
3. Half Moon Nails
4. Outlined Tips
5. Velvet Nails

Selection Criteria For Almond Acrylic Nails

Trendy

Almond shape nails are the in-style shape this year, so pair a trendy nail design with your almond acrylic nails, and you can’t go wrong. I also love how almond acrylic nails pair nicely with feminine, classic looks. Daisies, half-moon, baby boomer nails, and french tips with jewels are all designs I have added here that are trendy and feminine.

Minimalist Designs

You don’t need to do a minimalist design with almond acrylic nails, but I think it looks better. Whenever I think of almond acrylic nails, I always think of delicate, classic-looking designs with them. All of the ideas I have included can either be done with neutrals or over a nude to make them more minimalist.

Anyone Can Wear Them

There is something for everyone on this list of almond acrylic nail inspiration and ideas. I go from liking simple looks to having something unique pretty frequently, so I have to have an arsenal of nail designs in store. From classic french tip styles to full-blown, intricate designs, you are sure to find something that fits your style or event that you have coming up.

Almond Acrylic Nails Inspiration and Ideas

French Tip with Jewels

I love a french tip on an almond-shaped acrylic nail, and adding jewels to your french tip takes it to that next level. It turns your nails into accessories and can be done with charms, rhinestones, or pearls. My personal favorite is to do this look with pearls and colorful french tips because it’s a mix of classy and fun.

Wavy Lines

Wavy lines are one of my favorite ways to do a minimalistic look. You can do thin, colorful lines over a nude, turning the minimalistic look into a fun design that may only be noticeable at a second glance. This design also goes with almond shape nails because fluid lines without corners or consistency were a popular design in the 60s when almond nails were introduced.

Velvet Nails

If you look in my closet, you will most likely notice that I have way more velvet clothes than the average person. It’s one of my preferred fabrics, and it makes me so excited to see people mimicking it on nails. This nail design usually uses magnetic polish that looks as if it changes brightness in color as you turn it in the light, like velvet.

Daisies Over Nude

Daisies are not only a feminine floral nail design, they also represent youth and joy. I like to match a daisy design with a nude nail to create a minimalistic design that is also fun and ornate. My favorite way to do a daisy design is with several tiny daisies on one nail paired with a french tip on the other nails.

Gold Flakes

Gold flakes are small pieces of thin gold foil that can be placed in a design or randomly onto the nail to create a gold leafing look. I feel that gold flakes have gone out of style, but I believe there is still a time and place for this look. It’s a great look if you want a neutral nail, so your nails don’t clash with anything you wear but still have a unique flair.

Nude Pink Nails

I love almond-shaped nails because they are close to your natural nail shape while adding length and thinness. The base of your natural nail has a pink tone, so to accentuate the natural look, do a whole nude pink nail. Although this look is very simple, it screams elegance and beauty.

Gradient Tips

Another fun way to do french tips is to do a gradient of color from nail to nail. This means one nail starts as one color, usually a bright color, and changes color from nail to nail until the last nail on your hand is an entirely different color. I like to do this by changing colors from one to another throughout the hand, such as pink to orange, but you can also change colors many times throughout the hand.

60s Inspired Nails

I don’t think there’s a better way to dress up a 60s nail shape than to style it with 60s designs. Smiley faces, wavy rainbow lines, bubbly flowers, and peace signs are all fun 60s-inspired designs that you try over a nude nail. I think mix-n-matching multiple 60s designs are the best way to do this look, but you can also stick to just one.

Wrapped French Tips

Dress up your french tips by wrapping them down along the side of the nail and around the bottom of your nail. I like to do this with a different color than the tip to create some separation, and it can be done on one side of the nail or around the entire nail, leaving the center nude. I especially like to create a tuxedo look with this in black and white colors.

Abstract Nails

Abstract art is a type of art that doesn’t attempt to mimic reality but gives you the idea of it with lines, shapes, and colors. I love this look with almond-shaped nails because it can be minimal and embody feminism by creating a woman’s body or face with curvy lines and bright colors. It also works well with almond acrylic nails because the length of almond nails gives enough room to create beautiful abstract designs.

Color-Blocked Floral

Becoming a plant parent has been a trend that everyone has been jumping on lately because of the peace plants make you feel. I, however, can not keep a plant alive to save my life, but I can fake it by putting plants and flowers all over my nails! Adding a bit of color blocking in the background gives this nail design the brightness it deserves.

Barely Tipped

Barely tipped nails are when only a thin line is painted outside your nail shape. I prefer bright colors for this look because it is hardly noticeable if you use lighter colors or white. Although, if you like very minimal nails that don’t pop as much, you could do these with a white or pastel paint.

Baby Boomer Nails

Baby boomer nails are the new and improved way to do a french tip and are named after the generation that started the french tip in the 40s. Instead of making a harsh line with a french tip, you fade the white tip into the neutral color at the base, giving you a much more natural look. Usually, I like this look better than a standard french tip, but I tend to be swayed more towards tips that mimic the standard with almond acrylic nails.

Glitter Ombre

Every time I see glitter nails, the song “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” starts playing in my head and ombreing glitter to a neutral goes perfectly with almond acrylic nails. This is a fun look for parties, festive holidays, and if you want to feel like a girly girl. My chosen glitter to use for this look is confetti glitter, but you can also use finer glitter for a bit more subtleness.

Outlined Tips

There are many different ways to do an outlined tip, with my personal favorite being a black outline around where the french tip would be without it being filled in. You can also do an outline around a french tip in a different color or add one line below the french tip. This gives you the look of a regular french tip with a modern spin.

Lined Nails

Try adding a line or two over a nude-colored nail for a super minimalist nail. I think this design looks especially great with almond acrylic nails because it just adds to the intricacy and simplicity that the almond shape already gives you. In my opinion, keeping it to one or two thin lines per nail looks best, but you can add as many lines as you would like.

90s Inspired Nails

90s-inspired nails are another trend that I have seen a lot of lately, from yin-yang signs to checkerboard patterns. Generally, I prefer 90s-inspired nails with square-shaped nails, but you can pull them off with almond-shaped nails by doing them in neutral colors. Try a nude base with black and white flames, smiley faces, lightning bolts, or any other design that makes you think of the 90s.

Heart Tipped Nails

Almond-shaped nails come to a nearly pointed end, just like the bottom of a heart, and I love to incorporate the nail design into the shape of the nail. This is a much more fun design for Valentine’s Day or any other day of love than regular hearts all over your nails. You can turn each nail tip into a heart or mix it up by making one nail extra-pointy with the heart design and doing a regular almond-shaped nail on the other fingers with one color.

Cherry Nails

The stereotypical double cherries connected by a leafy stem are back in, and honestly, it’s not something I was expecting to see come back. The cherry print started coming back in style in the early 2000s to represent a vintage look that embodied innocence. The trend slowed down for a while, but now I’m seeing it more and more in nail art.

Half Moon Nails

The standard for beautiful nails is a pink base and translucent white tips with a half-moon shape that is lighter at the bottom of the nail. This design will never look natural like a baby boomer nail or french tip, but it does put an interesting spin on the standard for a beautiful natural nail. I like to do a colorful french tip with a half-moon in the same color, but you can also paint the whole nail a color, leaving the half-moon uncolored, or paint the half-moon a different color from the rest of the nail.

Pastel Nails

Pastel colors are trendy this year, specifically for spring and summer. I usually go for darker colors when I do a colored nail, but pastels look best with almond acrylic nails because the colors are more feminine. You can do each nail in a different pastel color, french tips in pastel colors, or a gradient of pastel color.

Faux Almond Nails

Create an almond shape on a square nail if you like to play visual tricks with your nail designs. This design creates the silhouette of an almond nail by painting around a nude nail in an almond shape with a darker color. You can leave the rest of the nail nude or paint another design within the almond-shaped nail.

Half Tipped

I’ve liked this look a lot lately because it makes the nails seem longer, and it’s a unique way to do a french tip without it looking outdated. It is still as elegant and feminine as a regular french tip but a bit more minimalistic. You can do this design in color, add lines, or use it in a mixture with other designs.

Witchy Nails

Witchy nails are typically more suited for stiletto-shaped nails, but I don’t want to walk around feeling like my hands could stab someone, and almond-shaped nails are the next best thing. The only difference between stiletto nails and almond nails is that the tip is rounded off with almond nails. I love witchy designs and am so glad they look great on almond-shaped nails as well.

Cheetah Tips

Cheetah print is another pattern that has been coming back from the late 90s to early 2000s that I am so excited about! I used to have everything cheetah printed when I was young, from my shoes to school supplies, although they were usually rainbow cheetah prints. Cheetah print is much more subtle and mature, with nude bases and more minor black cheetah spots.

FAQs

Should You Try Almond Acrylic Nails?

Almond acrylic nails are for those that like longer nails that are classic looking and feminine. If that sounds like you, you should definitely try almond acrylic nails. I have been doing almond acrylic nails on myself for years now, and I have not regretted it. I find myself repeating outlined french tips, half-moon nails, and velvet almond acrylic nails a lot recently, and the only reason I can think of is that I love the shape.

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