Summer is a time for poolside drinks, grilling on the deck, lounging on the beach, and fun summer nails. Fun in the sun means you need nail colors that are bright enough to stand out.
If you’re looking for summer colors that will be evergreen summer after summer, corals will always be perfect for sunny days and you can’t go wrong with neon nails.
Best Buds is hands-down my favorite shade from KBShimmer’s 2019 summer collection and one of the very few thermal polishes that I’ve actually seen get a three-color ombre on shorter natural nails.
Thermal polishes that go from light blue to dark blue are still awesome, but dark slate blue to minty sea green? I’m hooked.
I got a media sample so was able to see how this one performed first hand.
A lot of thermals say you’ll get an ombre effect but KBShimmer tri-thermals are the first ones I’ve owned where you actually do see all three colors on one nail. I love to garden so I often have shorter nails but even with that, I could see all the three colors as they shifted and changed. As it’s summer, most often I had a minty green nail with an orchid-blue French manicure style tip as the polish cooled on my free edge.
In addition to the drastic color change, there’s a subtle shimmer of micro-glitter that makes the color glow in the sun.
The polish needs two to three coats, depending on your preference, and dries surprisingly quickly. I didn’t mind doing three coats at all because one hand was basically dry by the time I finished the other. I’ve gone an easy five days with this polish, adding a second layer of top coat partway through. I’m definitely moving this one into my regular rotation.
It’s a very opaque creme. It can almost get away with one coat but there do tend to be some streaks on the first layer that are gone by the second coat.
Carpe Diem is a warm white with the sheerest hint of gold when the light hits it just right, making it perfect for sunny days. Cirque Colors are four free, cruelty-free, and made in small batches in New York.
I recently paired this with an adorable petite summer dress for a nautical look.
This bright and juicy purple has a magenta flash and holographic flakies.
Paisley is supposed to be a magenta but it’s not pink enough to me for that. The shade makes me think of grape jelly and that’s a good thing in my book. It’s a bright playful color that flashes magenta in the sun.
The twinkle of holographic flakes adds an extra layer. And I love that they’re not glitter so the polish is easier to remove. I love my ILNP shades and all their polishes are cruelty-free, vegan, and seven free.
There isn’t a better time for a turquoise nail polish than in the summer.
Turquoise says clear ocean shallows, bright summer skies, and the baking heat of the Southwest. One of the best and brightest is Age of Aquarius by Color Club.
It’s considered a neon so expect it to dry to a near matte, but a glossy top coat can take care of that if you’re looking for a brighter shine. Also not surprising for a neon, the formula can be a little tricky. It goes on a little streaky so you’ll want two to three coats for good, even coverage. Age of Aquarius is three free and cruelty-free.
Guava Nice Day is one of the most perfect summer shades I’ve seen this year with its almost neon, tropical coral.
It really does look exactly like the inside of a guava and makes me think of beachy drinks and juicy fruit salads. The shade looks gorgeous on a wide range of skin tones as well. Matte is trendy this summer and this one is stunningly creamy with a matte top coat.
This one is absolutely on my personal wishlist for this summer.
If you want a unique yellow that stands out from the rest, check out Vanderbilt.
It’s a hard color to describe. I would say it’s the shade of a previously buttercup yellow dress you found in the attic that used to belong to your grandmother. It has antique, faded quality with hints of green.
Cirque Colors polishes are vegan, cruelty-free, four free, and you’re supporting an indie brand.
If you’re all about fun in the sun, check out solar reactive nail polish that changes color when exposed to sunlight.
Every Blooming Thing is a soft, iridescent pink that turns to dark pink in the sun. I got to try a media sample of this shade and the transitions are impressively fast, including changing back to light pink once you move into the shade.
It’s a fairly sheer shade that can be worn as a pearlescent topper or can be built up to wear alone at around three coats.
Part of Zoya’s 2019 Barefoot summer collection, Marcy is an elevated warm, coral red that can be casual or dressed up.
Marcy takes a playful shade on the coral side of red and matures it for a more adult, professional color that maintains that hint of flirty shimmer in the sunlight. It can come across and more on the pink side for light skin tones and more orangey on more melanated skin tones. Both look amazing.
Thermal nail polish is fun all year round but this one looks like a tropical poolside drink for your nails.
Just Glow With It is part of KBShimmer’s 2019 Sun’s Out collection of tri-thermal polishes, meaning polishes that have three distinct colors depending on the temperature. In this case that’s neon purple when hot, orange when warm, and dark hot pink when cool.
I got my hands on a media sample of this collection so I’ve worn this shade myself and it reminded me of a Tequila Sunrise because you had this gorgeous pinky grenadine red softly fading into orange and peach.
These tri-thermals have been very long-lasting for me and they have a beautiful glittery shimmer which gives them even more glam in the sun. Also, I was extremely impressed by how quickly they dried. The jelly-adjacent polish needs three coats for my opacity preferences but I didn’t mind at all because there was so little wait time between coats.
This rose pink with a hint of color has a unique demi-matte finish, the theme of Essie’s 2019 summer collection.
It’s a lovely nearly-neon shade that has a sweet, candy-color vibe to it. The demi-matte finish means you can get three different effects by either leaving it alone, using a standard top coat to make it glossy, or a full matte top coat for a chalkboard finish.
If you’re looking for a warm metallic this summer Copper-Tunist is where you want to be.
This is the best shade in China Glazes 2019 summer collection Body & Sol. It’s got a new copper penny shine to it that I love without being too dark that it looks out of season. That said, this can easily slip right into your fall polish choices.
If you’re feeling the mermaid vibe, you’ve got to get No Days Off from ILNP’s Summer Collection.
It has a bright teal base that is jam-packed with teal metallic flakies.
The end result is an almost mermaid tail scale effect. To capture that dazzling sparkle of reflected water, No Days Off also has holographic micro-flakes to give that rainbow glow.
The formula is very easy to work with and you can probably get away with two coats. The metallic finish glows and doesn’t show brushstrokes which is a major achievement for metallics.
This is my all-time-favorite for summer pedicures. There’s not much sexier than a true red nail polish and Suzannemi by Adesse New York is the reddest polish I own.
This polish is a fun candy apple red though it’s photographing pinker than it appears in person. Suzannemi is from Adesse New York’s Gel Effect line which means it has a plumper profile than regular polish and dries to a much higher gloss, more like a gel nail polish.
I was sent a sample of this polish to test out and I can tell you that sometimes I hesitate to put a top coat over it, afraid that it could dull the intense shine of this polish.
The formula is straight up perfect. This is one of the few polishes I own that I can apply with that ideal two to three swipes per nail. Another huge place is that applied over Seche Base, I had zero staining on my nails which is impressive for any red. Their Gel Effect line has great wear time and is both cruelty-free and 12 free.
I can’t think of a better time to wear glittering holographics than when you’re out in the bright summer sun.
I break this one out anytime I really want to make a statement and draw attention to my nails.
Hexy Bikini is a clear base loaded with silver, teal, and pink holographic glitter which brightly flash their own colors as well as create that rainbow flash we love from holos. It makes your nails look they have been jewel-encrusted. Two to three coats of this is enough for me for good coverage.
It’s billed as a textured polish and I was a little intimidated by how much this one could snag on clothes, but it’s actually much flatter than I expected. It does have some texture but a good top coat can get you close to smooth.
If summer means parties to you, then you need to check out this matte glitter from Orly that looks just like confetti.
It’s a clear base with glitter hexes in many sizes in every color of the rainbow and speckled with white micro-glitter. I have this polish (bought with my own money) and I love it both as a topper over polish or worn all on its own.
The glitter load is very high and even if you don’t use the glitter sponge method, I only need two, maybe three, coats for Turn it Up to look fantastic worn alone. Matte glitter is always a unique, interesting change from the expected sparkle and it’s the definition of playful.
Paige was the first polish I ever bought for myself from ILNP and it’s still in my regular rotation, especially in the summer.
It’s a tropical pink with a linear holographic sparkle which creates that holo candle flame look as the rainbow is revealed. Paige also picks up a lot of gold in the sun.
It’s eye-catching and long-lasting. This lacquer is cruelty-free and opaque in two to three coats. This one also has an incredible galaxy effect when used as a topper over black.
Every summer nail color stash needs a bright yellow.
It’s a perfect transition from late spring into early summer. Kill ‘Em With Kindness is a soft banana yellow, too light to be a lemon yellow. This polish has a thin formula that could benefit from a white base coat.
It’s streaky on the first two coats but has good coverage at three coats even without the white base coat. The China Glaze lacquers are three free.
This polish is instantly brightening against all skin tones and can be work alone or over your favorite summer nails.
Nahla, a holographic gold topper with a hint of blue shimmer, is part of Zoya’s Sunshine Collection for summer. It’s full of small, medium, and large gold glitters that give it that gold-flake effect and the holographic shimmer pulls in blues and greens that pop. The formula is flawless and is 10 free.
Lisa over at Cosmetic Sanctuary has a fantastic in depth review of this Collection including stunning macro shots of the swatches of each polish and of Nahla swatched over the rest of the colors in the collection.
This demi-matte purple from Essie is everything perfect about this season’s trends: bright, fun, with a unique twist.
The demi-matte finish gives this a mod effect that goes with the recent fashion trends. Summer is the best time to flaunt some matte-ness because it stands up in the glare of the sun as not the typical finish you expect.
This purple is a lovely juicy tone, like a grape popsicle. Essie’s 2019 summer collection is hard to keep in stock so when you see one around, don’t hesitate to snap it up.
This classic polish by OPI is a tropical strawberry daiquiri red.
It has pink and orange undertones to take that classic red into a more beachy, backyard BBQ shade. As part of their Infinite Shine collection, Cajun Shrimp dries to a high gloss and is more chip resistant compared to the original formula. It’s a very opaque red and you won’t need more than two coats for full opacity.
I was luckily enough to get my hands on samples of ILNP’s Summer Collection and Deep End is my favorite of the bunch.
It’s a perfect cobalt blue with a playful rose to gold flash when the light hits it just right.
I love this shade. I’m wearing it right now and admiring it in the light and the pictures do not do this complex shade justice. That said, this deep blue jelly shade won’t be for everyone.
Holographic flakies are suspended in the polish and catch the light, reflecting back all the colors of the rainbow. The best thing about flakies is that they look like glitter but are so much easier to remove than glitter.
The formula is more of a jelly than anything, meaning it’s partly translucent on purpose. As you build this up you can see the layers and dimensions of those flakies for a really neat effect like looking down into the deep end of a pool.
That does mean the first coat isn’t very impressive, but it’s opaque at the third coat and you’ll fall in love. Three coats of this doesn’t feel thick either which is nice.
I’ve always had great success with long wear when using ILNP and with a proper top and base coat you can get an easy five days out of this.
Orly’s Summer Neon Earth Collection has given us After Glow and I’m pretty excited about that. I love a good salmon or coral for summer and After Glow hits that sweet spot for me.
It’s bright, it’s creamy, and it looks like delicious sherbet. Even though it’s considered a neon After Glow has a nice formula and is opaque in two coats–not an easy task for these fluorescent colors.
Coming in with a less traditional summer color, Kristen by Zoya is a creamy slate that strays into a light, dusty blue depending on the lighting.
Kristen in a softer look that stands out by being so unexpected. It goes on a little streaky on the first coat but covers perfectly in two coats. Zoya’s formula is very easy to work with and has the benefit of being 10 free.
This neutral by Zoya offers a light, dusty mauve perfect for a more subtle look that still brings in that summery rosebud color.
It’s almost a seashell blush tone which I think is appropriate for beach parties and at the office. Like all Zoya polishes, Rue is 10 free and has a buttery, easy to work with formula.
When it comes to brilliant blues, KBShimmer has it nailed down.
Low & Be Bold has that stand out blue shade of deep ocean waters that works against all skin tones. It brings up nautical images for me, especially against white.
The formula isn’t quite a creme but is nearly there. It’s got this hint of jelly but not enough to be a true crelly. Just enough to give the color this juicy, squishiness.
Despite having that jelly-tone, this one is opaque in two coats though it looks best with three. Like all KBShimmer lacquers, Low & Be Bold is three free, meaning it doesn’t have three of the more toxic ingredients normally found in polish.
OPI is taking inspiration from the iconic musical Grease for their 2018 Summer Collection.
If you like the idea of a summer white nail but want to punch it up a bit, try Rydell Forever, a white textured polish that dries to a leather finish. The texture is subtle on the white but enough to keep it interesting and unique. The formula is great and covers completely in two coats.
I received a sample of Irina and it’s my go-to grey all year round–and now that greys are in for summer, I’m happy to break it out.
It’s a lovely mourning dove grey straying into blue in dimmer lighting. As part of their Gel Effect line, it dries extremely glossy and with a plump profile.
I’ve also found this one to be very chip resistant and tend toward Irina when I know I’m not going to be able to do my nails for a while and need something that lasts.
It’s not always all about the highly pigmented polishes and sometimes you just want a clean neutral.
Adored by Maxus is a creamy beige that shows up cooler on lighter skin tones and pinker against more melanated skin tones. Maxus sent me a sample of this to try out and I’ve been wearing it a lot the past couple of weeks and really like it under nail art.
This strengthening polish needs two to three coats–for me it’s two if I’m using my ridge filling base coat (Seche Base) which is lightly opaque and three coats if I’m applying it over a clear base coat. Adored is nine free, cruelty-free, and made in America.
Summer nails are bold, fun, flirty, and feminine. If you're looking to pick up a few new shades for your summer nail colors stash, this is the list for you.
