Short coffin nails are to die for – pun intended. If you are new to coffin nails, their shape is essentially almost oval, except the top of the nails are filed off to give them a square appearance.
You would think, by their name (hello, coffin), that the designs for short coffin nails would be spooky or creepy. In fact, you can choose any color your heart desires for short coffin nails.
Creative Short Coffin Nail Designs
As nice as long nails may look at times, shorter nails are much more practical and easy to keep. But shorter doesn’t mean you can’t have shape!
Take look at these gorgeous nail ideas for short coffin nails. We have a feeling you’ll be making the switch!
For springtime vibes, opt for light blue on short coffin nails. A fun addition to the color are two white nails with confetti rainbow colors flicked on.
Ready for another springtime style for short coffin nails? How about a gorgeous lavender with a top coat of glitter? Let the colors make your mood light and peppy.
If you struggle with growing your nails to even a short length, press on or fake nails can be the answer to getting short coffin nails. Try a light brown or beige with silver crystals for accent.
This muted shade of yellow isn’t as bright as traditional yellow, so you’ll wanna give it a try on short coffin nails, especially when you see how pretty they are with glittered tips!
Light blue is a go-to color for wintry short coffin nails. All you need to do now is add a multi-shaded blue sparkly accent nail and draw your own winter-themed art on one white nail.
Many ladies are catching on to what exactly is so dang cute about pineapples! If you’ve fallen in love with the delicious fruit, show your love on yellow short coffin nails, making sure to add a pineapple stamp on a white accent nail.
The short coffin nails above prove how the French tip really works on all nail shapes. To add your own piece of personality, add a large half white flower with black accents.
11. Simple & Natural Floral Look
Achieve this natural look with a gentle pink or nude color. Don’t want to appear too boring? You can add a floral design on one nail on each hand!
The design does not need to be too intricate, and you can always explore other patterns as well. An innocent-looking simple design will be perfect for this shade!
This is a design for the fickle-minded. When you have several designs that you want to try at once, you can combine them together in this look!
Nude pink looks good on its own, and white with golden glittery geometric details makes you feel fancy. Combine all three of golden glitter, nude pink and plain white on your other finger and of course, keep your golden pointer shining!
13. Absolutely Minimalistic
What can simpler design you achieve than this? You only need a soft pastel color nails to make your nails look perfect.
Flaunt your short coffin nails shape with this simple design! You can do this from home by yourself, so it’s cost-efficient as well.
14. Does This Scream “Brazil” To You?
You can use a nail sticker to add your initials or other words onto your nails. With the correct color combination, you can even sport these nails to the World Cup game to support your country!
As you can see from this design, an ombre style can be done with a mix of nail polish and glitter as well!
15. Classy Matte Black
If you’re in the mood for gothic designs, this could be one! Matte black is a very suitable color for almost all types of nails, and it’s even more suitable for a coffin look.
To add a little variation, simply add some glitters. If you don’t like glitter on your nails, you can try adding gemstones too.
16. Classy Mosaic
Mosaic or marble patterns can give you an air of elegance and class. Any colors of lighter shades can go well with this pattern.
However, if you decide to go with a darker color marble pattern, you might find that darker gemstones will pair up better with this design. This short coffin nail design is one of the simpler ones that you can attempt at home!
This black and red design can be done easily by applying more nail polish to your fingernail tips and letting it slowly drip down. While this design may look a little messy, this look will fit right in with your Halloween costume.
For the best effect, try nail polish with neon or glow-in-the-dark features! If you’d like to see an even better nail polish dripping effect, keep reading to see it.
18. Blue and Gold
This seemingly-complex design is actually very simple and achievable! With just some nail tapes, a matte blue nail polish and some gold gemstones or rhinestones, you can alter this design to give it your personal style as well, just like the next example below.
This style may be a little difficult to accomplish for beginners, so you can consider visiting a manicure expert for this style!
Who would have guessed that leaving parts of your nails looking undone can look so beautiful? Just tape up the area that you want to leave unpainted, and start painting your nails.
Remove the tape when your nail polish has dried up and voila! Fancy-looking nails with minimal effort!
20. Lace Patterned Short Coffin
If you have some lace patterned stencil stickers at home, you can paste them over your nails and paint over them like in the example above.
Either that or you draw it on by yourself, which will definitely be harder on your non-dominant hand. As such, it might be a wiser choice to have someone else help you with this design.
21. Simple Geometric Patterns
Use a contrasting color to draw simple lines on your nails for a simple yet beautiful look! A simple plus sign or even a horizontal line across your nails can make a plain design stand out from the crowd.
22. Flowers & Gold
Why pick between flower designs and gold geometric designs when you can have both? Use a harmonious color for the floral designs and gold color as a contrasting color against your pale pink base coat.
Feel like a princess of the ocean with this blue water drop design! While this does look beautiful, you will need to take extra care so that you do not accidentally scrape the beads and stones off from your nails.
Even one missing bead from this bead sequence can be extremely noticeable!
24. Glitter, Matte & Gel
If you can’t choose the type of nail polish to use, use all three! Matte on one finger, glitter on the other, ombre glitter on your next one and gel nail for the last! Mix all together for a unique mix-and-match look.
25. A Holographic Contrast
A drippy black nail polish look contrasts nicely with holographic nails. But then again, holographic nail polish itself is already a good match for short coffin nails and any other nail shapes!
26. 3D Daisies
Short coffin nail designs should not be restricted to simple drawn-on designs or beads. With a pink base coat and 3D white flowers, this design just screams a young girl’s love for pink and all things girlish.
27. Slightly Translucent
If your short coffin nails are nail extensions, request an almost translucent look like this one. Aside from adding beads like many previous examples, you can also add 3D roses into your nail design!
28. Mix It Up
When you’re faced with white coffin, black, or gold, just use them all! In this design we see beads, 3D roses, and a mix of black matte nail polish, white gel polish, and gold glitter polish. Talk about an all-in-one design!
29. Gold and White Marble
You can always put us down for a marbled white and gold art on short coffin nails. This design might require using decorative gold flakes to be swirled around in white nail polish before applying.
30. 3D Details on Pale Color
If a simple pink-white ombre design is too bland for your short coffin shaped nails, consider adding some designs that will stand out. Regal silver nail “tiaras” top off these nails.
With creativity, adequate tools, and skills, as well as some inspiration like what you can get from this post, the possibilities for short coffin nail designs are endless!
Vanessa is a fun-loving girl who loves to color her nails and experiment with new beauty trends. She trained at Empire Beauty School, and now she's a freelance beauty writer. Vanessa loves trying out new products and sharing her thoughts with her readers. When she's not writing or painting her nails, she can be found exploring the city of New York.
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