Dopamine Nails to Brighten Up a Bleak Winter

The gray skies and cold weather that come with winter can easily lead to seasonal blues. It’s important to do little things that brighten your days and lift your spirits during the winter to help fend off glum moods. One tiny way to treat yourself and spark a smile every time you look down is getting a dopamine-inducing fresh manicure. We had fun scanning the internet for mood-boosting manis, and these are our favorite dopamine nails to help banish the blues this winter.

Mood-Boosting Dopamine Nails for Winter

1 / 9

Confetti Nails

The nail artist refers to this look as “confetti nails,” and we agree they’d be the life of any party. The neutral backdrop allows the pops of color and glitter to be the main focus with cute nail art like hearts, stars and spots.

2 / 9

Funky French Manicure

We love how much is happening here, including flowers, squiggles, plaid, zebra print and a strawberry. The bright colors and various designs make this one fun to look at even after days of wearing it.

3 / 9

Color Combo Manicure

“I, for one, am rocking neon yellow right now, so quite frankly, you can give the middle finger to season appropriate nails,” wrote nail artist Maggie Donovan last February beneath this photo. “Choose what your dopamine gremlin demands.” And for us, that’s these chic color combo nails.

4 / 9

Graphic Nail Art

These cuties have a little dose of everything, including teeny tiny smiley faces, cherries, hearts, mushrooms, flowers, lemons and more all against an expertly done pink and white backdrop.

5 / 9

Funky Short Nails

The color pairings of this manicure bring an immediate smile to our faces, and the fun designs, reminiscent of underwater plants, make the look an all-around crowd-pleaser.

6 / 9

Modern Art Nails

This look is similar to the previous one but with longer nails, providing more space to spread out the art. It feels fun while still feeling professional enough for the office.

7 / 9

Strawberry Milk Manicure

These pink nails with cow print accents and stripes of bright orange make our winter blues giddy up out of here ASAP. We want to try this approach with various colors and animal print combinations.

8 / 9

Pink and Orange Nail Art

Something about this color combination sparks joy even when the sky outside is a bleak gray. Plus, the range of nail art is so fun, from sparkles to flowers and squiggles to checkerboard.

9 / 9

Hot Pink Yinyang Nails

This one is for all of the lover girls out there. If Barbie pink is the shade that spikes your dopamine, we recommend this Yinyang design with hearts. Plus, it’s a perfectly festive manicure for Valentine’s Day.