The “Sticker Book” Nail Trend Is Here to Indulge Your Inner Child

Picture yourself, for a second, at six years old. In front of you: pages and pages and pages of stickers. There are iridescent stickers, puffy stickers, scratch-n-sniffs and even tiny homages to your favorite characters ready to be peeled and placed anywhere you see fit.

Now, picture yourself at the age you are right this very moment. Doesn’t it sound fun to go crazy with some adhesive decor? And wouldn’t it be even more fun if everyone who you came into contact with could see your work?

What we’re calling “sticker book nails” are the latest trend to inspire the (ever evolving) nail art industry. The look: a nude base coat of your choosing covered in teeny designs a la Hailey Bieber’s recent fruit and veggie-forward “farmers market” mani. The designs can be hand-drawn or stickers—all that matters is that they’re there.

“In the same way that you’d curate your favorite Lisa Frank and Happy Bunny stickers for your grade school notebooks and folders, now you can do that on your nails!” nail sticker maven/Deco Beauty founder Julianna Dahbura tells Byrdie.

Ahead, everything to know about the sticker book nail trend—including the easiest way to get it yourself.

The Trend

While a classic sticker book manicure will include a nude background to echo those boring (before you got a hold of them, baby!) sticker books of yore, Dahbura says that anything really goes with the trend: “It looks great on frenchies, sheers, and solid colors. It’s also just really cute, and you can do any theme.”

According to nail artist Tara Haye, part of the trend’s charm is that it’s so approachable.

“A beginner or nail artist that may not have the skills for freehand art would love sticker book nails,'” she says. “Nail art has taken over rapidly and everyone wants to be a part of what’s ‘cool.’ Sticker book nails can keep both the client and artist satisfied with this technique.”

Still, you can expect a very different experience if you’re going for freehand designs versus actual stickers.

“Social media content has convinced many that nail art is as fast as the content watched. This is not the case, timing can vary based on how intricate the design is and the artist’s skill. Length of nails [also] remains a key factor that most ignore,” Haye adds. “I prefer to be direct when booking and let the clients know it’s a minimum of 2-3 hours.”

With that being said, tiny, simple designs (unless you’re getting a million of them!) are “definitely a better option in a crunch-for-time situation.”

How to Get the Look

The easiest way to get sticker book nails for yourself? Paint on your base coat, grab some actual nail stickers (Deco’s are amazing!) and a tweezer for placement, and go to town. Take a gander at our guide to nail sticker application and remember that you’ll also want to make sure you have a great top coat to seal down your art when the time comes.

“I particularly love this trend because it’s super low stakes and you can’t ‘mess up’ your placement. It’s a great way to use up some of the stickers that are gathering dust to use as fillers,” says Dahbura.

And if a salon appointment is more your calling? My best advice is to come prepared with plenty of inspiration or a theme in mind. It’s hard enough for an artist to think of one design for you—let alone 20 tiny ones.

All that is to say, get sticking my friends. We’ll compare looks at recess, okay?