Let's be honest: we could all use a little more balance these days. For the people out there who enjoy using beauty as a way to express their innermost thoughts, that could likely explain why we've been seeing so many yin and yang-inspired nail art [1] popping up on our Instagram feeds lately.

The ancient Chinese philosophy represents the concept of duality [2] and how opposing or contrasting forces — like order and chaos, darkness and light, masculinity and femininity, to name a few — can often be complementary or necessary in the natural world. It's often symbolised by a circle divided into halves by a curved line, with one half (yin) being black and the other (yang) being white. Both halves of the circle feature a dot of the opposite colour near the centre, though the manicures [3] we seen it inspire lately has put a handful of creative spins on the symbol.

Yin and yang nail art isn't new by any means – after all, the concept has been around for centuries — but we have been seeing the trend pop up on our feeds so much lately that even celebrities like Demi Lovato [4], Halsey [5], and H.E.R [6] have gotten in on it. Keep reading to check out some of our favourite yin and yang manicures.