How to paint nail designs like hearts or stripes on nails?

I'm painting my own nails at home. I heard to draw stripes, you could take toothpick, dip it in paint and draw stripes. If I did that, should I use paint or nail polish?Could I make hearts with a toothpick to?How to paint nail designs like hearts or stripes on nails?
You can use a toothpick, yes....They have special brushes call strippers that u can get at beauty supply store like a sally's. ( but honestly an artificial hair thin and small paint brush would probably do the job just as well) ...or they have nail polishes that already come with a special brush to do all that fun art work......and when u do the designs you can use regular nail polish not paint. HAVE FUN!!!!