3 Holiday Nail Designs to Try: Winter, New Year's, Christmas
By Edith (Edie) Bryan, Nail Care Expert
Edie is 27-years old and hails from the beautiful country that is Wales, in the UK. She’s an esthetician and has been trained in all aspects of beauty, from waxing to skincare, but she specializes in nails. She discovered her talent for nails at 17 and worked as a junior technician. In 2005, she started her own business running a nail salon in her home town. She found creating beautiful nails was the perfect way to combine her natural creativity and her obsession with fashion and beauty into one. Check out her blog Touch Beauty and follow her on Twitter!
3 Holiday Nail Designs to Try
There is no better time of year to really have some fun with nail art, or try out some bold glitter colours in your manicure. There are many ways to achieve gorgeous and unique nail designs – nail stamping or decals are ideal for anyone who isn’t confident creating fiddly freehand designs, and nail art brushes and paints are inexpensive for anyone who wants to try their hand at painting their own nail art. A good base coat, such as Orly Bonder ($7.49) is essential for keeping your design chip free through all the partying, and I recommend Seche Vite ($7.99 ) as a nail art sealant, because of its thick viscosity and fantastic glossy finish.
Snowflake Nails
A bold base color of bright red really makes these little snowflake designs pop. I used Revlon Red ($5.00), with a touch of Barry M Red Glitter (£2.99) at the tips, and then I drew the snowflakes and dots on with white acrylic paint. The design was sealed in with a thick layer of Seche Vite top coat. Lastly, I added some tiny Swarovski crystals to add sparkle to the design.
Sparkly Star Party Nails
The pictures really do not capture the full effect of these ultra-dazzling party nails! Perfect for any holiday season event, they’re ideal to coordinate with a slinky little black dress, because this design is so simple to create. Two coats of Nail Girls Silver #3 (£10.50) creates the base colour with black acrylic paint sponged onto the tips or base of the nail. I used Barry M Silver Glitter Effects (£3.99 ) to blend the black and silver together, and then added some silver star shaped nail decals. Seche Vite was used to seal in the design, and a few black and silver Swarovski crystals, create another sparkle effect on the top.
Holly and Candy Cane Nails
This is a more traditional Christmas-themed design but is still just so cute and fun! I alternated the colour on each finger using OPI Warm and Fozzie ($8.40) and Nail Girls Red #6 (£10.50) with a tiny bit of Barry M Red Glitter (£2.99) for extra sparkle. The holly and candy cane designs were painted on freehand with acrylic paints and sealed with Seche Vite top coat.
Check out more photos!
I love love the candy cane and holly nails, but could only imagine trying to freehand those beautiful designs with my left hand. It would probably look more light a snowball fight. That I lost.
Hehe!! It is not easy painting freehand designs on the ‘other hand’!! The candy canes are not too bad, but the holly is a nightmare! Maybe try some decals, stickers or nail stamping, quicker and easier! xx
Yay Wales! Cymru Am Byth 🙂
Im in love with the first two.
Ahhh great to see a fellow Welsh Temptalia fan! Glad you like, I have to say, they all look so much better in real life! The snowflake one – at arms length, looks so striking and sparkly….my camera is not the best at handling sparkle!! X
I love the party nails one! I never have enough patience for nail art though lol.
I know what you mean, it is fun to start with, but by the second hand, the fun has usually worn off!! I am looking forward to posting about nail stamping, can’t wait to share designs with you all xx
Those are awesome but I could never paint slick designs like that using my left hand 🙁
My boyfriend didn’t believe that I had painted the candy canes and holly freehand…..until I showed him my left hand!! *embarrassed* xx
Oh what fun nail designs for the Holidays! I love the snowflakes and the candy canes, so creative, bright and festive! 🙂
So glad you like! x
Thanks for sharing, love those snowflake nails!!
I liked them best, they looked so bold! I might need a little bit more practice with painting them neatly though….they are very difficult to master! x
Really wonderful! I’m wearing Barry M Emerald Green today, which is a really Christmassy colour. No special effects, but it looks like a shiny satin Christmas ribbon. Barry M is excellent!