It's a bit early, I know. You think I'm crazy. But the cold months fly by and it's time to start planning your manicure for the holiday season. Here are 9 cute and easy Christmas designs that are going to make you festive from head to toe.
For some subtle winter designs that do not scream Christmas but are just festive enough, check out 4 Elegant Holiday Snowflake Nail Art.
The following designs were all freehanded by me, with tutorial videos included. You are welcome to recreate them or save/screenshot them to have them done at a nail salon. If you do so and end up sharing pictures of them on Instagram, hopefully, you would tag me. If you share it on other platforms, you could link this blog post. Giving creators credit can actually be very helpful to us! Let's jump right in:
Holiday Season Christmas Nails–A Glittery Christmas
CLICK HERE for tutorial part I.
CLICK HERE for tutorial part II.
Products used:
For the nude base- Mademoiselle from ESSIE.
Green glitter polish- Drama from F.U.N. Lacquer.
Golden glitter polish- Make A Wish from F.U.N. Lacquer.
Details are done with acrylic paint.
Top coat- Vite Top Coat from Seche Nails.
I never had much brand loyalty when it comes to nail polish. I love everything from every brand. As long as they are five-free or above, I'll make my decisions based on the colors. But when it comes to F.U.N. Lacquer, they are the absolute winners in terms of glitter polishes. I have not found another brand that I am so keen on giving my money to.
This glitter design is shiny, festive, eye-catching, and one of my most popular tutorials on Instagram because it is completely fool-proof. All you need for this simple nail art is nail polish, some tape, and a makeup sponge to create this look at home with 0% chance of failure.
Holiday Season Christmas Nails–Christmas Ornaments
CLICK HERE for tutorial.
Products used:
For the nude base- Sugar Daddy from ESSIE.
For the pink holo- Mon Amour from Esmaltes De Kelly now rebranded as Phoenix Indie Polish
For the color-shift flakie topper- Vision from Live.Love.Polish now rebranded as Mooncat
Details are done with acrylic paint.
Top coat- Vite Top Coat from Seche Nails.
These are super simple and can be done in 20 minutes.
This design was inspired by the Christmas decorations we had at home in 2021. Each year, we have a color scheme for our Christmas decorations and my dad picked pink ornaments for that year.
The ornaments are painted with a cream color instead of a pale white, which gives the entire design a warmer look. Of course, you can change the color scheme into anything that you like and it would still look good. I added a layer of color-shift flakies on the nude nails with ornaments to add an extra shine. But it is completely optional.
Holiday Season Christmas Nails–Simple Christmas Trees
CLICK HERE for tutorial.
Products used:
For the base- LS005 Ally from Angel Ariel Collection.
Details are done with acrylic paint.
Top coat- Matte Top Coat from OPI
There is nothing more subtly festive than pine trees. It's not in your face, but it gives you all the fuzzy feels of the holiday season.
This design uses a cold snowy color as the base and different geometrics to create classic Christmas tree images. It is an extremely wearable nail art even for people who are not used to bold colors and definitely something that is work appropriate.
It is also very easy to recreate. All you need is some nail polish and a thin paintbrush. You don't even have to go to a nail technician to have this one done.
Holiday Season Christmas Nails–Christmas Tree Sweater
CLICK HERE for tutorial.
Products used:
For the base- Mountain Bluebells 295 from Prim+Proper Nail Polish.
Details are done with acrylic paint.
Top coat- Vite Top Coat from Seche Nails.
What is Christmas without ugly Christmas sweaters? I personally LOVE the color blue and it's also a great winter color. So I used this saturated blue as my base. If you would like to go all in for the holidays, you can opt for even more festive colors like green, bright red, or a dark crimson as the base.
Take note that if you choose to use colors with red as the base, cover the first layer of color with a top coat before you proceed to paint over it with white. Once the paint dries, paint over the white parts with a second layer of white acrylic paint. Or even a third layer if you have the time and patience. Red is the strongest pigment out of all colors, and if you fail to do so, the red will seep through your white paint and you would end up with unevenly pink patterns on top.
Holiday Season Christmas Nails–Simple Snowflake Sweater
CLICK HERE for tutorial.
Products used:
For the base- Urban Jungle from ANNY.
Details are done with acrylic paint.
Top coat- Vite Top Coat from Seche Nails.
When sweater nails meet snowflake nails. If you love snowflakes, you can also check out my post for snowflake nail art for more snowflake designs. But this is definitely the easiest snowflake to paint out of them all. It calls for less detail and patience, just a bunch of rhombuses (diamond shapes) being pieced together.
I love this low-vibrancy green that is festive yet elegant. It's almost like a creamier army green, so it's subtle and dignified, yet cute at the same time.
I do not shy away from bold colors, but I am also not prepared to wear strong green and red shades for the entire month. However, you can easily replace the base with any other color for this design. Reminders regarding red-tinted base colors still apply. (See details written in the last paragraph of the previous design.)
Holiday Season Christmas Nails–Holly (Inspired by Starbucks)
CLICK HERE for tutorial.
Products used:
For the base- no.21 from Innis Free.
Details are done with acrylic paint.
Top coat- Matte Top Coat from OPI.
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be on your own ten nails.
This design is inspired by one of the holiday Starbucks paper cups released in 2018. You can swipe left on the Instagram post to see photos of the original paper cups.
The light aqua against the white background creates a sophisticated winter look and the red hollies bring life to the entire design. I find that the matte finish makes it even more elegant than when it is glossy. Plus, I wanted to give it that paper cup look.
If you are getting gel nails, matte finishes are also available for gel nails now and you can ask your nail technician for them. Of course, a glossy finish would be just as festive and pretty.
Holiday Season Christmas Nails–Christmas Gnomes (Inspired by Swiss Miss)
CLICK HERE for tutorial.
Products used:
For the nude base- Mademoiselle from ESSIE.
Glittery blue- Dioptase from Cirque Colors.
Details are done with acrylic paint.
Top coat- Vite Top Coat from Seche Nails.
These are definitely one of my favorite Christmas nail designs! Inspired by the packaging of Christmas Gnomes Gift Pack of 4 released by Swiss Miss in 2021. Those are so easy to paint because none of the gnomes are showing any face. The hardest thing about painting characters is to get their facial features right.
I wore these for weeks and refused to remove them. I'm proud to say that they also caused quite a commotion in the local Costco Facebook group and I successfully urged a bunch of other people obsessed with cute packaging to buy these even though we don't even drink hot chocolate??? Including my own mother.
Of course, I need to show you my other hand as well, in the name of giving you a more comprehensive design idea. But secretly to show off how cute they are and my ability to paint with my non-dominant hand because I am SO ambidextrous. (I am not. The only thing I can do with my left hand is paint nails.)
For another adorable holiday season Swiss Miss special-inspired nail art, check out these nails that I painted from the 2018 collection. My personal favorite among those 4 is the snowman for sure. It has the cutest facial expression!
Holiday Season Christmas Nails–The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
Products used:
For the base- Got The Mean Reds from OPI.
Details are done with acrylic paint.
Top coat- Vive Top Coat from Seche Nails*
Speaking of character nails for the holiday season, how can we be missing the iconic Grinch! I have to admit that this is probably not something simple that most non-nail art-obsessed people can paint at home. Bottom line, it takes a bit more time to get the shape of the Grinch's head right and create the furry-looking details. Which is also why I did not film a tutorial for this.
But it is so cute and so perfect as an edgy Christmas nail art design that I had to share it! And I'm sure that a nail technician can do this for you.
*Side note, I honestly do not recommend the Vive top coat. It is much more expensive but I do not find it as glossy. You can see in the picture that the Grinch almost appears matte in the picture. And I don't find it to be more long-lasting either. It is just not at all what it is advertised to be and I like the Vite Top Coat way better.
Holiday Season Christmas Nails–Santa's Reindeers
Products used:
For the base- Suzi Chases Portu-geese from OPI.
Details are done with acrylic paint.
Top coat- Matte Top Coat from OPI.
How can it be Christmas without Santa's superstar reindeer that is traveling around the world at super speed which defeats the laws of physics?
This design is inspired by a print I found on Pinterest that was linked to a free PNG site. The original artist was listed as Gabriel Onat.
I used a pale pink as the base so that it's not exactly white but has a clean snowy look that creates a festive vibe. The reindeer were painted with alternating colors of deep crimson and bright red. I find that this makes the look more fashionable rather than purely festive.
I used a dark green for the pine leaves for the same reason. Like many of the other designs I shared, this would surely work with different color schemes as well. You can use a bright green for the leaves and bright red for all the reindeer on top of a white base to make it super festive.
A dark blue base with silver leaves and alternating white and gray reindeer is a color scheme that I would also love and would definitely give it more winter vibes. Perhaps I should do that this year! Stay tuned to see it on my Instagram nail account.
--
Don't forget to follow me on Instagram!
For more nail art: https://www.instagram.com/nails_by_aria/
Lifestyle, workout, doggies: https://www.instagram.com/cheriearia/