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Style > Beauty

6 Tips for Perfect Holiday Nails

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UFL chapter.

Even though we are in a pandemic, that doesn’t mean that we can’t still have fun during the holidays! If you love the winter holidays, get excited. They’re coming up very soon.

There are many ways that you can express how much you love the holidays. You can decorate your room or home, but you can also show just how much you love the holiday season through beauty and fashion! Expressing yourself through fashion is such a fun thing to do, especially during the holidays because there are so many fun colors and designs to work with. You can do this by creating holiday-themed looks for your nails! This is also a perfect time to learn how to do some nail looks at home because most of us will be cozied up in our homes during the holidays due to the pandemic. 

Holiday colors

If you want a simpler vibe for your holiday-themed nails, you can always just use holiday colors. You can choose from all the holiday colors, such as red, green, blue, white, or even gold and silver. Once you paint your nails with these colors, you’ll have simple, but super cute holiday nails! If you want to spice it up a little bit you can use multiple colors or do a fun nail shape. (P.S.: almond-shaped nails are very trendy right now.) 

Add some glitter

Glitter is fun year-round, but it is especially perfect for the holiday season. So, why not add some glitter on your nails to make you feel more festive! All you have to do is buy glitter nail polish in holiday colors or get a glitter topcoat. Then you’ll be good to go! If you want to have more detailed nails, you can add a holiday-themed design on top of the glitter.

Glitter Top Coat Nail Polish ($10 at Amazon) 

Present designs

One of the most fun things about the holidays is being able to exchange gifts with friends and family. You can also show your love for this holiday tradition by creating a present design on your nails! For people that have never done a nail design before, don’t worry, because this nail look isn’t as hard as you may think. All you need is a base coat (can be any holiday-color or even glitter holiday-color) and nail polish. Liner brushes are also specifically useful for nail art. The nail polish for your nail art should have a small and thin brush to make it easier for you to create designs. You can also use a liner brush with regular nail polish to create the look. Once you paint your nails with the base color you can make a presents design on your nails by drawing bows. 

Nail Art Set ($25 at Amazon)

Professional Nail Art Liner Brush ($6.99 at Amazon)

Candy cane designs

Another signature holiday item is candy canes. So, if you love candy canes, incorporate them into your nail look for the holidays! You will need red nail polish for your base and nail art polish or a liner brush (the same as what you would use for the presents nail design). There are two options for creating candy cane nails. 

The easier option is to paint your nails red then draw stripes in white on top of the base coat. If you want to go for a more advanced nail design with candy canes you can paint your nails in red, then draw on actual candy canes in white onto your nails. Either way, this look will definitely get you in the mood for the holidays!

Snowflake designs

With the start of the winter and holiday season comes very cold weather for a lot of us. This means that we could start seeing snow and snowflakes! This is a great design to represent the holidays that you can do on your nails. You will need a holiday-colored base coat, such as red or blue (with glitter if you’d like) and nail art tools again. To create snowflakes, use nail art tools, such as a liner brush with white nail polish, to draw on snowflakes and polka dots (to represent snow) on top of your base coat. 

Advanced designs: Santa, reindeers, elves, a menorah, etc.  

If you want to get really creative, you can add some intense designs to your holiday nail look. For example, you could draw on Santa, reindeers, elves, a menorah, etc.

Have a base coat ready to paint your nails like with the other designs. Then, you will need nail art polish in several different colors, such as red, white, brown or green, or a liner brush with regular nail polish in these colors. To make it a little easier for you to draw these designs on top of your nails, you can also purchase a dotting pen, which will allow you to make perfect dots on your nails for the designs. 

Nail Art Dotting Pen Kit ($3.99 at Amazon)               

If you try out these nail designs, you will definitely find the best nail look for the holidays. I hope this also helps you get festive this season and in the mood for the holidays even during the pandemic!  

Ashlyn received a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Florida in 2021.