The Best Christmas Nail Art From Instagram

By Hannah Morrill, Allure

   

With due respect to Rudolph, on-the-nose nail art isn't usually our thing. But each year, Christmas nail art suddenly feels very, very appealing just about this time in the season. (We're blaming Mariah Carey, the supermoon, and the strongly spiked eggnog.) Of course, there are a few directions Christmas nail art could take you. Some editors have a standing manicure appointment to get their tips shellacked with our Best of Beauty-winning perfect red polish, Chanel's Longwear Nail Colour in Gitane. (The teensiest hint of orange in the otherwise cherry formula makes it sing against pretty much every skin tone.) There are others among us who deign to dabble with Christmas nail art, but only of the most minimal variety, like say the gilded cuticle jewelry we saw at Rodarte's spring 2017 show, or the gold-to-maroon shimmery ombre at Michael Costello.

[post_ads]And there's the final—and most festive—option. That is, embracing all things merry and bright on your fingertips for the season. To do so, we turned to the most talented manicurists working today, scrolling back through their feeds to dig up the most sensational creations. Some looked to jolly old Saint Nicholas, only evoking him with cherry red, winter white, and a few well-placed sequins—not a scratchy faux beard and a plate of cookies. Others just used the colors of the season in the most delicate way possible. And if you don't want to be subtle about things, there's a few options in here that would make your inner five-year-old swoon with holiday delight. It's the most wonderful time of the year—and these manicures can help you celebrate in style.

Minimalist Santa

  

A post shared by Jessica Washick (@jessicawashick) on Dec 23, 2015 at 9:16am PST

"The most important part of this look is getting the right red," says manicurist Jessica Washick. (As mentioned above, our Best of Beauty pick this year was Chanel Longwear Nail Colour in Gitane.) Washick tipped the perfect cherry with white, then painted the moons black. "You could definitely stop there, but to add that extra Santa touch, I glued gold Swarovski crystals to the base," she says.

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Gilded Negative Space

A post shared by Alicia Torello (@aliciatnails) on Oct 18, 2016 at 3:57pm PDT

Working with a striping brush and a mellow gold polish like Essie nail polish in Good as Gold,
manicurist Alicia Torello drew straight lines from the center of the cuticle to the edge of the nail on either side. She then drew from the middle of the tip of the nail to the edge on either side before filling in the lines.

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Festive Stripes

A post shared by Naomi Yasuda (@naominailsnyc) on Jan 20, 2016 at 10:42am PST

Holly Jolly Mani

  

A post shared by Frances Liang (@purplenailbox) on Dec 9, 2015 at 6:43pm PST

Manicurist Frances Liang started with two coats of a soft-white polish on just the ring fingers, painting a deep green like RGB nail polish in Tropic on the rest of the nail beds. With a striping brush and that very same shade, she painted the tiny holly leaves on one ring finger. The glitter gradient you see on the green nails was courtesy of Essie Set in Stones, which she painted starting halfway down the nail beds and stroking toward the cuticles. "The trick is getting as much clear polish off the glittery brush before applying it to the nails," she says. A glinty silver like Nars Amarapura works for the ribbons and bows; Nars Dovima is a great true red for the candy canes, which Liang created by drawing two crisscrossing J's with a striper brush and topping them off with silver swirls.
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Candy Cane Cool"Candy cane nails have been done, so I wanted to use colors that were less sweet," says Washick. The evergreen, snow, and crimson diagonal pattern was topped with a matte top coat like

Essie Matte About You Matte Finisher. Then the manicurist finished with skinny flicks of gold polish. "The matte and metallic really elevate the effect," she says.

 
Winter Wonderland

A post shared by Jessica Washick (@jessicawashick) on Dec 3, 2015 at 1:40pm PST

    
More holiday beauty ideas for the season:

• Candy Cane Eyeliner Takes Holiday Makeup Up a Notch
• 19 Holiday Hair Ideas For Every Type of Festivity
• The ColourPop Holiday Collection Launches Today