The holidays are fast approaching and I have found so many beautiful Christmas nails that you could paint them differently every day from Thanksgiving until Christmas Day and still have a few ideas left over! Whether you are new to adding cute embellishments to your nail polish, looking for ideas to take to your manicurist, or a DIY nail pro, you’ll love what I have in store for you in this post.
(THIS POST PROBABLY CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. OUR FULL DISCLOSURE POLICY IS REALLY BORING, BUT YOU CAN FIND ITHERE.)
You Should Try Christmas Nails This Winter
The weather is getting cold (quickly where I am), the holidays have begun, and everything sparkly and bright is right around the corner.
Christmas is such a fun time of year. You of course decorate your house and make it festive and bright, but do you always decorate yourself? From ugly sweaters to Christmas leggings, there are so many fun ways you can dress yourself up for the holiday too.
But the best way to really make a classy statement is by flashing some beautiful Christmas nails.
What Level of Nail Art Are These Christmas Nail Designs?
This post is for everyone. I’m not gonna lie, a lot of these nail art ideas are very detailed and impressive, perfect to take with you to a salon and show a pro what you’re looking for.
But I was also sure to include all kinds of intermediate and even easy Christmas nail design ideas too. You can take an idea directly from these examples or mix and match a few of your favorite ones.
One trend I’ve noticed is pretty big with holiday nails this year is mix-and-matching different designs on each nail that all look good together. For example one white glittery nail, one candy cane nail, one flannel nail, one red glittery nail, and the last a Santa nail.
As long as all your nails look nice together, you will have a beautiful holiday set. Also, if doing them at home do NOT forget clear lacquer as your last step. That will make the difference between a few days of cute nails and a few hours.
45 Festive and Fun Christmas Nails to Try
Blues and Whites
By using a variety of soft blue colors, whites, silvers, and some simple snowflake designs, you can have stunning winter nails in a snap.
Bright Blue and Snowflakes
For a simple nail design pick your favorite shade of blue and paint little snowflakes all over it. If the snowflakes are a bit too tough you can get snowflake decals to apply instead and then lacquer over them as well.
Red French Tips with Snow
Your snowflakes don’t have to be as complicated as the ones above. You can simply add tiny white speckles all over your nails to give the appearance of freshly fallen snow and they will still turn out impressive.
Blue Icicles
Instead of snowflakes, why not try icicles? This simple design can be completed by anyone, even a novice with their non-dominant hand (with a little practice). An icicle can be completed by starting with a white dot near the cuticle of your nail and then dragging the paint downward with either a fine-tipped paintbrush or a toothpick.
You can give off Christmas sweater vibes with your nails by making a simple repetitive design like these stripes and snowflakes over red.
Gingerbread Men
From @nailhustle
Christmas nails don’t have to all be red and green. That’s why I love these gingerbread man-inspired nails. Using only brown, white, and gold and a little time for details, you too can have cute gingerbread men dancing across your fingernails.
Fa La La La La
From @nailhustle
This Christmas nail design is REALLY easy and you can pull it off at home for sure using either a fine-tip paintbrush or even a toothpick to add on festive lettering and dots.
Reindeer, Lights, and Pink
From @nailhustle
You can make any color that you want be a part of your Christmas nail design. Just be sure to add on paintings of holiday designs and you can make pink, purple, or even teal nails work to go with any outfit.
Gold Christmas Designs
From @nailhustle
Are you one of those gals who loves to decorate with silver and gold for Christmas? Then these are the nails for you! Gold sparkles and shines and always looks festive, even when it is golden gingerbread men.
Tiny Embellishments with Glitter
From @nailhustle
Choose a different small design for each fingernail that fits the holiday season. Gingerbread men, candy canes, holly, presents, a Christmas tree, a star, or a snowflake are just some ideas to get you started. Don’t forget to outline in glitter!
Christmas Balls
From @nailhustle
Your entire nail doesn’t have to be a bright color like red to make a statement with your Christmas nail designs. Try a neutral background color with detailed Christmas balls on top.
Red Glitter and Pine Boughs
From @nailhustle
These Christmas nails feature pine boughs going down the length of two nails while the rest feature red glittery nails. You can either use a polish that is red and glittery to begin with or paint a bright red with a glittering red as the lacquer. Glitter nail polishes make fantastic lacquer and look very festive.
Mix n’ Match Red and Green
From @nailhustle
I love how these nails look with an opalescent white in the background. This is another example that is big this year, featuring a different design on each nail.
White Sweater with Holly Berries
From @nailedbyrebeka
One really impressive nail design idea that is perfect for the holiday season is embossed nails. You can emboss any design but when you emboss a pattern on a plain color it looks just like a sweater! If that’s a new technique for you check out this video explaining how to do embossed sweater nails. Add tiny holly berries and leaves for this bright nail design.
Mix and Match Christmas Cheer
From @nailedbyrebeka
Now that you know about the Christmas sweater nails you can use them in your next mix-and-match design. Another advantage to switching up your Christmas design on each nail is that they will go with far more outfits. This nail design features candy canes, flannel, snowflakes, and a sweater nail.
Reds, Greens, and Trees
From @nailedbyrebeka
This simple design uses the classic Christmas colors of red, green, and white to bring the holiday right to your nails. This design is clean and simple and one that even a beginner can do at home. If you are having trouble creating straight lines in your nail designs I’ve got a trick for you. Wait until the base layer is completely dry then add painter’s tape and paint along that. Make sure each line is dry before you add another piece.
Mixed Mini Christmas Nail Designs
From @nailedbyrebeka
If you are good at painting really small you can add multiple designs to each nail like you can see here. When adding a lot of details to your nails keep the base color neutral.
Blue and Green Mixed Christmas
From @nailedbyrebeka
I love that this beautiful Christmas nail design idea breaks free from the typical color scheme. A matte navy blue and forest green pair perfectly to bring this mix of festive nails.
Solids, Sparkles, and More
From @nailedbyrebeka
Using soft pink, glittery gold, and some fine detailing, you can make this awesome nail design at home.
Red and Christmas Trees
From @nailedbyrebeka
Try painting each hand completely differently for a new mix-and-match idea. This actually looks pretty cool and is perfect for if you aren’t any good at painting details left-handed!
Christmas Colorblock
From @nail_gal_
You can try to freehand a design like this or use painter’s tape down the middle to complete each side of the nail separately. For a simple design, this Christmas color block sure looks impressive!
Easy Holly Berries
From @nail_gal_
By making bigger leaves than we’ve seen in the designs before this, it is easier to recreate a holly leaf. This simple design is meant to be impressive but not perfect, something easy but beautiful.
Classy Holiday French Tips
From @nail_gal_
How gorgeous are these crisscross French tips with glitter?! If you could get them to last these nails would look stunning from Christmas right through New Year’s Eve!
Sparkling Red
From @nail_gal_
This impressive design is much more simple than it seems. Begin with a vibrant red base layer and then use either a fine tipped paintbrush or toothpick to create white dots. Turn the larger dots in Christmas stars by touching the center of the dot and dragging a bit of the paint out in each direction.
Christmas Wreaths
From @nail_gal_
Pair red French tips with simple Christmas wreath designs on a neutral background for beautiful Christmas nails this year.
Sparkling Santa Hats
From @nail_gal_
This is a very popular Christmas nail design and pretty simple to pull off. Begin with glittering red French tips. Add a white fluffy trim to the French tips of the ring fingers. Once those are dry, paint the dangling down Santa hat and puffy ball on the end.
Christmas Plaid
From @Pastelpolished
You can create plaid nails in any color for a perfect winter design. You can make them match your outfit, or just create a design that you like.
Green Tips with Snowflakes
From @Pastelpolished
If you don’t want little Christmas designs like gingerbread men and wreaths on your nails, you can still make beautiful holiday nails with Christmas colors. Like these green French tips topped with a coat of fine glitter.
Red Tips with Rhinestones
From @Pastelpolished
Here is another example of Christmas nails featuring only holiday colors. Red French tips with white rhinestones look classy and merry.
Starry Christmas Night
From @Pastelpolished
With how dark the days and how long the nights are near Christmas, starry night nails make a perfect winter nail design idea.
Green Holiday Plaid
From @Pastelpolished
Much like the red plaid nails featured above, check out these muted green holiday plaid nails for more inspiration.
Fancy Sparkly Gold Tips
From @jennireevenails
You can take so many twists on a French manicure to make it suit the holiday. Use a color for the tip, use two colors for the tips, or wrap the tips around the sides like this golden design.
Purple with Snowflakes
From @jennireevenails
Here is another great example of turning a beautiful nail in your favorite color into a Christmas nail design by adding a simple snowflake on top. This looks great on any colored nail.
Mixed Green Festive Designs
From @jennireevenails
Pick your favorite color and mix and match holiday nail designs that all complement each other for a stunning look.
Santa Hat Tips
From @jennireevenails
Here is another twist on the Santa hat French manicure. Featuring a gloss red instead of glitter and some candy cane embellishments as well.
Reindeer and More
From @jennireevenails
Here is a really easy way to create a cute reindeer face. Just make dots for the nose and eyes and then the hardest part is the antlers which are only a few lines.
Candy Cane and Lights
From @jennireevenails
Some people like to decorate with red and green for Christmas, others prefer gold and silver, and some love using bright rainbow colors. These nails are perfect for lovers of all things merry and bright.
Christmas Waves
From @jennireevenails
With a little patience and a steady hand, you can create swirly beautiful Christmas nails like this.
Mixed Red and White Festive Designs
From @jennireevenails
Here is another cute mix-match of nail designs that all complement each other.
Frenchies with Snowflakes
From @Lillypalm_
If you don’t want a bright color featuring a snowflake, you can add a design like a snowflake on a clean fresh French manicure too.
Gingerbread French Tips
From @Lillypalm_
Interchange brown and white French tips with little gingerbread men on them for a creative vibe.
French Manicure with Holly
From @Lillypalm_
French tips and holly leaves and berries are simple and classy.
Red Glitter with Christmas Stripes
From @Lillypalm_
If doing a different design on each nail is a bit much for your liking then try interchanging two of your favorite Christmas nail ideas like these red glitter and candy cane ones.
Snowflakes and Red French Tips
From @Lillypalm_
You can also blend together some nails having French tips in various holiday colors and some with holiday designs.
