O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree

This is quite possibly my most favorite holiday nail art of all time.

To start, I gathered all the polishes I needed - Use whatever colors you like. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures or make mental notes of the exact names of what I used. Basically, I used a white (from Sally Hansen), red (ORLY Monroe's Red), black (striping polish), green (Funky Fingers Blitzen), gold (Milani holographic), silver (Milani holographic), blue (from Funky Fingers), and a brown (OPI You Don't Know Jacques).

I started out with my usual base coat of Sally Hansen's Insta-Grip. I applied two coats of white polish, and put a fast-drying top coat on the top.

Next, I took the black striping polish and made some wavy lines across my nails. Try to make it look like the line goes across all the nails. Add some lightbulb-looking shapes on each of the nails. I did two to three lightbulbs in different colors.
After I took care of the string of lights, I went to work on the thumbnails. I used the green polish and a fine-tipped brush to make a Christmas tree shape. Then, I took the gold polish to make a star, red polish for ornaments, and brown polish for a trunk. Here's the end result:
And here is the completed look! I've been getting a lot of compliments on it. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I love the holiday season, for reals. I could go on and on about why I love it, but I'm sure you all would rather not read my nostalgic musings about hot cocoa, snow, and Christmas movies.

One thing I adore about the winter, though, is the excuse to wear glitter nail polish. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I feel like I can only get away with straight-up glitter in the winter. Maybe it's the frigid sunbeams glinting off the snow? I don't know, and I don't care. I love me some glitter.

Here is a nail design I did that involves my love of glitter and all things holiday. The first step is to apply a base coat. I used Sally Hansen's Insta-Grip Fast Dry Base Coat. Once that dried, I painted on Funky Fingers polish in Wonderland. I could have gotten away with three coats for full opacity, but I put on a fourth coat, just for good measure.

I applied Poshe's quick-dry top coat, and once that was dry (about 5 to 10 minutes), I started my design. I kept the design to just the ring fingers and thumbs, because I feel that it's more unexpected. I like having the design on my ring fingers because, as a somewhat-newly engaged gal I'm always flashing the bling. I thought I'd change things up and put the design on my thumbs, too, because I can stare at it while I text/Tweet/Facebook/whatever. Feel free to put the design on all (or some) of your nails -- it's up to you!

To start, take a dark green polish (I used a couple of coats of Funky Fingers polish in Blitzen, because it was the only green I had) and a fine-tipped paintbrush. Use the brush to paint two holly leaves on your nail, making sure that the base of the leaves meet.

One you've done that, take another fine-tipped paintbrush or a dotting tool, and apply one dot of red nail polish to the join of the holly leaves. I used ORLY's Monroe's Red.

Apply a top coat, and you're done!

...Unless you're like me, and studying for finals, and want an excuse for a longer study break. If that's the case, you can do what I did. Use Milani's holographic polish in 3D and another fine-tipped brush to paint a bell on your thumbnails. Outline the bell with a black striper to ensure that the gold stands out against the silver.

NOW, you're finished!