CHRISTMAS NAIL ART | Black & White Holo Snowflake French Mani

by - December 21, 2020


When trying to put together this much nail art, it will surprising no one that walls are hit. Before doing this mani, I was struggling both with inspiration as well as execution - even when I had a great idea, I just couldn't get it to come together on the nails the way it was in my head. And then... I somehow broke through and this became instantly one of my favorite mani's of this entire marathon of Christmas nails. It may be a little less... festive (?) than some of the other offerings, but it also feels the most my style and I just love the way it turned out. (Could I congratulate myself more? Answer: Yes, I've been doing it in real life and I feel no shame.)

Keep reading to see how I did it!


Initially, I was going to do this sort of gradient tip on bare nails, leaving my naked nails to show through at the base but I decided in the end that I wanted more of a milky white sheer there. Of course, because it's firmly stuck in my head at the moment has become of my absolute favorite polishes this holiday season, I reached for OPI Robots Are Forever and applied one coat to all of my nails. I really did want to just have a really sheer, soft base so I didn't build it up any more than that.

For the gradient, I did the same technique I would have done if I were leaving my naked nail. To a makeup sponge, I applied a thin strip of Color Club's Beyond, which is a dark grey/black linear holo, and then used a clear polish on the rest of the sponge to help get the blend that you need for a nice gradient. This is the best technique I've found to get a smooth transition using just one colour for the tip and it worked beautifully here. I did three coats of the sponging to get full coverage and a good blend.


For the stamping, I used the Nicole Diary 120 Stamping Plate, which is literally nothing but snowflakes and basically a must have if you're like me and Christmas Nails are at least 30% snowflake mani's... This plate actually worked really well for this design because I could pick up and transfer multiple snowflakes in one pass, so all I had to do was decide which flakes I wanted and in which color and then place them where I wanted on the nail two at a time. I wanted the placement of the snowflakes to feel sort of random, but actually be really deliberate, so I did this part quite thoughtfully and tried to picture the mani as a whole while I did each nail.

Once I was happy with the placement and density of my snowflakes, I sealed in my stamping with a layer of water based top coat and then finished with a quick dry glossy top coat for shine. And voila!


All Products Used
OPI - Robots Are Forever
Color Club - Beyond
Whats Up Nails - Neither Noir
Whats Up Nails - Blanc My Mind
Suncoat Water Based Top Coat
Quo Flash Dry Top Coat
Pueen Liquid Peel Off Cuticle Guard
Nicole Diary 120 Stamping Plate
Whats Up Nails Magnified Clear Stamper


There's a thing that happens, I've found, where the mani's I'm the most excited about aren't the ones that really hit with people, but I hope this isn't one of those times because I'm actually genuinely really, really proud of this design and I really, really hope that people love it. It's just... so exactly what I wanted it to be and I'm in love.

Head over to Cosmetic Proof and See The World In PINK for more holiday themed nail art for this week's #CBBxManiMonday!

Thanks again so much for reading and be sure to keep coming back for the last few Holiday/Winter themed mani's leading up to Christmas Eve! Also, be sure to follow me at @pblnails to keep up on all of my nail art and to check out my video tutorials of pretty much all of my mani's!


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