When I sit down to think of inspiration for these types of themed nail art marathons that I do for Halloween and Christmas every year, I definitely look through a lot of different sources to try and spark creativity. One of those sources is my own previous work, where I feel like I can find new ways to use old ideas, if that makes sense at all outside of my head. For today's mani, I took inspiration from this mani I posted a couple of months ago and I did a pretty direct recreation of it, changing up the color scheme and some other details to bring in the holiday vibe and make it it's own thing. 

Keep reading for more!

I knew going into this design that it was really going to live and die on the colors that I chose, so I was really mindful about this decisions. Ultimately, I knew I wanted to keep it really classically Christmas-y as far as the colors I chose so that there was no question that it was intended to be a holiday mani. I started with my absolute favorite white polish in my collection - Jen & Berries' Snowfall In Sunnydale, which is a white crelly packed full of white and holographic flakes that is just absolutely dreamy. To go along with that base, I chose a rich, classic red, a deep cool toned green, a metallic gold, and finally a sort of shattered white top coat that is intended to give the look of snow. 

To start this mani, I went in with two coats of Snowfall In Sunnydale to all of my nails and let those dry down before I moved on to the nail art. 

Now, for the nail art, there are two distinctly different designs in this mani. The first is the drybrushed nails, which are on my first and middle fingers. This is a super easy technique that I think ends up being really impactful in this context. I decided to alternate both the placement (at the base on my first finger and at the tip on my middle) as well as the order of the polishes, both of which I think bring visual interest to the design. I also went in and added some of the shattered white topper over the red swipe to add a little bit more interest and cohesion.

For the color blocked nails with the stamping, I decided to use this really simple stamping image that is basically a fairly heavy stripe with snowflakes along the one side of it because I knew it would work perfectly with the color block design. I started by applying the block of color straight from the polish bottle, doing my best to keep my line fairly straight but not being too precious about it. Next, I went in with the speckled topper and applied one coat of that directly over the colorblock. Finally, once the polishes were dry, I went in with my stamping and did my best to apply the image straight across the nail to reinforce that crisp color block, directing the snowflakes over the white part of the nail design. 

Finally, once I was happy with the designs, I sealed everything in with a layer of nail art top coat and then followed with a generous layer of glossy top coat for shine and volume. And voila!

I feel like you could do pretty much any abstract design with this color palette - the white, classic red, rich green, and metallic gold - and your mani is going to give Christmas-y vibes, but I'm still really in love with how this one turned out. I also think this is a great option to recreate at home, especially if you want to leave out the stamping (if you're not into that kind of thing.) This one has a lot of impact and doesn't require a ton of experience to get done.

If you want to see how I did this, be sure to head over to @pblnails on Instagram to check out the video tutorial for the drybrush nail and you can scroll down to the mani that inspired this one for a tutorial on the color blocking. Also, be sure to follow me there to keep up on all my nails, including new holiday nail designs every day up until Christmas Eve! 

Thanks for reading!