I've actually had today's mani in mind for a few years now - or some version of it, anyway - but it wasn't until this year that I had the perfect stamping plate to get the job done. As I've mentioned, I've been getting more into layered stamping recently and I've added several Clear Jelly Stamper plates to my collection. As soon as I saw the holly and berries design on the CjS-C33 plate, I knew that I was finally going to get to do this mani and I really, really love the way it turned out!

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I decided to do gel polish for this mani for two reasons. The first was because my hand painting skills are not great and I just find I get much more consistent results with gel polish - and if I mess up, I don't have to start all over. And second because I really wanted to have the jelly sandwich base in white and I don't currently have a white jelly polish in my collection that I felt would work.

I started by applying a peel off base coat, as I always do with gel polish, and then followed with a milky white gel polish and cured. Next, I went in with a white glitter gel topper and applies one coat of that and then cured. Finally, I finished the base with one more coat of the milky white gel and cured one more time. 

To create the angled French tip, I used the Melody Susie Snow White Gel Polish*, which is INDEED a beautiful crisp white, along with their 11mm nail art brush. I started with the outline, carefully dragging the brush along the nail at a diagonal, and then I filled in that area to the tip and cured. A few spots did need a bit more polish, so I added a thin second coat and cured once more.

For the holly and berries stamping, I decided to go with really classic shades of red and green. I started by applying the holly image right along the white tip, though I did try not to be overly precious about placement. Next, I went in with the berries image and applied that on top of the holly. I will say that my placement wasn't entire perfect on that, but I think this particular design really doesn't need to be perfect to look great.

I finished with one layer of gel top coat and cured that for 60 seconds. And voila!

I'm really, really happy with how this mani turned out and I think it's a really great way to take a basic, classic French mani and just add a few little elements to turn it into a holiday design. It also came together INCREDIBLY quickly. Like I know nail art isn't usually a quick and easy process, but because this is done in gel and also quite straightforward, it's actually one of the quickest designs I'll be posting this month!