Holy Grail Nails: How-To: Festive Art Deco Holly Nails

Hello! Now that Christmas is in a mere two days, I couldn't not decorate my nails appropriately. Yes, this look calls for deep greens and reds and glitter, but I tried to keep it Christmas classy with streamlined, art deco lines. So without further ado, here's my take on festive holly berry nail art:

Step 1.) Apply a base coat and paint your nails one coat of a sheer pink polish- this will get rid of any slight discoloration on the nail.

* The green on the edges of my nail isn't staining- I had this design on yesterday but didn't take very good pictures, so I re-shot the tutorial on this finger after lazily removing the green tips.

Step 2.) Create the design

Row 1: Allow the sheer polish to dry, and then plot out the shape of the green tips with three small dots. The center dot should be placed in the center of the nail, just above the smile line. The two outer dots should be placed halfway down the nail on either side.

Row 2: Connect the dots with one careful swipe of a dark green polish. If you have trouble creating straight lines, rotate your nail to guide the brush instead of keeping your nail still and relying on your hand. Repeat this process on the other side, and apply another coat of polish to make the green more opaque.

Row 3: With a glittery silver striper, follow the triangular shape you just made. This outline will help cover up any mistakes, as glitter polish is very forgiving. Next, use a medium sized dotting tool dipped into glittery red polish to create three berries. Try to keep them uniform in size, but it won't ruin the look if one is smaller or larger than the others.

Step 3.) Wait a good 25 minutes before applying a topcoat- glitter polish has a tendency to smear. Clean up around the edges if necessary, and the design is complete!