Festive Nail Designs for the Holidays

Whitney Swiedler of Dressed Up Nails used poinsettias as her inspiration for this look. After applying a shimmery silver base coat, she drew on the design using a medium-length skinny striper brush, starting with the green leaves, topped with dark red petals. To set a rhinestone in the center of each flower, Sweiedler suggests licking the flat side of an orange stick, using it to pick up a rhinestone, shiny side up, then placing it into the center of the flower while the polish is still wet. SHOP NOW: Shany nail striper brushes, $5 (for three)

Nail artist and manicurist Ginny Greer created this Hanukkah design using a combination of polish and nail decals. Alternating fingers, she used midnight-blue and white polish to create the Stars of David nails, and gold nail stickers for the other digits.SHOP NOW: Gold Nail Stickers by Sephora, $5

To sparkle subtly, try this look by Emily Draher, a.k.a. the Lacquerologist. Between each glitter coat, she suggests wiping as much polish off the brush as possible, so you can build up the desired opacity. To get the glitter out of your brush post-mani, try an all-natural remover to get every last sparkle—without harsh chemicals.SHOP NOW: Priti Soy Nail Polish Remover, $23

Draher says that layering polishes can lead to looks that are even more stunning than any one polish on its own. She opted for Priti NYC's Tuscany Superb and Mulberry Jam to get the color seen here, then used a striping brush loaded with white polish to create the abstract design. From a distance, she says, the swooshes looks like zigzags, but upon closer examination, it becomes evident that they are in fact two halves of a Christmas tree! SHOP NOW: Priti NYC Hollywood Vixen kit, $40 (for four polishes)

Nail artist Maryam Maquillage created this Star of David–inspired design with a combination of nail polish and pens. She started by painting all of the nails white before adding designs. For the tips of the nails and the stars, she used Sinful Colors Nail Art in Lagoon, a polish that comes with a fine brush to create lines.SHOP NOW: Sinful Colors Nail Art in Lagoon, $5

The Daily Polish's Kaitlin Ferland paid homage to Old St. Nick with this Santa-inspired look. She used pink and red to create the designs, then added flocking powder to give the hat a fuzzy, 3-D accent. To create the effect of glistening snow, she suggests topping the white nails with glitter. SHOP NOW: Deborah Lippmann polish in Glitter in the Air, $18

London-based nail art blogger Jenny Pasha used rhinestones to mimic menorah flames, and then adorned her thumbs with Hebrew letters. She suggests starting with designs on each thumb, and then adding one nail on each day of Hanukah until you have a full set!SHOP NOW: Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen, $5

For this design, artist Diana Garcia suggests using a cosmetic sponge achieve the subtle blue-and-white wintery background for this design. The pine trees are the trickiest part to draw by hand, she says, so she suggests using a very narrow striping brush to swipe on the thinnest layer of the polish possible—or, even easier, try decals!SHOP NOW: La Demoiselle Christmas Nail Decals, $7

To create this snowflake effect Get Nailed's Chelsea King applied NCLA's Call Me for the After Party as the base color. With a steady hand, she then used a nail art brush to carefully paint on each flake. SHOP NOW: Cheeky Rhinestones, $5

Canadian nail artist Winnie Huang used a thin nail art brush to hand-draw the menorah, the adorable dancing dreidel, and the Star of David in this elaborate design. She created the gradient-blue effect with a sponge, then drew on the gold lines with her detailing brush. (Check out this video for her step-by-step tutorial.)SHOP NOW: Topshop Nail Art Pen, $12

Celebrity nail designer Patricia Yankee created this peppermint-candy design by starting with an opaque white polish. Using a liner brush, she created the swirls by starting at the center of each nail and painted out to the cuticle. A helpful tip: Use nail-polish remover to clean the brush between swirls. SHOP NOW: Essie polish in Blanc, $5

Brooklyn-based nail artist Melissa Felderman created this design using blue polish and a silver nail art pen. She suggests painting two coats of blue polish and waiting for them to dry completely before applying the silver chevrons and Stars of David. Once you've painted on the designs, she says to finish with a shiny, durable top coat.SHOP NOW: OPI Blue My Mind, $6

Sophie Harris-Greenslade, the U.K. artist behind mani blog the Illustrated Nail created the gingerbread-house-inspired snow designs seen on the thumbs by paining the nails with a brown shimmer polish. Then, she used a white French-tip manicure pen to add the snow, and a green nail-art pen to draw holly leaves on either side of the red, poinsettia-inspired gemstones.SHOP NOW: Sally Hansen French Manicure Pen, $2

Ring in 2013 with this neon design by Stephanie Berry of Haus of Lacquer in Vancouver, B.C. She used a small, thin brush and acrylic paints to create the lettering, confetti and swirls. Take your time, she suggests, with the small details and remember to wash your brush between colors. SHOP NOW: Oumaxi Acrylic Nail Paint, $23 for a set of 12

This shimmering design by Chelsea King uses two colors: Essie Licorice as the base and Sephora by OPI Only Gold For Me Top Coat for the glitter. To apply the glitter, King put some polish on a piece of foil and used a toothpick to press each piece of gold on individually. SHOP NOW: Sephora by OPI Only Gold For Me Top Coat, $10