And, now, for my final Holiday shenanigan, enjoy a chunky, sparkly Santa twist on a French manicure with a bonus accent nail! Accent nails give a uniform, classy manicure a little sass. You’ll rarely see a self-post here that doesn’t include one. Come and get SPARKLY with me!

Supplies You’ll Need:

Base Coat

A Glittery Red Base Polish – I used Orly’s “On The List” (Fitting!)

A Chunky Red Glitter Top Coat – I used Sephora by O.P.I.’s “Be-Claus I Said So” (Also Fitting!)

An Opaque White Polish – I used O.P.I.’s “Alpine Snow” (I swear I didn’t mean it, guys…)

A Midnight Black Polish – I used Essie’s “Licorice”

A Silver Micro-Glitter Polish – I used a Silver Striping Polish (Stripe Rite Brand in Silver from Sally’s)

An Angled Nail Brush

100% Pure Acetone Nail Polish Remover

(Optional) A Rubber Band, Hole Punch Stickers, Tape or whatever cheat you use for French Manicures

(Optional) A Striper Brush (For your silver micro-glitter polish If you don’t have striping polish)

A Medium-Large Dotting Tool

A Piece of Scrap Paper

An Ultra-Shiny Top Coat

How To Achieve The Look:

Base, Base, Base! It’s important to use it as reds normally stain pretty badly. Plus, it’ll help make removal a bit easier since we all know that chunky glitter is the Devil Reincarnate.

Apply two coats of your red base to just your tips on 8 of your fingers, and to one entire nail on each hand. I used my ring finger. Feel free to use whatever cheat you need to acquire a French tip. I prefer to freehand and then clean up edges with my Pure Acetone remover, but I’ve been doing this a long time and have a steady hand. I’ve heard that using Hole Punch Stickers work for a lot of people, and also a thick rubber band held tightly around the nail works too. Whatever floats your boat!

Once your red base is dry, apply a generous chunky red glitter top coat layer over your red base only on all nails. Only one coat is needed if you have a glittery base. Too many layers can make the tips thicker than the rest of your nail which makes dry time ridiculous and also makes chipping your manicure a hell of a lot easier. Clean up any splodgy lines with your Pure Acetone Remover and an angled brush. Don’t worry about straight lines as you’ll be covering up the edges. Let dry completely. Add a thin layer of quick dry top coat if you want to speed things up.

Once dry, place a few drops of white polish on a piece of scrap paper. Dip your dotting tool in the white and apply relatively-close-together dots on the line where your Red varnish ends on each nail. Your dots can be big or small. I prefer larger dots as they require less dotting movement, therefore there’s less room for error. Wait until completely dry and add a generous layer of an ultra-shiny top coat to those 8 nails.

Now, we move onto your Santa accent nails! This is such a fun and easy way to showcase your skills! The best part is that it looks complicated, but it’s really so, so easy to achieve this look since they’re all straight lines! Let me show you how.

Drop a few more drops of white on your piece of scrap paper and use your dotting tool to place a column of white dots down the center of the nail. Let dry somewhat. While you wait, clean up your cuticle area with your angled brush and your Pure Acetone Polish Remover.

Next, place a few drops of black on your piece of scrap paper. Use the same sized dotting tool, dip it into the black, and dot a straight line of dots perpendicular to the white stripe. Then, place two smaller dots in the white dots above the black dots for Santa’s buttons. Let fully dry. While you wait, clean up the sides of your nails with your angled brush and your Pure Acetone Polish Remover.

Lastly, use your silver glitter striping polish or your silver glitter polish and your striping brush to draw a small square where the white and black stripes intersect for Santa’s buckle, and a small line inside the square on one side for the latch. Apply a few coats to make it really pop against all the other colors going on on this nail.

Wait until fully dry and add a generous layer of ultra-shiny tops coat to make all the colors pop. Make sure your polish is fully dry or you’ll smear.

Voila! There you have a super sparkly Santa manicure! I hope everyone enjoys has fun showing off their cute, DIY Santa nails to their friends and family! Leave a comment with your version and let me know how many times your friends and family asked you, “Where did you get those done!!??”

See you all after the Holidays!

XOXOXO – Amanda-Claus