How to create cheerful Christmas poinsettia nails

Few flowers signal a season as fully as poinsettias. Their bright red blooms are a welcome sight when the whole world seems to be smothered in snow. The flowers are too pretty to leave in one place, so why not add them to a holiday manicure?

While the finished design looks intimidating, the tutorial shows how each flower is formed step by step. The flowers have either five or six petals, and the two-tone leaves give the design extra dimension. Red and green sprigs of holly berries make the look pop and bring this Christmas bouquet to life.

Materials
- White gel nail polish
- UV or LED lamp (not shown)
- Red gel nail paint
- Fine detail nail art brush
- Pale green gel nail paint
- Dark green gel nail paint
- Dotting tool
- Yellow gel nail paint

Instructions
1. Apply two coats of white gel nail polish to the nails and cure them in between coats with the UV or LED lamp.

2. Using red gel paint and the fine detail brush, paint the outline of a flower on each nail, then fill the design in completely and cure with the lamp. Tip: Depending on the length of your nails, paint partial flowers at the cuticle's edge as well.

3. Add two or three pale green leaves between the red petals and cure the paint once more with the lamp.

4. Using dark green nail paint, add a stem and some leaf veins to give the design more dimension. Cure the paint with the lamp.

5. Add some red berries to each leaf stalk by dipping the small end of a dotting tool into a dot of red paint, then cure the nails with the lamp.

6. Draw dark leaf veins on each pale green leaf, then add several small yellow dots to the center of each red flower. Cure with the lamp to set the design.