I love the Christmas story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. (It’s like the holiday version of The Ugly Duckling.)

When you embrace your imperfections, it can be very empowering. Don’t be afraid of doing something different. If we were all the same and liked the same music, movies, or nail polishes, life would be more boring than reading the telephone book backwards. (Although that might be interesting – I’ve never tried it.)

You may remember that back in 2011, I posted a Reindeer Nail Art Tutorial. In that design, I used heart sequins for Rudolph’s nose, and I made the ‘mistake’ of using a dark background, so the antlers didn’t quite show up as well as I had hoped. Nevertheless, I still very much enjoyed wearing that design.

Now that it’s 2014, I decided to revisit the design again and create Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Nail Art! This time, I opted for all creme nail polishes and a lighter base. (I highly recommend using cremes for everything to help your design stand out. However, it would be really cute if you used a glitter or shimmery red polish for Rudolph’s nose!)

P.S. I’m going to try doing more festive freehand nail designs this month. Not sure how many I can squeeze in before Christmas, but I’ll do my best!

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Swatches

All swatches have:

• OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener
• Base Colour:
  • 2 coats of Hard Candy Record Breaker (blue/aqua)
• Antlers:
  • OPI Going My Way or Norway? (light brown)
• Face:
  • Nicole by OPI That’s Just Plain Nuts! (chocolate brown)
• Eyes:
  • OPI Angel with a Leadfoot (white)
  • OPI Who Are You Calling Bossy?!? (black)
• Nose:
  • Formula X “<3 Rouge” (red)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Note: I purchased the base and top coats. The Formula X nail polish was provided by Sephora as a ‘thank you’ gift when I re-qualified for the VIB Rouge status. All other nail polishes listed in this post were provided by PR.

Flash Photos

Out comes the claw!

Natural Light Photos

*~* Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Nail Art Tutorial *~*

What I Used:

1. Nail-Striping Brush
2. Daniel Stone Art Tool #5
3. OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener (Used as a base coat)
4. Hard Candy Record Breaker
5. Formula X <3 Rouge
6. OPI Angel with a Leadfoot
7. Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
8. OPI Who Are You Calling Bossy?!?
9. Nicole by OPI That’s Just Plain Nuts!
10. OPI Going My Way or Norway?

Step 1: Apply a Base Coat

Step 2: Paint Your Nails the Base Colour

I opted for Hard Candy Record Breaker because these types of shades always look really fresh and clean. Plus I didn’t want a complicated colour that would distract from the reindeer. (I highly recommend that you use a polish with a creme finish for this part.)

Below, I’m wearing 2 coats to get full opacity.

Step 3: Create Antlers

Using your nail-striping brush dipped into a light-brown nail polish, paint a pair of vertical, parallel lines in the middle of each nail. (I used OPI Going My Way or Norway?, which is from the OPI Nordic Collection.)

Then, add little “V”s on each line.

Step 4: Begin Painting Rudolph’s Face

You could use the same colour as the one you used in the previous step, but I wanted the face to have more contrast. I reached for Nicole by OPI That’s Just Plain Nuts!, which is from the Nicole by OPI 2015 Collection.

Step 5: Start the Eyes

Using a dotting tool or the end of a handle of an old makeup brush, add two white dots.

The white nail polish I used was OPI Angel with a Leadfoot, which is from the OPI Ford Mustang Collection.

Step 6: Give Your Reindeer Sight

Using a smaller dotting tool (or the same one, but pressing lighter than before), apply the pupils.

I used OPI Who Are You Calling Bossy?!?, which is from the OPI Peanuts Collection.

Step 7: Give Rudolph the Red Nose That Makes Him Unique

This is the fun part because it makes your reindeer easily recognizable as Rudolph. (You could paint only one red and the rest black. It’s up to you. I loved having many Rudolphs, so I went ahead and painted all the noses red.)

The red I used was Formula X <3 Rouge. It’s my first Formula X nail polish, and I was really impressed with how smooth the formula is. Very nice!

Step 8: Apply a Top Coat

This is really important. Be sure to wait at least 20 minutes before you slap on a top coat. You need the polish to dry a little on its own because if you apply the top coat too soon, you could risk smearing the design. I waited about 45 minutes just to be on the safe side.

Step 9: Remind Yourself That Being Different Isn’t a Bad Thing

What’s your favourite Christmas story? Have you decided what you’ll wear for your Christmas manicure? Are there any holiday nail-art tutorials you’d like to see me do?