Candy Cane Nails
Candy cane nails! That’s today’s requested post; and I have two more holiday themed nail art tutorials set for tomorrow and the day after.
To start off this look, paint your full nails with any white nail polish. I used two coats of Sally Hansen’s “All the White Stuff.”
All this nail design requires is some red acrylic paint and a liner/striper brush. You can buy a “striper brush” at a nail art shop, or a “riggers paintbrush” and an art/craft store. They are the same thing.
Dip your liner brush into your red acrylic paint and drag out a thin stripe across your nail. Making stripes with a liner brush is easy, because the long bristles naturally drag out a straight line if you pull the brush against a surface. “Drawing” a straight line with a short paintbrush is much more difficult.
This is how acrylic paint can sometimes look over nail polish, but don’t worry. A clear topcoat as our final step will bring paint and polish to the same level and you won’t notice this bubbled-up look at the end.
Repeat the stripe-step two more times to make three thin lines across the center of your nail.
Color in a thick red stripe across the corner of your nail. It needs to be thicker than your first three lines because…
The biggest mistake I see with the candy cane nail look, is a “red/white/red/white” alternating stripe pattern, all stripe sections being the same width. If you look at a traditional candy cane though, that’s not what they actually look like. Real candy canes have a three-thin-stripe in between thick-red-stripes pattern.
Repeat the last step on the opposite corner of your nail. Also, this gemstone step is not necessary, but I attached a one to the tip of the nail for added sparkle.
Very important - coat your entire nail with a clear topcoat. This will even everything out, protect your acrylic paint work and keep your gemstone from falling off. Now your nail design is smooth and shiny just like a real candy cane. :)
I realize this is a very labor-intensive nail design. If I were going to wear this look, I’d wear it on my index/ring fingers only, keeping the rest of my nails in simple white or red nail polish. People will notice your cute candy cane nails without you having to paint all ten, and a little holiday cuteness tends to go a long way.
























