Turn Your Red Nail Polish Into Festive Candy Cane Nail Art

A simple way to deck out your nails for the holidays is with a quintessential Christmas element: candy canes! You don't need a steady hand to pull off this striped look. All you need are red and white nail polishes and a roll of tape. Just keep reading for a step-by-step tutorial.

Step 1: The first step starts with an opaque white polish — I used Chanel's Eastern Light, but Essie Blanc ($9) works just as well. After my base coat, I applied two thin layers to prevent streaking.

Step 2: While my white base was drying, I cut strips of tape that I used to create my candy cane stripes. You want varying widths of skinny strips. The most efficient way I found to do this was to rip between one- and two-inch pieces of tape, put them on top of my nail polish bottle, and then cut the skinny strips. I recommend waiting at least 30 minutes for the white base to dry, because you'll be applying (and removing!) tape from the white polish.

Step 3: Once the white base is set, cut off the skinny tape strips, and apply them diagonally across your nails.

Step 4: Next, you'll paint over the tape with a festive red polish. I used Butter London Knees Up ($15) because its rich metallic hue was the perfect complement to the creamy white base. While the red lacquer is still wet, gently rip off each strip of tape to reveal your candy cane stripes. Repeat this step on the rest of your fingers.