Rookie

When I tell people that I’ve seen snow only once in my life, and that it was man-made, they give me a look. It’s the kind of look you give when you see someone or something that you can’t help but feel sweet sorrow for, like a puppy with a cast on his leg. It’s not my fault that I grew up in sunny Los Angeles, people! HAVE MERCY ON MY SOUL! Anyway, since it might be a while before I get to see a real snowflake fall before my very eyes, I will have to settle for painting them on my fingernails. Care to join me? I put a nice big pot of hot cocoa on the stove just for you.

You’ll need:

• Your favorite baby-blue nail polish. It can be matte or shiny, whatever you prefer. I used a shimmery shade from Milani called Beach Front.
• Silver nail polish, glittered or otherwise. I used Milani’s Silver Stiletto and Essie’s Lux Effects Stroke of Brilliance (a blue glitter).
• A fine-tipped brush or bobby pin
• White nail polish, preferably one that comes with a brush. My favorite is Milani’s Nail Art With Precision Brush in White Canvas.
• A clear top coat. I used Seche Vite.

1. Cue up Elvis’s “Blue Christmas” on your parents’ record player. Or YouTube will do just fine. Then paint your nails with the blue polish of your choice.

2. Using your nail-art brush, draw asterisks with the white polish. These are your snowflakes. Take your time with this and try to keep your hand steady. Depending on the length of your nails, you can do either one or two snowflakes.

3. Using a fine-tipped brush or bobby pin, make dots both around and within the snowflakes with the white and silver polish. The Essie glitter I used looked sort of like rhinestones, which was COOL (no pun intended):

4. After completing your dots, finish up with a thin top coat. Now, regardless of whether the weather outside is frightful, your nails will look delightful!