2023 New Year’s Eve Nail Art Inspiration

Chrome Winter Night Sky

To create a festive manicure for the holiday season, start by applying a base coat. Next, use a chrome powder to create a silver ombré effect on the nails. Add some hand-painted white stars or nail stickers for a final touch. Finish the look with a shiny top coat. This nail design is perfect for Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and beyond.

Dripping in Gold

Nail artist Mimi D, based in Los Angeles, has designed a New Year’s look that is perfect for the holiday season. The translucent base allows the nail design to blend in with any sparkly eye makeup you may be wearing on New Year’s Eve. Additionally, this look can easily be maintained into the new year without anyone noticing. To recreate this look at home, simply apply a clear base coat and your preferred shade of glitter polish (such as Essie Rock at the Top).

Aura Gold Stars

If you’re looking for a non-traditional manicure for New Year’s Eve, you might want to consider an aura manicure, which was created by Michelle Won. This type of manicure is designed to showcase the energy and vibrancy that you want to radiate in the new year, and it often features colorful gems and dainty gold stars. This particular aura manicure exemplifies the trend’s popularity with its vibrant colors and sparkling accents.

Deck the Halls

Go to the salon to get this festive hairstyle before Christmas and keep it until the New Year. The gold half-moons and classic crystals are actually hanging Christmas ornaments, added with a thin gold line by Audrey Faith. The base coat is Gel Bottle Inc in Diana, and decals were used to create the textured design.

Cobalt Iridescence

Consider starting the new year with cobalt blue nail polish – it’s the shade of the year! For a sparkling effect, add some iridescent foil underneath. If you want a professional finish, it’s best to visit a nail salon. If you’d rather do it yourself, use a holographic or iridescent foil, a bright blue nail polish (such as Essie Butler Please), and a small nail art brush to create intricate designs.

Dipped In Gold 

We are always fans of French manicures and this set from the Vanity Projects nail salon in Miami is no exception. The gold-dipped look is exactly the type of energy we want to carry into the new year of 2023.

Great Gatsby Gold

To create a classic, elegant look with matte black and gold nails at home, you can use striping tape, which can be purchased from Amazon or a craft store. First, apply a gold shade to your nails and allow it to dry completely. Then, place the striping tape on your nails where you want the gold color to show through the black polish. Finally, apply the black polish over the striping tape. Wait for the polish to dry, then carefully remove the tape to reveal the black and gold design.

Pink Golden Glaze

Here is a revised version of the text:

“If you appreciate minimalistic style, you’ll love this elegant manicure. It features a subtle, gold chrome finish that you can request from your nail technician. Paired with almond-shaped nails, this look is sure to be a hit and will last throughout the month of January.”

Hypnotic Swirls

“We are completely mesmerized by the swirl design created by Hard As Nails Studio. With a manicure like this, you will surely impress all of your friends at your next party by using your phone’s flash to show off the dazzling shimmer of your nails.”

“Opal Stilettos with a Snowy finish

Enhance your glazed donut nail design by opting for a dramatic stiletto shape and an opal-toned iridescent finish. For a manicure similar to Sadie Jordan’s, consider booking an appointment with a professional who can expertly create the desired extensions.

“Observing celestial objects”

This Jaz manicure featuring starry details is suitable for the holiday season and the first week of January. It is also a great choice for those who enjoy darker polish shades.

Starry Night

This high-shine starry nail look by Michelle Humphrey is a minimalist manicure lover’s dream. To create this nail art design at home, use a beige nail polish as your base. While your nails are still wet, add dainty silver stars (which you can get from a craft store). Finish the look with a super shine top coat.

“All things in the realm of abstraction”

Celebrity nail artist Julie Kandalec has created a fashionable holiday nail art design that is both understated and celebratory. She achieved the look by using OPI Center of the You-niverse as a gel base color and “sandwiching” chrome pigment between two layers of non-wipe top coat, resulting in an abstract French manicure with an alien-like raised surface.

Space Gems 

If you’re unsure what to wear for New Year’s Eve, consider letting your nails be the standout feature of your look. This idea can be achieved by visiting a nail salon or by recreating it at home with silver chrome powder, colorful gems, and coordinating nail polish.

Pure Alchemy

“Double Moon,” an original design by Mimi D, adds a touch of magic to any New Year’s celebration when worn on an almond-shaped nail. To create the textured effect, Mimi applied clear gel and then added a layer of gold chrome. You can customize this look by wearing one or both crescent moons.

Five Cheers

“Using this conceptual design, you can create a French manicure that looks like a champagne flute by adding a hand-drawn stem. Nicoya Grobman, a nail artist, achieved this look by sticking clear caviar beads onto wet top coat. To recreate the delicate stem, you can use liquid gold eyeliner like Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter.”

Olive Martini

“If you prefer a more classic cocktail, these 3D-printed nail wraps from ManiMe may be the perfect fit for you. ManiMe, a favorite of Allure editors, has created wraps that resemble an olive martini. Simply scan your nails and ManiMe will custom-cut a sheet of wraps to fit your fingers perfectly, allowing you to hold a martini glass elegantly as you ring in the new year.”

The Dark Forest

Grobman’s forest display is a great way to keep the magic of the holiday season alive. She uses different shades of blue to give the illusion of depth and make it seem like you are viewing the forest from a distance. To create this effect yourself, check out Grobman’s step-by-step YouTube tutorial. If you want to add an extra touch of magic, try layering Harry Styles’s Pleasing pearlescent top coat over the forest design to create an enchanted forest vibe.

Winter Wonderland

In this nail art design, Emily Zheng used Born Pretty snowflake stickers to add a festive touch to her nails. She began by applying a base coat of China Glaze Deck the Malls, making sure to use two or three coats to achieve full opacity. Despite her difficulties in creating realistic snowflakes by hand, Emily found that the Born Pretty stickers were easy to apply and sat smoothly on the nail. In her words, these were the “best nail stickers” she had ever used.

All That Glitters

“To recreate this New Year’s manicure at home, start by applying a base color and allowing it to fully dry. Next, create a glitter gradient by applying a thin layer of glitter polish to three-fourths of your nail. Once that layer is dry, add another layer of glitter polish to the top half of your nail. Finally, concentrate the last layer of glitter on the upper one-fourth of your nail for an ombre effect that resembles midnight fireworks.”

A celebration or party that is full of excitement and energy.

For this design, Chenoa Marie utilized a variety of nail art techniques to create a bright white background with gold and black accents. She freehanded the firework design by using a thin nail art brush to make short lines at the top and longer lines at the bottom, then added some glitter lines for extra sparkle. She also incorporated nail tape, gold foil, and nail stickers to complete the look. If you’re not familiar with any of the techniques used in this design, consider it a goal to learn them as part of your New Year

Unique Snowflakes

Dayanna Issey, a nail artist, has created a trendy French manicure with hand-drawn snowflakes on top. To achieve this look, she applied Lights Lacquer Lyla as a base coat and used Paper Snow, a white creme by the same brand, for the accent and tips. If you want to try this design yourself, you can use a dotting tool and thin nail brush to create the snowflakes, but be sure to practice your drawing on a separate surface before applying it to your gradient.

A Roaring Start

Aiste’s creative use of glitter polish has given this zebra print nail art a festive and celebratory feel, perfect for ringing in the new year. The shades used are from UNT Global’s Fantasy Peelable collection of peel-off paints, and we also recommend pairing them with Essie No Place like Chrome and Now or Never for an extra pop of shine. This nail art is reminiscent of the kind Carmela Soprano would wear to a New Year’s Eve party, and we love the nod to the iconic character.

The Evil Eye

“As we enter 2023, it seems that the sentiment of caution and safety expressed by nail artist Betina Goldstein in her New Year’s Eve post still holds true. For her New Year’s manifestation, she opted for translucent nails and added a hand-painted evil eye design using gold-leaf paper. To recreate this look at home, you can use a dotting tool, toothpick, or bobby pin to add the evil eye design.”

The Illusionist

Jessica Flanagan, also known as @glitter_shine_nails on Instagram, created a simple yet festive nail design. She applied a base coat of shimmery white polish and added star stamps to a few accent nails. The white-on-white color scheme gives the design a subtle sparkle. This look can easily be customized with different colors to suit your personal style.

At Midnight

Miss Pop created a design that appears ready to jump off the nail bed. For a holiday look from a New Year’s past, Miss Pop used Essie shades No Place Like Chrome, Mod Square, Hay There, In the Cab-ana, and Butler Please to cover her fingertips with confetti. To achieve this look, she started with her accent colors and added the background. “I first paint splotches of color on the nail,” she says. “Then, using a thin brush dipped in silver, I outline confetti shapes.” The end result is a burst of confetti that hopefully resembles what you’ll see at midnight.

The Unburdening

Sierra Unsicker created an accent nail design that says “let that sh*t go” and was inspired by a favorite t-shirt. This nail look was first shown in November, but the message of letting go is particularly relevant at the start of a new year. The process took Sierra approximately two and a half hours to complete, and she used a small brush and Ageha Sharp Liner art gel in white to create the stars and write the words.

“The Happy Anarchist”

“The design from nails_and_soul is so beautifully crafted, it’s best not to attempt to recreate it stroke by stroke. Instead, embrace the abstract and chaotic mix of silver and black accents with gold leaf. According to the artist, they used a three-step process to achieve this look. First, they applied gold foil to the nail. Next, they drew over and around the foil with black polish and silver glitter. Finally, they added an additional layer of gold foil on top. The result is a stunning, yet chaotic, work of art – much like what we can expect from the year ahead.”

“Examine it thoroughly.”

Audrey Faith has designed a grid with straight lines that exude peace and calm. The design is applied over The Gel Bottle Inc in Supernova and starts with a silver glitter base. Once the base is dry, the gridlines are hand-painted using a white art gel and a long striping brush. The art gel is used because it has a thicker consistency, which helps to create crisp, clean lines.

The Joker

If you don’t have a dotting tool or aren’t skilled at freehanding, this design from Audrey Faith could be the solution for you. It has a professional appearance, but it’s actually very easy to recreate. Simply paint your nails with black polish (such as The Gel Bottle Inc in Black Glass), and use tweezers to carefully place colorful foil squares on your nails. This design can be completed in under 30 minutes, so you’ll be ready to ring in the new year in style.

“Moving forward” or “Continuing on”

Just because black and gold are typically associated with New Year’s Eve celebrations doesn’t mean your manicure has to be dark and gloomy. Betina Goldstein created a stylish look using Essie’s winter 2021 collection, featuring the shimmery silver base coat “Jingle Belle,” the candy pink accent “All Dolled Up,” and the coral red “Toy to the World.” Tori Crowther, a freelance journalist and nail technician in training, formerly worked as a beauty editor at POPSUGAR UK and as a social media host for POPSUGAR Beauty.