Nail Art Tutorial: Reindeer

After creating a Santa's Elves Nail Art, I thought of paying tribute to other "magical creatures" that help Santa Claus deliver all those wonderful presents during Christmas. I decided to come up with a reindeer nail art design!

This is a freehand Christmas nail art design that features reindeer!

Reindeer Nail Art Design
Reindeer Nail Art Design by Simply Rins


I wanted to just create an accent nail at first. I thought of just painting Rudolph (the red-nosed reindeer) and paint some abstract design on the other nails. Not a bad idea, actually. But as I was polishing my nails, I think I went crazy because I decided to paint reindeer on all my nails!

Lesson learned: As I was typing the word "reindeer" with an s, the crooked red line keeps appearing underneath the word. So I looked up the plural of reindeer and learned that it is its singular and plural form!

All reindeer were painted using acrylic paint and a detailing nail art brush.

Reindeer Nail Art Design


I used Orly Pure Porcelain in 2 coats as base color. White would have been my usual choice but I figured the slight pinkish shade of Pure Porcelain would give this reindeer nail art a more dainty feel. I think it did a good job.

Reindeer Nail Art Design


We know that Santa Claus has 8 flying reindeer that pulls his sleigh on Christmas eve. They are named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen. These reindeer were popularized by a poem entitled "A Visit from St. Nicholas" or more popularly known as "Twas the Night Before Christmas". It was written by Clement Clarke Moore in 1822.

Take a look at the 8 reindeer I painted:

Reindeer Nail Art Design
I just have to take a group shot!


By 1939, another reindeer was introduced to us by Robert L. May -- Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer! He was a copywriter working for Montgomery Ward department stores. The company asked him to create a new Christmas story that they could present to their shoppers as giveaways. Two years after, Robert's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, came up with the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" song. Since then, Rudolph has become the most famous reindeer of Santa Claus that guides the other 8 reindeer with his shiny red nose.

I decided to paint Rudolph on my left thumbnail.

Reindeer Nail Art Design
Rudolph and his date!


After painting Santa's 9 magical reindeer, I had a little problem of what to paint on my right thumbnail. I was seriously thinking of Santa Claus. But I still didn't want to paint him til December comes. So after tweaking a few more ideas, I decided to give Rudolph a date by drawing a female reindeer!

For the girl reindeer, I added a little red ribbon on her head.

This Christmas nail design has become one of my personal favorites. It brings a smile to my face whenever I look at them. Do you experience that sometimes on your nail designs? And so when I visited Don this week, I asked him to take some photos of my reindeer nail art. He is a brilliant photographer!

Reindeer Nail Art Design
Photo in natural light, courtesy of Don


Reindeer Nail Art Design
Photo in natural light, courtesy of Don


This is fairly an easy design to recreate. You may want to consider trying this design even if you are a nail art beginner. The shapes and lines that makes the reindeer are simple, even with your non-dominant hand.

Here's a nail art tutorial I prepared:




Thank you for watching! If you enjoyed the tutorial, please subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Did you find this Christmas nail design magical?





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31 comments:

  1. I luuuuuvvvv these..I wish i cud request u to do my nails sometime..Ur manis r soo cute!

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  2. The cuteness is killing me!!! AHW!!!! *____*

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  3. This is so cute Rins, I love it!
    Thank you very much for the tutorial, can't wait to try this manicure.

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  4. My goood it's so amazing !! How do you find your ideas ?! It's so beautifull i'm just impressed ! :)

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  5. I will try this one :D it's soooooo cute!! I love it :D Thanks for the tutorial ;D

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  6. I absolutely LOVE this design! It's cute, festive, and creative (Rudolph's date!!!). You are so inspiring, Rins! Have fun Christmas shopping. :)

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  7. This is too cute! I love it!!

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  8. So cute! Thanks for tutorial. It is great as always :)

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  9. Way too cute!!!! I love it! I'm definitely gonna try to recreate it on my nails! :-)

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  10. Hi, vertu!
    Thank you for saying that. :)

    Hi, Kejal!
    That is not impossible! Perhaps in the future there will be a global eyeball for nail artists or something like that. I would love to attend one of those! ;)

    Hi, gnoma!
    Aww, that is so sweet of you to say. :)

    Hi, Carolina!
    You're welcome. :) I keep trying to accompany my designs with tutorials whenever I have the opportunity to do so. Please let me know how your version turned out. I would love to see it. :)

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  11. Hi, Manongles & Cie!
    Thanks! My ideas come everywhere. For this reindeer nail design, I was inspired by a wallpaper that I recently installed on my mobile phone. :)

    Hi, istarh!
    Goodie! I'll be looking forward to your reindeer nail art! :)

    Hi, Sonoma Bento!
    Thank you! That means a lot to me. Painting the female reindeer was a crazy idea and I'm glad that you liked it. :)

    Hi, funkiichiicka!
    I'm glad you found the reindeer cute! :)

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  12. Hi, Anutka!
    You're welcome. :)

    Hi, AnGeLiQuE!
    That's great! Do share with us your version when you get the time to recreate this Christmas nail design. :)

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  13. Too cute ! I really love your nail design ! And I have learn a new word in english (reindeer for renne in english) thank to you ^^

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  14. OMG!!! I sooo love the wee reindeer! I am truly amazed at how cute, and how simple these designs are. I will keep trying these designs, even though my flamingos "bled" when I put on the top coat. They didn't look great, but- I'll not give up! Thank you again for being suca an inspiration!

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  15. Hi, Tenshi!
    So glad you found my reindeer nail art cute! ;)

    Hi, Sha Does Shaweet Nails!
    Yey! Share with us how your version of reindeer nails turns out when you get the chance to do them. If you're working with nail polish, blob a slightly thick top coat and be careful that the brush only slightly touches your nail to avoid bleeding. :) Yes, don't give up! We learn as we move forward. :)

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  16. So stinking cute! I have got to try these!

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  17. Hii !! I love your blog! You have a really very nice blog! I following you now :)) your shares and your nails are wonderful! congrats :))
    i wish follow me back :) see u later kisses..
    http://www.nzlsyn.blogspot.com

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  18. Cute! Thanks for the tutorial :-)

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  19. Hi, imfeelingnail-venturous!
    Thanks! Don't forget to let me know how it turned out. :)

    Hi, nasli!
    Thank you for following. :)

    Hi, FrugallyMe!
    You're welcome. I'm glad you appreciated this nail design. :)

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  20. OOOOoooh that's so cute, so christmas i love them !!! and so nicely made !! congratulations. in our blog we refer to you because you're such an inspiration for our nail art !! thank you :)

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  21. Your reindeer are so cute! I really want to try to recreate this but I don't think I have the skills yet. :)

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  22. How about painting one as accent nail? :)

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  23. Hi, Rins! Not sure if you remember me, but we watched the Rizal concert with Vin Ello a few months back.

    Congratulations in winning in the PBA! I LOVE your nail art designs and I wish I can even attempt to try it. I can't even paint my right hand's nails using my left hand so I'll just continue on watching out for what designs you're coming up with. Keep it up! :)

    Rudolph is really the cutest! ^_^

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  24. Hi, Mhel!
    Yes, I remember. :) Thank you for the greeting. I'm touched to know that you visit my blog and appreciate my nail designs. Perhaps we can have a nail art session one of these days. :)

    P.S. I find Rudolph the cutest too!

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  25. Omg I love this design! I'm gonna try this out soon! :D

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  26. THIS IS SO CUTE! :D and i love how there's a girl reindeer too :) i love this design, great job rina!

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  27. i just did these on my nails today, gonna put them on my blog. but dont worry im gonna link back to this cuz everyone needs to follow your cute tutorials. theyre absolutely amazing!!!

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  28. Absolutely adorable and well done. There is a facebook page, Pinky's Nail Bar that has stolen this image, removed your watermarks and leading people to believe it is her design. Just thought you should know. It's one of several that she has been stealing from other artists.

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  29. wow...n d date is spl cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    very pretty...n doable!

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