While most people look forward to ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas movie marathon to get them in the holiday spirit, Sabrina Sutton looks forward to a little Christmas tradition of her own. Three years ago, Sabrina started doing 25 Days of Christmas Nails and has been wowing people with her designs ever since. If you look at her Instagram, you’ll find pictures of intricate nail designs, mixed in with other photos of her enjoying her senior year at Hofstra. For many of her friends, the daily nail picture is something they look forward to the whole month of December.
JH: What gave you the idea to start?
SS: ABC Family does the whole “25 Days of Christmas” movie thing, and I knew I had way too many ideas for Christmas designs to just do one set of nails, so I decided to do them all!
JH: When did you really get into nail design?
SS: My nail art obsession started when I was a junior in high school. When I look back on the pictures now, I cringe at how sloppy they were. Practice really does make perfect!
JH: How much nail polish do you own? It must be a lot to have every color needed for the designs.
SS: The last time I counted I had 175 bottles, but that was a while ago! I’m sure it’s over 200 now! It’s an addiction.
JH: What’s the hardest part of doing these nail designs?
SS: The hardest part isn’t actually painting them; I’d say it’s more trying to come up with new designs since I’ve already done 50 of them! Or, if I’m going to recreate something I already did, trying to figure out how to make it just a little different or better.
JH: Where do you get your inspiration from?
SS: My inspiration comes from a mixture of places. I look at other people’s designs on Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc., but a lot of it is from my own head too.
JH: Which design was the hardest from last year’s 25 Days of Christmas Nails?
SS: The hardest design is the nativity scene. It’s super involved and takes about 3 hours to do!
JH: How do you find time to paint your nails a different design every day, especially since it’s the end of the semester? That’s amazing!
SS: I honestly don’t know! Haha It definitely gets a little stressful, especially because I do try and actually finish them before midnight each day. I don’t want to feel like a cheater! It takes a lot of careful planning beforehand. Sometimes I’ll paint them in between two of my classes, sometimes I know I’ll have to do them at 2am because my whole day will be booked. It’s a challenge and I’ve lost sleep over it for sure, but it’s so rewarding.
JH: Which design is your favorite from last year’s 25 Days of Christmas Nails?
SS: My favorite design is always the nativity scene, which I do every year on Christmas Eve.
That’s some serious talent! Check back in three weeks to see Sabrina’s designs for this year’s 25 Days of Christmas Nails.