Christmas in Australia is its own thing. You've got the backyard barbecue smoking away, the pool full of cousins, sunscreen on every surface and the cricket on in the background. It's a completely different brief for your nails, and it's one we love designing for.
Your hands are doing a lot more than posing for photos over an Australian summer. They're carrying salads to the table, wrangling prawns off the barbecue, going in and out of the pool at Nan's place and holding a cold drink well past midnight on New Year's Eve. So we've built this guide around shades and shapes that suit a beach and barbecue Christmas, from Christmas Day right through to New Year's Eve.
Why a summer Christmas changes the brief
Heat, chlorine and sunscreen are the real test for any manicure over an Australian summer, press-on or otherwise. A few things are worth knowing before you press your set on.
- Sunscreen goes on after your nails, not before. Apply your press-on nails first, then sunscreen over the top. Sunscreen and other lotions on bare nail beds make it harder for the adhesive tab to grip properly.
- Give your natural nails a quick wipe with an alcohol wipe before you press on, to clear off any oils. This step makes the biggest difference to how long a set stays put in the heat.
- Long swims will loosen tabs sooner than a normal day would. That's completely normal in summer, not a sign anything's gone wrong, and it's exactly why every box comes with 150 adhesive tabs.
For more on how long a set holds up through a hot Australian summer, our guide on how long press-on nails last in the Australian heat goes through it properly.
Christmas Day: backyard lunch and barbecue hands
Christmas Day here usually means a table under the pergola, a barbecue going from midday and hands that need to look festive without getting in the way of carrying dishes and topping up glasses. This is where a shorter, rounder shape earns its keep.
Cherry Crush, our deep glossy cherry red, is the obvious Christmas Day pick. It's festive without shouting, and the glossy finish catches the light beautifully in the sun. For something with a bit more warmth, Golden Mandarin brings a rich mandarin red with a golden cat-eye glow that shifts as your hand moves, lovely over lunch when everyone's sitting close together at the table.
If red isn't your thing on the day, Classic French, our soft pink base with a crisp white tip, keeps things simple and still feels like an occasion. We'd pair any of these with Round or Oval Short, both practical shapes for a day spent serving pavlova and keeping the cousins' kids in line.
Christmas parties: a bit more shine for the evening
Office parties, family get-togethers, Christmas drinks with the neighbours: an Australian December is full of them. This is where you can go a little longer and a little richer with your shape and shade.
Royal Orchid is our pick for evening events, a rich red purple with the depth of bordeaux and a glow of orchid running through it. It photographs beautifully under string lights. Prosecco, a champagne coloured nude with a warm festive glow, is the quieter option for anyone who wants their nails to feel dressed up without competing with a bright outfit.
Oval Long or Square Short both suit an evening look nicely, giving you a bit more length to play with than your barbecue day set. Browse the full range built for this stretch of the calendar in our Christmas and party nails collection.
Boxing Day: pool, beach, recovery mode
Boxing Day in Australia tends to be a slower, barefoot kind of day, whether that's the sales, the cricket on the telly, or simply the pool again. Your nails should match that energy. Cooler, lighter shades work well here, and a shorter shape will survive another day of swimming much better than a long one.
Prosecco carries through nicely from the night before if you want to keep things simple, while Lagoon Escape, a cool lagoon blue with a mirror-like chrome shine, feels right at home next to a pool or at the beach. Stick with Round or Oval Short for durability, and keep those spare tabs handy if you're planning on more than one swim.
New Year's Eve: fireworks and a bit of sparkle
New Year's Eve is the one night of the summer where more shine is exactly right. Dew Splash, a lilac blue with fine glitter embedded right into the gel, catches the light beautifully under fireworks, and Lagoon Escape's chrome finish does the same job with a cooler, more metallic edge. Either looks striking with an Oval Long shape if you want your hands to feel a little more glamorous for midnight.
Want even more sparkle for the countdown? Our glitter collection has plenty of other options built for exactly this kind of night.
A gift that works even when you're not sure of the size
If you're picking up a set as a gift, whether for a Secret Santa, a Kris Kringle at work, or a friend who's mentioned wanting to try press-on nails, sizing can be the tricky part when you're buying for someone else. Our Beginnerset Reflected, a nude shade with a chrome shine, solves that neatly. It comes with 30 nails across sizes S, M and L in the one box, so there's a good chance the right fit is already in there.
You can find it, along with our full sizing breakdown, in the Beginnerset Reflected listing. If you or the person you're buying for is between two sizes, our advice is always to take the larger one. For anything else on fit, our Australian size guide covers it in more detail.
A word on timing
Delivery to Australia takes around 7 business days, so if you've got a specific date in mind, a Christmas Day lunch or a New Year's Eve party, it's worth placing your order with a bit of breathing room rather than leaving it to the last minute. There are no import charges to pay on delivery.
This stretch of the year also overlaps with Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping periods across Australian retail. Between that rush and the usual pre-Christmas scramble, getting your order in early simply makes life easier.
Getting the most out of your set this summer
Every L'Adele set is handmade soft gel, made one nail at a time, and comes with 10 nails plus 5 spares in your size. Each box includes 150 adhesive tabs, a nail file, a cuticle pusher and 5 alcohol wipes, everything you need to apply and remove your set. Application takes about ten minutes, and when you're ready to take them off, warm soapy water does the job.
A set typically wears well for one to two weeks, around ten days on average, and the nails themselves are reusable afterwards. If you've ordered the wrong size, an unused set can be exchanged for the right one within 14 days; the postage to send it back is yours.
Whatever your summer looks like, a full house on Christmas Day, a quiet Boxing Day by the pool or fireworks at midnight, there's a shade and shape here to match it. Browse our summer nails collection for the full seasonal range, or start with the Christmas and party nails collection if you already know which occasion you're dressing up for.
