The leaves are changing colors, temperatures are dropping, and scary movies are lined up and ready to binge—spooky season is officially here. With all the pumpkin-flavored treats and autumn vibes, the true indicator of fall is Halloween. The much-anticipated holiday is an opportunity to embrace your inner child by enjoying costumes, festive makeup, and even a new manicure to celebrate the occasion.
Your nails are an easy way to set the tone for holiday festivities. But Halloween, in particular, is when you can really get creative. Halloween nails aren’t just ghosts and pumpkins or matte black manicures. If you usually go for a minimal nail set, this is the time to swap your go-to French manicures for something moody and daring. Or, if you’re no stranger to experimenting with colors or designs, you can up the ante even more intricate designs or embellishments that bring your most imaginative manicure ideas to life. If the fall 2024 nail trends indicate anything, it’s that metallic, airbrushed aura, and earthy hues should be on your mood board this spooky season.
There is no limit to all the nail designs you can do to celebrate the holiday, and luckily, many designs are pretty easy to DIY . Take inspiration from Hailey Bieber’s bright green glow-in-the-dark designs or try some long pointy claws for an edgier approach. Looking for something a bit less on the nose? We put together a list of 50 of the best nail designs to kick off the spooky season, whether you are spending your Halloween dressed to the nines or bundled up binge-watching scary classics.
Hailey Bieber's Neon Glow in the Dark Nails
While this bright look might be one of Hailey Beiber’s Coachella nails, they are the perfect inspiration for Halloween. You don’t even need to add the gold detailing! The glow-in-the-dark polish will look purposeful at your ghoulish gathering.
A Spooky Aura
Deep sultry colors are always an easy go-to for Halloween. Try using a black base and airbrushing a red polish in the middle to create a dark aura design like this.
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Mummy Manicure
Glazed donut nails are still one of the hottest nail trends, and with a few easy steps, you can give the minimalist design a Halloween upgrade. Using a thin brush and builder gel, create thin lines across the nail to give them a mummy-like texture. Then, simply add two black and white dots to create the eyes.
Sparkle Webs
How exactly do you make spiderwebs chic? By adding glitter, of course! For this intricate design, reach for a dark glittery polish to create fine connecting lines to form a web. Then, add rhinestones for extra shine.
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The Perfect Fall French
This playful French tip design incorporates all the hallmarks of Halloween—ghosts, pumpkins, and dripping blood, this set has it all.
The Nature of Halloween
How fitting that the colors of Monarch butterflies double as Halloween colors? Grab your favorite orange, red, and black polish and get to work. The great part is that you’re doing two designs (one on each hand) to pull this manicure together.
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I Dream of Halloween
Create a chic Charlotte’s web dreamscape using an almost-sheer pink base and white polish for delicate accents.
Quit Clowning Around
Depending on who you ask, clowns can be cute or frightening. However, everyone can agree that a good clown manicure is a conversation starter. Start with a white base, then use a black polish with a thin brush to outline the eyebrows, eyes, and inner mouth. Use red to make a circle for the nose and to outline the mouth.
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Dark Florals
Give your staple floral design a spooky makeover this year. If you can’t bear to give up your botanical embellishments, try opting for a darker shade, like these black and orange flowers.
Spider Tips
Here’s a style that gives the typical French manicure a creepy, albeit cute, spider update. These are incredibly easy to achieve; simply draw a small circle and a larger circle to create the spider body, then create three lines on each side of the body going upward. Afterward, connect the lines and go downward. Finish off with a clear top coat, and voila! Tantalize party-goers with your tarantula DIY mani.
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Dexter-Approved Tips
This nail design is easy to recreate, especially since the messier it is, the better. After letting a white base coat dry, dip a clean mascara spoolie or a brush into some red nail polish and get to splattering.
Everything and More
This set brings together some of 2024’s top trending designs for an artistic take on a Halloween set. With chrome embellishments, negative space, and airbrushing, this design is not for the faint of heart.
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Drip, Drip, Drip
An oozy, gooey mani moment is the perfect Halloween look. To get that shiny effect, mix matte and glossy polishes. Start with a black base and add a matte top coat. Then, draw a dripping blood design with a regular, glossy nail polish for an extra flair.
Going Chrome
Halloween nails don’t always have to have ghosts and goblins to fit the occasion. These sharp claws are the perfect combination of edgy and sweet. To get these tips, use gray polish as your base.
Then, using a pink shade, airbrush the color into the center of the nail. Lastly, add silver chrome to create flames and lines to finish the look.
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Poisonous Fumes
With nails this bold, you can skip the costume. The green flame designs against a black base help the look stand out. But for one final detail, sponge on some additional dark polish on the tips of the nails to really tie everything together.
Two-Faced
Looking for an easy Halloween manicure? Grab the season’s two most iconic colors and create a two-toned look that gets straight to the point.
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Hypnotic Nails
Do you want nails that will make people stop and stare? Well, look no further. This spiral nail design takes this classic black manicure to the next level and is super easy to DIY. Paint on a neutral base color. Then, with a thin nail art brush, use black polish to create a spiral at the center of the nail. You can even have some fun and add a black cat to make your set even more festive.
Corpse Bride
Real lovers of spooky season will appreciate these corpse bride nails, inspired by Tim Burton’s 2005 animated film. A simple French design is elevated with icy blue tones decorated with butterflies, stars, spider webs, and bow appliqués. It’s a strange combination, but it works perfectly in this case.
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Mermaid Tales
Going as a siren this year? This delicate, golden manicure marries classy and spooky. You can keep it minimal by adding golden accents to a black manicure, or you can go for the gold (literally) by adding intricate tips to accent nails.
On Your Shoulder
The devil is in the details—blink, and you’ll miss it. Keep most of your nails classic red and then, on two nails, add this guy.
Tasha Nicole Smith
Beauty Assistant
Tasha Nicole Smith is ELLE Magazine's beauty assistant. She loves all things hair, makeup, and skincare so you’ll find her talking about it here. She enjoys Marvel movies, a good pair of vintage heels, and lemon drop martinis and also shares a birthday with Beyoncé, which is her go to fun fact.
Tatjana Freund
Fashion & Luxury Commerce Editor
Tatjana Freund is Hearst's Fashion & Luxury Commerce Editor, covering beauty, fashion and more across multiple brands. Previously, she worked at ELLE.com and Marie Claire. She's a fan of whiskey neat, podcasts that give her nightmares, and one time Zoë Kravitz laughed at a joke she made.