6 Spooky Halloween Nail Art Ideas to Inspire Your Next Manicure
Witchy tips! Mummy claws! Patchwork polish!
It’s officially mid-October, and the spirit of Halloween is alive and well. Once you’ve settled on an impressive costume and a glamorous (or ghoulish) makeup look to match, the finishing touch is always a perfectly manicured set of frighteningly chic nails.
From Beetlejuice-inspired talons and glow-in-the-dark designs to bloody black claws and witch’s brew-coloured tips, we’ve gathered six Halloween-worthy manicures to inspire your next set. Plus, everything you’ll need to paint them yourself—from top-quality polishes to rhinestone stickers—is all here, too.
Try a mummy mani
Mummify a neutral mani with swipes of pearlescent polish and accent nails wrapped in a “cloth” design. Beginning with your pinky or thumb finger, alternate between a white chrome polish and your go-to nude on each nail to create the base of the look. Then, paint criss-cross layers of the chrome shade on top of your nude nails to create that mummy-like, cloth illusion. Top your accent nails off with two black dots for eyes, and your mummy mani is complete.
OPI’s white satin “Kyoto Pearl” polish works perfectly for that almost-chrome look. With a 7-day wear promise, this nail lacquer won’t chip all Halloween week long.
For this look, use a your-nail-but-better neutral shade for the base of your accent nails. Chanel’s pigment-packed “113 Faussaire” nail colour paints on like a dream and is universally flattering.
Go for glow-in-the-dark
Light up the night at your next Halloween fête with a luminous glow-in-the-dark set. Starting off with a black-tipped French manicure as your canvas, the possibilities for this spooky design are endless. Use colourful neon shades that glow like orange and green to draw on fun Halloween doodles like cobwebs, bats, pumpkins and spiders. Turn out the lights, and watch the magic happen!
The secret to making neon polishes truly pop? Draw your designs on with white polish first, using a nail marker like this one by Nails Inc. London for precision and ease. Then, layer your colourful shades on top.
To make your nails shine, opt for one of Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri Glow-In-the-Dark polishes like orange “Ahead of the Carve” or moonlight green “Fa-Boo-lous.” In 60 short seconds, your nails will be fully dried and ready to glow.
Wear witch’s brew
Feeling wicked this Halloween? Opt for a bubbly green manicure with hints of glitter that mimics a boiling pot of witch’s brew. An easy option for those who steer clear of nail art (it can be difficult sometimes!), this set only requires a base of black nail lacquer (to make the glittery polish pop) and a shimmery green shade layered overtop. Easy, witchy, and cool.
Butter London’s “Royal Emerald” Patent Shine 10x Nail Lacquer is just the kind of glittery green this look calls for. Dark and moody, it’s 100 percent wicked witch-approved.
Want your mani to really sparkle and shine? Lock it all in with a coat of Essie’s fast-drying Speed Setter Vegan Top Coat.
Do “bloody” beads
Offering an edgier take on classic red blood-drip nails, this “bloody” beaded manicure is both gruesome and glam. Oozing down from the tip of nude-painted nails, use a mixture of miniature black caviar beads from your local craft store and flat-back rhinestones to create blingy black droplets.
Use a jet black polish like Gucci’s “700 Black Crystal” shade to stencil in black tips and droplets for a more cohesive look. This way, no nude gaps will show between your trail of beads.
By mixing rhinestones with smaller caviar beads, you can create more depth and texture on your tips. Decora’s Black Diamante Stickers come in a variety of sizes that you can mix and match to best suit the size of your nails.
Opt for Beetlejuice claws
Beetlejuice’s influence is everywhere from our wardrobes to our makeup bags this season, and our nails are no exception. Using a true-to-the-character combination of black and white stripes as well as neon green and purple polishes, this is a manicure you can have fun making your own—depending on your preferences and comfortability with painting nail art.
Straight from Sally Hansen’s limited-edition Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice collection, this slime-green “Bio Exorcist - 930” polish is a chip-resistant shade we know the ghost with the most would love. Plus, it provides up to 8 days of colour and shine.
To help draw on the black and white stripes, use a nail art brush to create crisp, clean lines. This set from Tipsketch comes with 5 brushes in various sizes to choose from.
Paint a patchwork set
Looking for something you can get away with wearing all autumn long? Opt for a patchwork manicure. By switching up the colour palette, you can easily create a nail set that leans more Halloween-ish with green, orange and purple polishes, or more autumnal with fallen leaf-inspired shades like brick red and golden yellow complete with black stitching. In any case, it works all season. This set (pictured above) gives us major Frankenstein vibes, and we’re here for it.
The new Dior Vernis Nail Polish in “648 Mirage” is the perfect orange pumpkin shade. Thanks to its ergonomic brush, you’ll get a flawless application with this nail lacquer every time.
Contrast your orange shade with a pretty purple. We love Lights Laquer’s “Tightrope” shade from the brand’s Spooky Season collection.
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Lauren Knowles is FASHION Magazine’s digital beauty writer. If she’s wearing it, it’s neutral — but her minimalist taste doesn’t mean she’s not tuned in to what avant-garde trends are hot on the runway or in the works backstage with the beauty pros (she’s pinning it all to a virtual mood board for future reference). This Bahamian-born creative also has bylines in Elle Canada, Hypebae, and CBC.