Halloween Nails

Halloween nail ideas to try

Halloween nail designs fall into a handful of easy themes, and most use the same short list of colors: black, white, orange, purple, lime green and blood red.

• Spider webs: thin white or silver lines over black, or black lines over orange, with a tiny spider dangling from one corner.
• Mummies: white stripes laid at angles over a white or gray base, with two dots for eyes peeking through the wraps.
• Black cats and silhouettes: a solid black shape over an orange, purple or sunset gradient.
• Monsters: a green base with stitches and a fringe of black hair, like Green Frankenstein Nails for Halloween.
• Blood splatter: red polish flicked or blown through a straw over a white or nude base, as in Halloween Blood Splatter Nails.

Halloween nail designs by skill level

If you're new to nail art, start with a single accent nail: four solid orange or black nails and one web or cat. Dots are the easiest detail of all, so eyes, pumpkin faces and ghost faces come together quickly with a dotting tool. Fine lines, webs and lettering are easier with a nail art pen. For step-by-step help, the holiday nail art videos include Halloween tutorials.

Halloween press-on nails

Short on time? Halloween press-on nails, glue-on sets and nail decals give you a full design without any painting, and they come off when the costume does. See how press-on nails are applied and removed before you choose a set.

Questions people ask

What are easy Halloween nail designs?

Ghosts, pumpkins and candy corn are the simplest. Paint a white teardrop with two black dots for a ghost, an orange base with a black face for a pumpkin, or three bands of yellow, orange and white for candy corn.

What colors work for Halloween nails?

Black and orange are the classic pair. Purple, lime green, deep red and glow-in-the-dark polish all read as Halloween too, and a matte top coat makes dark shades look moodier. For more seasonal looks, browse holiday nails.