60 Amazing Ideas for Halloween Nails That Are Anything but Cheesy

These may be the *chicest* ghost nails I have ever seen. My secret hack to getting the perfect French tip? A silicone nail stamp. Then take a nail brush and extend the tip of the ring finger to make a shape reminiscent of a ghost.

If all things spooky, gory, and downright creepy aren’t necessarily your thang, check out these super s-t-u-n-n-i-n-g starry night nails. The bejeweled moment is *chef’s kiss*.

Chrome is popping up everywhere this year as one of the hottest fall nail colors. Add a little spice with the black dripping abstract design instead of a classic French tip.

Intricate? Spooky? A work of freakin’ art? Check, check, and check. So obviously this would take an incredible amount of skill to DIY this one on your own, but if you need a lil inspo for a super-talented nail artist, take note.

I absolutely love these abstract red nails because they’re not ~technically~ meant to look like blood, but for Halloween szn they most definitely could be—in the chicest way. Take a disposable makeup sponge and stamp a chrome red color on your nails.

Are you (a) really not skilled in the nail art department, or did you (b) wait until the last minute possible to do your Halloween nails? Sound like you? No worries, because inventions like press-on nails exist—i.e., the quickest, easiest way for elaborate nail art without actually, you know, doing the art.

Never ever would I think that I would want to throw a nail polish color reminiscent of slime. But these nails make it look chic, and Halloween is the perfect excuse to do channel the slime green color à la Sandy Liang‘s SS19 models.

If free-handing some black and white bats on your nails with a tiny nail brush doesn’t exactly sound in the range of your skillset, try opting for some Halloween nail stickers instead. They’ll get the point across, without making you lose your sanity.

So, technically, these nails are themed after Jurassic Park, but I’m calling some Halloween vibes based on the creepy dino eyeball alone. You’ll get all my praise for attempting to DIY this look at home (nail-striping brushes are a must here), but I won’t blame you for taking this screenshot to the professionals instead.

If your special FX skills are a little, uh, lacking (how do makeup artists do it?!), then rest assured that these blood-stain nails are super easy. Just paint your nails white, then grab a blood-red nail polish, swipe the brush back and forth over a paper towel to remove excess polish, then lightly run the brush over your nails for a stained and cut effect.

When we talk about nail art, this is what I mean: intricate, delicate, steady little lines that depict the perfect level of Halloween vibes (peep the bb skeleton making a heart sign over its skull). Can I have this on my nails immediately?

We love a super-subtle, very minimal manicure for Halloween. If you’re not into the over-the-top vibes but still wanna get in on the festivities, stick a few spider-web nail stickers on your accent nails, then paint the rest white. Easy.

French-tip nails meet Halloween with this ghost-tip manicure. If you wanna try your hand at this line, first line your nail tips with off-white nail polish, use a striping brush to extend the ghost’s tail up the edges of your nail, add black some dots for a dead-inside ghost face, and you’re good to go.

Nope, these aren’t stickers—these Halloween nails are pure skill and patience…and some really good nail-art brushes. I know they look impossible, but the tutorial for these cut-out cats, moons, and ghosts actually…seems…doable? BRB—gonna go try it out on myself.

If you’re looking at all these nail-art ideas and find yourself wanting something way more simple—like, really, really simple—may I present to you the most classic Halloween color ever: orange. Grab a pumpkin-orange nail polish, and quietly revel in the holiday spirit.

Oh, would you look at that: an actual nightmare in nail-art form—and my spooky soul loves it. True skill is required to recreate the realistic quality of these eyeballs, so if you’re serious about your scare factor this Halloween, take this idea to your nail tech to try.

If you’ve got a little bit of time (and a bunch of scotch tape), you can definitely DIY these nails at home. Just tape off the sides of your nails, one side at a time, paint the edges with black nail polish, then use a white nail-polish pen to draw your spiderweb designs.

’90s bbs, listen up! This Halloween nail look is here to fulfill your love of two iconic childhood classics: Ghostbusters and Nickelodeon slime. Even if you can’t freehand these ghosts, you can still satisfy your inner child with some slime-green nail polish on your accent nails.

Highly recommend zooming in on these next-level Halloween nails, which are not only sharpened to a near-point (hi, stiletto nails), but also feature a different ~spooky~ vibe on each nail: blood drips, Michael Myers, bloody hearts, skeletons, and more. Hot tip: You’ll wanna book a nail appointment to copy this one.