Manicures
16 Dark & Moody Manicure Ideas
In honor of your favorite spooky holiday.
There are so many ideas out there for cute nail designs this Halloween — but sometimes you want something that’s a bit different from the rest. Something darker, something moodier or maybe something that is simply a bit more neutral than the rest so you know they’ll match all the outfits you plan to wear over the next few weeks.
Whether you want a darker look with a fun design, Halloween-inspired French tips or just a solid nail color, there’s an idea that will work for you. Solid colors can be easier because they’ll look sleek with anything you might wear, and they’re not too difficult to do yourself. You can also bring any of these images into a salon for inspiration if you want.
Even though a lot of these ideas were thought of and created by talented, professional nail technicians, don’t let that intimidate you. Some intricate designs that look like they would be really hard to recreate are actually not that bad, especially because there are so many nail art stickers you can buy.
For many of these, you will want to invest in some extra nail tools. In addition to nail stickers, nail brushes, and nail pens are commonly used tools for achieving detailed designs that require a steady hand and a fine tip.
1Scream Nails
If you’re a fan of the Scream franchise, you have to try these nails by @spellbound.nailartistry. They’re both a reference to the Halloween-themed movies and they’re so cute, especially with the added sparkles. This black sparkly nail polish is perfect and the faces can be drawn on with a fine nail brush.
2Vampire Nails
Vampire nails have been trending this Halloween season, and this video created by @nailsbypaular shows exactly how to replicate them.
3Ghouls at Night
A lot of ghosts are happy or cute in Halloween nail designs — these ones by @spellbound.nailartistry are a bit more haunting, which is fun for a change. You can draw the ghosts with their O-shaped mouths with different sized brushes.
4Sassy Snakes
These snakes by @nails.by.pk look really difficult to recreate, but it’s pretty easy if you use stickers. Other than those accent nails, you just need some black nail polish. If you’re going to be Reputation era Taylor Swift for Halloween, these nails would be perfect.
5Tortoise Nails
These tortoise-patterned nails by @spellbound.nailartistry may not look like Halloween nails, but they’re a good color for this time of year and definitely embrace the autumnal vibes of the holiday.
6Dark Black and Orange
These dark black and orange nails by @spellbound.nailartistry are moody because of the ghosts, skulls, and spiders. The easiest way to incorporate them into the look is with stickers.
7Deep Maroon
These nails by @spellbound.nailartistry are really simple but perfect for Halloween — the pointed tip gives them just the right amount of edge. This color from OPI is a good shade to recreate these.
8Celestial Night Sky
These celestial looking nails by @spellbound.nailartistry mix blue and green together in a way that makes them sort of perfect for the holiday. They’re dark and with the stars, they kind of look like the sky in a picture book about Halloween. Mixing colors can be really difficult, so if you would rather do one color that’s similar to this, try this shade of OPI or this one.
9Purple French Nails
These square shaped nails by @rochanails are sort of like French tips, but purple. Square-shaped press-ons and French nail stamps will help perfect the look.
10Glow in the Dark Nails
These nail designs by @remifluous are dark, until you’re actually in the dark, which is when they’ll glow. Sally Hansen has a selection of glow-in-the-dark nail polishes, which could be so fun to share with your kids as well.
11Sparkly Batman
These nails by @geluous_co on Twitter are black nails with a thin silver bat shaped figure painted over it. The sparkles give it a flare, but at the same time they’re so subtle.
12Varying Black Accents
This design by @heluviee is so cool because usually, there’s only one accent nail, but with this one they’re all kind of like an accent nail. Two of them are completely black, two are black French tips and one is an outline of a French nail.
13Black with a Spider Accent
The white spider on the ring finger of this manicure from Bellacures can be done with either a sticker or draw it yourself with a white nail pen.
14Deep Blue Nails
Sometimes it’s not about a design at all — just finding the perfect unique shade. If you aren’t really a fan of purple or black, dark blue mimics the midnight sky, making it a good nail color choice for Halloween. This moody nail design from @bycheznails uses the polish aptly called All Night Strong in rich navy from Opi.
15Swoopy French Nails
These sort of French tip nails by @artdecom have a cool sweeping effect to them that can be done with nail brushes.
16Spidey Sense Nails
If you’ve ever wanted to feel like Spider-Man, here’s your opportunity. These dark purple nails are just light enough for you to see the black spider webs on top. You can use a fine marker or stickers to recreate this yourself.
If you’re planning on recreating any of these looks or bringing them to a nail technician for inspiration, you can rest assured that your nails will look amazing for Halloween and into November.
