It’s Fall time and what’s more festive and Fall-like than Autumnal nail designs! From colors to nail patterns, this post will cover Fall nail designs you need to try this holiday season to stay on trend and seasonal.
Shop my favorite products here!
PS I think you’ll love these articles, too:
- Where to Buy the Best Jeans Under $40
- How to Dress like Bella Hadid for less (on a budget!)
- How to: Euphoria Makeup Looks
Fall Nail Design Ideas
Tortoiseshell
Nothing screams Fall like tortoiseshell – and that includes tortoiseshell nails. This trend is trendy but also pretty classic, because the print never goes out of style and looks really elegant.
I found some really cool Fall nail designs with tortoiseshell, and I think it’s a great way to transition from Summer to Fall.
Look how stunning these nails are! They’re perfect for the Autumn and Fall, because they’re warm and cozy with Fall colors like brown and orange, but also really cute and pretty looking.
This nail look by buffcsjen on Instagram is the perfect transitional design from Summer to Fall.
These nails are also really trendy, because this ‘swooshy’ style of nail design is really popular this year.
If you want this look to be more Autumnal and Fall-like, try using a maroon color instead of the baby-pink like in the picture above.
This is my favorite take on tortoiseshell nails! It’s the perfect transitional nail design and it’s really creative.
Fall nail designs are usually pretty classic in the color schemes and patterns, but this nail design is a unique and floral twist on a staple.
How to do Tortoiseshell Nails at Home
Doing this Fall nail design is surprisingly easy to do at home. To put it simply and into steps:
- Step 1: Put a base coat on so that it doesn’t hurt your nails. Check this one out by OPI for $9.79.
- Step 2: Put on a base color you want to use. Mustard colors are best.
- Step 3: With a brush, draw circular shapes (not too circular because you want it to look natural) with a deeper color, like maroon or brown.
- Step 4: Do the same as step 3 with another color that’s even deeper than the colors in step 3. Try a dark brown.
Cirque Colors has an awesome tortoiseshell nail art set with all the colors you’ll need! Check it out, here for $36.
You can also watch this YouTube tutorial on doing tortoiseshell nails at home. It’s only 2 minutes long and super easy to follow along. Plus, it uses the same Cirque Colors nail set that I linked above! Watch it here.
Colorful Tip Manicures
A French-tip is classic, but using Fall colors for the tips is a great Fall nails designs ideas. Use Autumnal colors like brown, maroon, black, orange, etc. for a great Fall nail design.
These nails are incredible! The pointed and rounded tips are so Autumnal and look fabulous.
This deep forest green and black color are great Fall colors.
Here’s a forest green and black that is affordable and perfect for recreating these looks!
- Essie’s ‘Off Topic’ (a forest green color) – $8.50
- Sally Hansen Gel Nail Polish in ‘Jealous Boyfriend’ (a forest green color) – $7.49
- Sally Hansen Gel Nail Polish in ‘Black O’ (pure black color) – $12.23
- Sally Hansen Nail Polish in ‘Hooked on Onyx’ (pure black color) – $6.89
Red is the ultimate nail color. It looks good on all skin tones and there’s so many shades of red that you’re bound to find a color you love.
For Fall nail designs, maroon and deeper red shades are perfect and look stunning. This French tip manicure with red and maroon, in the the pictures above, is a Fall nail design staple.
If you want something timeless and beautiful, you have to try this nail look.
Here are some stunning red shades for all your Fall nail designs:
- Sally Hansen Nail Polish in ‘Red-iance’ – $10.68
- Revlon Gel Envy Nail Polish in ‘Red/Coral’ – $4.97
Cow Print
Cow print has been all the rage this summer. It’s trendy, fun, and super cute.
But not only are cow print clothes really popular, but also cow print nails! Fall nail designs change every Autumn and this season, cow hide prints are totally in.
I love this nail look by nail_unistella on Instagram. She used brown tones instead of black for the design and it’s very Fall. Of course, if you like black then you can do the black and white cow print nails that people usually do, but this brown and white look is very different and perfect for this Fall season.
How to do Cow Print Nails at Home
Doing these nails at home is actually really easy. Here are the simple steps to follow for cute cow print nails!
- Step 1: apply a top coat so that your nails aren’t stained from the nail polish
- Step 2: put on a solid white color for your base color. Any white is good, but if you don’t have one here’s a link!
- Step 3: if you want to do the brown tones, like in the picture above, then use a lighter brown shade to create cow print shapes. To do this you’ll probably need a very thin brush, just to make sure you’re able to correct any mistakes and have a more steady hand.
- Step 4: now use a darker shade to go over the places you made the cow spots in the lighter brown shade. You’ll have to layer different shades of brown to create dimension and depth to the nail, like in the picture above
If you’re doing the black and white nail design, though, you won’t have to do step 4 because you can just create the spots and cow prints with only the black shade.
Here’s a super short and easy tutorial on YouTube that use can use to follow, no matter the colors you choose to use. In the video, the girl uses black and white, but you can do the same with white and brown and just include a couple of more shades of brown and keep layering them on to create more dimension to the nails.
I’ve already linked black nail polishes above for the black French-tip manicures, but here’s different shades of brown that you can use to get the same look as in the picture:
- Eternal 4 Collection, Set of 4 Nail Polish in ‘Dark Nudes’ – $10.99
- Sally Hansen Nail Polish in ‘Branch Out’ – $6.70
- Revlon Nail Polish in ‘Totally Toffee’ – $4.99
These colorful cow print nails are great for transitioning from Summer to Fall and are still super funky and cool.
Plus, with this Fall nail designs, you can add any color combination you want.
Some awesome color combos to try are:
- Pink and Red
- Blue and Orange
- Yellow and Purple
- Yellow and Orange
- Red and White
- Green and Purple
- Green and Orange
- Pink and Grey
- Black and Pink
- Black and Yellow
Colorful Clear Nails
Colorful clear nails are such a vibe. They’re fun, colorful, and really unique. Any darker shades like this deep blue, are great Fall nail designs colors to try.
How to do Colorful Clear Nails at Home
Doing colorful clear nails is simpler than it looks, and you can do it at home, though it’ll probably take a few tries to really master it.
Either way, here’s a quick and short tutorial that tells you everything you need to get this adorable nail style.
What’s really cool about this style is that practically any color will look good, as long as you make sure it’s not too intense so it looks opaque.
The best way to thin out any color and make it look clear, is through mixing it with gel cleanser – which this tutorial talks all about.
MultiPrint
These nails are edgy and cool, and scream Fall! Glossy red dark nails are a classic nail look, but the edgy design on the ring finger really sets this look apart.
You can do any print you want, on any finger you want, but this nail idea is a great inspo pic for Fall nail designs.
This deep red nail polish color is beautiful, and great for the Fall. Here’s a few dupes for it:
These spider nails are giving us major Spiderman vibes. They’re vampy and seductive and the deep, dark colors are perfect for the Fall and Winter.
I’ve already linked black nail polishes under the black French-tip manicure section, so you can use those shades to achieve this glossy, black look.
The last two pics have been pretty festive, but this Fall nail design takes the cake. The design on the ring finger is very Fall and festive.
You can do these nails with any Fall design you want, like pumpkins or leaves or even just a solid Autumnal color like orange or yellow.
The glossy deep brown shade used in this picture is a great Fall color, and here are some similar ones!
- Sally Hansen Nail Polish in ‘Branch Out’ – $6.40
- DND DC Duo Gel + Nail Lacquer – $12.99
- DaniPro Nail Polish – $15.52
Swirly Nails
Swirly nail designs are so popular this year, and they’re great for the Fall, too!
I don’t know about you, but these nails are giving us serious candy corn vibes and we’re so here for it.
PS: the only thing to really remember for most Fall nail designs is that just use Fall, Autumnal colors and almost every nail look will be perfect for the Fall.
You can use any array of colors for this nail design, and if you want it to be more Fall-like, then stick to darker colors like browns, deep reds, deep oranges, and also typical fall colors like yellow, mustard, and orange.
How to do Swirly Nails at Home
- Step 1: Apply a top coat
- Step 2: Choose your base color. If you want to use the color in the photo, then you would use an orange/red color, like this one.
- Step 3: Using a very thin brush, use different colored nail polishes to create swirls and waves, like in the picture above.
- Step 4: Repeat the same process as step 3, but with different colors
- Step 5: Repeat the process until you’ve created swirls and waves with all the colors you want.
This thin paint brush set from Amazon is perfect for creating the swirls, like in the picture.
If you want to recreate this look with the same colors, here’s a yellow, a navy blue, and mint green color, like in the photo.
Fall Decor
The nail art above is by nail_unistella on Instagram and is very Summer and not very Fall. The point of the photo is to show you a style of nail art that can be used for Fall nails, too.
Just like flowers and strawberries are very Summery, so are leaves and pumpkins. You could draw those on your nails, and it would be very festive and Autumnal.
This Fall decor nail art design is pretty random, but that’s the point.
For this style, you just need to draw a bunch of very Fall-like seasonal items, like pumpkins, leaves, spider webs, and candy-corn.
This Fall nail designs is pretty crafty and probably requires a certain level of skill. So, a hack around it is using stickers.
How to do Fall Decor Nails at Home
If you’re artistic, you can probably do Fall designs on your nails pretty easily.
But, if you’re anything like me, you may not be very artistic, and if you’re not, just use stickers.
- Step 1: use a topcoat to ensure your nails don’t get stained
- Step 2: apply a base color. You could do a different color for each nail, or you could do some nails and leave others without polish. It’s completely up to you and what you want.
- Step 3: Put stickers on your nails that match the Fall theme.
Here are some adorable, Autumn stickers to try as nail art!
- Fall Leaves Nail Art Decal – $6.99
- Autumn Nail Art Decals – $6.99
- Halloween Nail Decals – $4.49
- Halloween Nail Decals – $4.49
Manicure with a Twist
These nails are stunning! It’s a classic manicure with a twist and it looks beautiful.
The heart detail is great for year-round, but if you want it to be more Fall-y, try drawing a little pumpkin, or maybe a little ghost, or even a spider.
How to do this Manicure at Home
This manicure is really easy to do at home. You can find tons of nail polishes that give the same look as the manicure in the picture above.
Essie has a nail polish that is PERFECT for this manicure. It’s in the color ‘high class affair‘ and is available for $9.
Pro Tip: if you want your nails to be a little translucent like in the photo, then do only one or two coats, instead of several coats of nail polish that will make the color opaque.
Then all you need to do is use a thin brush to draw whatever item you want on the corner of the nail.
It’s a fun and easy manicure idea that is still unique and different.
Plus, it’s super cute!
Gold Flex
Gold is perfect for any season – including Fall. The design in the picture above is pretty complicated to do on your own, so you’ll probably need to go to a salon for this.
If you want something simpler, just put gold on the tips of your nails and it’ll give the same vibe.
This nail design is also perfect for the Winter.
Here’s a gold nail polish that would look great with any nail color.
Solid Colors
You can’t ever go wrong with a solid manicure. And deep red is a perfect Fall color!
I saved this for last because it’s a bit basic, but it’s a classic.
If you want solid manicure colors perfect for the Fall, try using darker, deeper shades. That includes colors like deep red or maroon, dark browns and neutrals, rust colors, and berry shades.
Here are links to some awesome colors, perfect for the Autumn:
- Revlon Nail Polish in ‘Revlon Red’ (true red shade) – $3.97
- Essie Nail Polish in ‘Bordeaux’ (deep red) – $11.26
- Sally Hansen Nail Polish in ‘Re-Nude’ (light brown/beige) – $10.68
- Essie Gel Nail Polish in ‘Sun-Day Style’ (rust shade) – $8.49
- Essie Nail Polish in ‘Angora Cardi’ (berry shade) – $11.26
This manicure is cool because though they’re solid colors, it’s in different colors. Doing a manicure like this is a great way to shake things up without any effort.
Mix and match your nail colors and voila! Fun Fall nail designs.
I love this manicure! It’s so simple but chic and beautiful. Neutrals in general are perfect for the Fall, but using varying shades of neutrals is a great way to spice up your Autumnal colors.
What makes this nail design even cooler are the diagonally cut nails – a subtle detail that elongates your fingers and looks really elegant.
I linked this set of 4 dark neutral nail polishes earlier, too, but it’s perfect for a look like this – AND they’re only $10.99.
Here’s another set of 4 nail polishes from the same brand, but this set has lighter shades of nudes.
Hope these Fall nail designs give you all the nail inspo you could desire for this season.
Check out these articles on the best dupes of Drunk Elephant and how to do Euphoria makeup looks.
[…] How to Get the Cutest Fall Nails […]
[…] How to Get the Cutest, Most Festive Fall Nail Designs […]
[…] How to Get The Cutest, Most Festive Fall Nails […]