Fall Fingertips

35 Pretty Nail Art Ideas for Fall

Bring autumn to your fingertips with these creative (and cute!) nail designs.
35 Fall Nail Art Ideas Nail Designs for Autumn 2020
Courtesy

There are some colors that are indelibly associated with fall, like burgundy, berry, hunter green, and rust — the warm hues of the changing leaves and apple orchards. And those shades will always make for classic manicures. But just because they'll never go out of style doesn't mean you have to stick to them and them alone, and with some of our favorite fall nail art ideas, you definitely don't have to wear just one at a time.

With talented nail artists and celebrity-frequented salons sharing inspirational designs on Instagram every single day and beloved polish brands constantly cranking out stunning new colors, there's no shortage of manicure ideas to add to your to-do list for fall — including ones you'll feel confident doing yourself.

"My [Instagram] Explore page is filled with abstract manicures where every look is unique and perfected in its own way or very simple, classic looks with a twist, such as a French manicure using neon colors," nail artist Amy Le previously told Allure.

"Lines and dots are the easiest DIY art to create as long as you have the right tools," nail artist Elle tells Allure. "Essentials are toothpicks to create dots, makeup sponges for marbling, and a thin eyeliner brush or paintbrush to create stripes."

Here, you'll find unexpected ways to wear both timeless shades and unexpected shades, as well as DIY-friendly designs and — should you feel ready to head back to your favorite nail salon — intricate styles that call for a professional touch.

Keep scrolling for the looks you'll love to see peeking out of the sleeves of your favorite oversized sweater.

  • A sparkling teal manicure with marble and ombr effects
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    Sparkling Sea

    Knowing the end of summer doesn't mean the end of adoring the ocean, Elle created this sparkling manicure that incorporates several common nail-art effects. For the ring fingers, she used LeChat Dare to Wear My Serenity, Moonstone, and Flawless White, dropping them on a glass palette to marbleize them by dragging the colors together in a horizontal motion. "Then, take a thicker nail-art brush and pick up the glob of the swirl of colors. Place it and drag it onto the nail," she says. 

    For the pinky, pointer and thumb, she painted a line and filled it in with glitter to cover a quarter of the nail. On the middle finger, using a fatter gel brush, she started heavier at the base of the nail and then lightly using the brush fade it towards the top for an ombré effect.

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    Negative-Space Crescent

    Miss Pop promises this thick, off-center, richly red twist on the French manicure — which she debuted during the Prabal Garung Fall 2020 fashion show — is truly easy to do at home. To get the vampy look, she simply used a stencil over nude nails to paint perfect crescents of Zoya Professional Lacquer in Alyssa on the tips (because even the most talented nail artists use tools to help them get the most precise looks).

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    Black & White Tortoiseshell

    Tortoiseshell nails have been a thing for a while now, and there's no sign of the trend dying down, though we totally understand if you're ready for a new take on them this fall. Nail artist Betina Goldstein hand-painted these black-and-white beauties using polishes by Essie, Chanel, and Orly — who says you have to stick to one brand? — atop Aprés Nail extensions. The more imperfect this look is the better, so it's ideal for a DIY attempt at nail art.

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    Any-Season Stripes

    With its tiny stripes in traditionally springy and summery shades like periwinkle, sunny yellow, peachy pink, and neon green, you might think this manicure wouldn't work for fall. Think again! Nail artist Savannah Walker's unexpected inclusion of colors like brown and copper make this an amazing transitional manicure — especially with that hint of sparkle on each nail.

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    Chic Snakes

    Perhaps not the best choice for the ophidiophobic among us, this snake-like manicure was created by nail artist Mei Kawajiri or Rag & Bone's Fall 2020 show. She used OPI GelColor in Mi Casa Es Blue Casa as the base, followed by the brand's Coral-ing Your Spirit Animal and Big Apple Red for the curving shapes. The result is bright, graphic, and perhaps even a little Halloween-y.

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    Careful Curves

    If you love wavy lines but not the literal snake look, this sophisticated take is the way to go. Paintbox started with a super-pale pink, and autumn'd it up with an olive green, curvy stripe through each nail. It's somehow both bold and neutral — a great first foray into nail art for a newbie.

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    Caramel Apple Shimmer

    KBShimmer's polishes are basically nail art in a bottle, and the Apple-y Ever After Tri-Thermal Nail Polish is proof.  Its "rich brown hue warms into a brick red color almost caramel color, then gives way to a Granny-Smith-apple-green," the brand says. Yes, those color transitions all came from the same bottle of micro-holographic glitter polish. We don't ask how — we just appreciate.

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    Teensy-Tiny Tips

    Superlong nails are not a prerequisite for a French manicure, and neither is the typical white tips. Nail artist Kara Crevier used the Olive & June Nailfie Ready Box to create a minimalist look that works so well for fall: a pale base with the thinnest stripes of a warm, rusty color at the tips. 

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    Dark Teardrop Tips

    Paintbox is the place to go for New Yorkers who love subtle graphic manicures, but thanks to the recent launch of its own nail polishes, anyone can attempt gorgeous negative-space nail art in the color-theory combos the studio is famous for. Here, the "Power Couple" set in Like Wild and Like Wonder is used to created dark, mossy green teardrop tips dotted like exclamation points with the palest blue.

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    Timeless Tan

    At the Staud Fall 2019 runway show, nail artist Naomi Gonzales-Longstaff painted models' nails in the most perfect neutral shade of light brown, Zoya's Spencer. Even with a little stripe of the shade Kerry, a yellow-gold foil, it reads simple and sophisticated, not overly glitzy.

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    Brown Brilliance

    Prefer a little more obvious sparkle with your neutrals? Jin Soon Choi gave the models at Tibi's Fall 2019 show a combination of her own taupe-y brown Dulcet and glittery silver Glitzy polishes. To create a more dramatic contrast, Dulcet was sealed with a matte topcoat.

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    '70s Stripes

    "I just love warm tones," nail artist Savannah Walker tells Allure of how she decided on the shades in this retro manicure. The burgundy, orange, and yellow stripes on a mustard base make it not only '70s-inspired but also ideal for fall.

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    Swirls on Slate

    You've gotta love gray come cooler weather — it just feels like it goes together. But it's anything but blah when you add in some fun swirls. Here, Essie's Mind-ful Meditation is used to decorate a base for some artful swirls of the brand's Serene Slate.

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    Marbelized Mulberry

    Negative-space manis aren't just a spring and summer look. With rich shades like mulberry mixed into a marble effect with warm, shimmering gold, as Katie Masters did here, leaving an asymmetrical hint of naked nails has never looked more autumnal.

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    Glossy Moss

    You don't need the skills of a nail artist to mix in a little metal with a fall-friendly shade like moss green. The high-shine KB Shimmer shade #squadghouls doesn't just have a name that's made for the Halloween season, it has built-in golden glitter that makes it a no-brainer this time of year.

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    Spotted Crescents

    Classic polka-dots get a unique negative-space twist in this manicure by Betina Goldstein. She painted rich, chocolate-brown crescents along on side of each nail, dotting the darkness with a bright white polish.

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    Dots in Diamonds

    There's something subtly futuristic about this manicure by Sarah Kane (which has a navy base with skinny white diamond and a red dot in the middle), even though it was created with classic colors. As long as you have a steady hand, there's no need to visit a nail artist for this look — though we don't blame you if you do.

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    Classic Cranberry

    You may be surprised to learn that this seemingly solid shade is actually a combination of two colors. For the Jonathan Simkhai Fall 2019 show, nail artist Alicia Torello layered Côte nail polish in No. 49 (which the brand describes as "adobe clay") and No. 87 ("sangria purple") to create a color that will take you all the way to winter and beyond.

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    School Uniform

    Anyone who's ever gone to a private school knows the combination of plaid skirts and black sweaters all too well. And while you don't have to wear those anymore, you can pay tribute to that back-to-school vibe with this manicure idea by Savannah Walker. She painted some of her clients' nails solid black while hand-painting a yellow, black, and red plaid on the others.

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    Flannel Fingertips

    If your plaid preferences lead more toward buffalo, this simpler option with wider stripes and only two colors — modeled by our own Michelle Lee — is fall no-brainer. And you don't need to layer all your prettiest rings for this manicure to look cool (though it sure doesn't hurt).

    More from Allure
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    Rising Shine

    This warm design exhibits a whole new take on gradient manicures. It starts with a solid pinky in OPI Infinite Shine polish in Yank My Doodle, a tawny terracotta, which rises as an arch higher and higher on its way to the thumb, supported by a growing ridge of the shimmering shade Worth a Pretty Penne. An expanding section of negative space adds an extra touch of chicness.

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    Spell It Out

    You don't have to spell out "New York" like Miss Pop did with Essie's Licorice and Blanc for Jeremy Scott's Fall 2019 show — any word (or words) with 10 letters or less will work for this especially personal manicure. And any two contrasting shades will work, too, if black and white isn't your style.

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    Not-So-Pastel Periwinkle

    Pastels may not seem like an obvious way to go for a fall manicure, but deepen them just a bit and you've got a great summer-to-fall transitional look. Pastel purply-blue is deepened to a rich periwinkle with this Côte shade, No. 81, a "shimmery wisteria purple."

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    Big Little Lines

    Very few manicures scream "fall" quite like a shade of dark red. But if you're tired of the same old same old, check out this update by nontoxic New York City nail salon Tenoverten. Not too thick, not too thin, partial stripes in a creamy white shade add interest to a timeless look.

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    Spirited Swirls

    This manicure conveys a clear love of Halloween without screaming it like a banshee. After a perfect pumpkin-orange base in the JinSoon shade Enflammee. While it's still wet, the shades Obsidian and Doux were added to two accent nails and gently dragged with a striping brush to create ghostly swirls.

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    Magnetic Magic

    The weather may be cooler, but this KB Shimmer nail polish is the coolest. With its shimmering mix of metallic black, purple, and gold tones, you can manipulate the finish with a magnet, pulling the still-wet polish in various directions to create a celestial look.

Keywordsnail artManicuresmanicurenail artistessieopinail polishcoteZoyafashion weekfallautumnNail Polishnails