13 Thanksgiving Nail Designs to Show Your Love for the Fall

Dainty Decals

Even those who aren’t a fan of neutrals and nudes can spice up the holiday season. Hemi Park, a manicurist and LeChat Nails educator says that tiny sparkles can add a personal touch to nails. We love this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sparkly decal placed at the base of the nail. Park says that if you don’t like the bumpy texture of crystals, you can try glitter speckles and chunks of shaped shimmers on top of your favorite manicure.

Abstract Swirls in Earth-Toned Colors

This is the season to use earth tones. Choi says that a modern abstract painting on nails with this trio can create a balanced, calm, and contemporary look. Begin with a sage-green base, and then create organic shapes using curly swirls of complementary colours. The swirls are not perfect so you don’t need to use a fine-tipped nail brush. You can just use your regular brush provided with your polish.

Tortoise Shell with a Cinnamon Stripe

Tortoise shell, while not looking exactly like its nameake animal tortoiseshell, is a great neutral nail polish (and cat and sunglasses)! This glossy look is complemented by a subtle, but elegant cinnamon stripe. Elle, celebrity nail artist, says that you will need a sheer amber, deep chocolate and black to achieve the tortoiseshell look. To create dimension, start with the sheer amber. Next, add your black shade and chocolate shade. To darken the amber color, continue layering it. Finish by adding a delicate crescent-shaped, red line.

Painted patches

Imagine yourself in a cornfield. Imagine yourself as straw, scaring away crows. Do you feel the autumnal dream? These scarecrow-style, stitched patches can be applied to your tips. Claire Lapointe swapped the classic French manicure’s fine lines with patches for fall by using a smaller detail brush and multiple nail polish colors. Even if you don’t like dressing up for Turkey Day, your nails will look their best.

Curvy Terracotta Cut-Outs

Tea Chau, a nail artist tells us that her inspiration for this design is the cut-out curves of women’s dresses. Chau says she chose brown because it gives her a bold, sexy look. The Makartt Three Piece Nail Art Set provides detailed brushes to help her create the outline.

Biker Jacket Nails

Britney TOKYO, a nail artist, is searching for inspiration in punky biker jackets this Thanksgiving. These nails are tough because they have three layers: the glossy black, the spiky cals and the knife-sharp, angled tips. You can mix and match any of these or just one. For the same effect, you can use flat silver studs and rounded silver beads if spike decals are too much of a safety risk. You can show your Thanksgiving manicure to any family member who asks questions about you or your life.

Necklaces for Short Neutral Nails

Rita Remark, a Nail Artist and Global Lead Educator for Essie, says that 2022 was a year of “dizzying nail designs.” For a simple, but striking look, she suggests adding a high shine crystal or stud onto your Thanksgiving manicure.

She says that all you need to make this trend work is a small jewel or chrome stud. For maximum effect, apply the jewel to a neutral background. You don’t need a lot of bling, but we all have our limits. You can fake it by adding a little sparkle polish to your nails, such as OPI Jewel Be Bold Nail Lacquer or Essie Luxeffects Top Coat In Set In Stones.

Chrome Tips

These would be our top tips if we could have Thanksgiving on the Moon. They also look fantastic here on Earth. Remark: “French manicures have returned in a big way.” This is a French manicure with a twist. You can try the look with either a dark or metallic tip. You could do either, but this shiny chrome color is a great way to bring the 90s classic into today. You can use it with Essie Nail polish in In My Orbit and Londontown Lakur nail polish in Dishy Splendor.

Bright, Poppy Red Short Oval Nails

Consider the most vibrant red that you can think of and then choose one shade lighter. Remark suggests a red manicure for short nails. It looks great and would make a great Thanksgiving gift. She says that bright red was the hottest color on runways this season and prompted many interesting conversations on TikTok. It’s bold and always in fashion.

To give your manicure some Parisian flair, paint two coats of a bright candy-apple color (such as Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colours in Arancio Vibrante or Essie Nail Polishes in Geranium) on to the nails.

Bountiful Mountain

The sepia-colored mountains at the tips will help you move mountains this Thanksgiving. Tessa Lyn claims that she used the edges on her nail polish brushes to “layer the shades from darkest to lightest” to create these cascading mountain peaks. Grab your warm-toned nail colours and start painting.

Mixed Fall Palette for Short Nails

Amy Murillo, an Instagrammer, kept the same color family and gave each nail a Thanksgiving nail design. This DIY nail art idea looks great on shorter nails. A solid mustard yellow and chocolatey Brown were paired with an orange and white plaid nail, and a glittering golden one. This manicure looks professional and can be completed the night before your inlaws arrive for Thanksgiving.

Fall Flowers

Even though flowers are not in full bloom this time of year, floral-themed nail art is very much in fashion this season. Amy Tan, the nail artist behind this look, says that fall color palettes are always inspiring to me so I took these warm, cozy colors and applied them my general obsession with florals. Tan advises that the flowers be painted only at the tips of their petals and to use your pinky to stabilize your hands while creating this design.

She also carried detail brushes, including Orly’s Long and Short Detailer brushes, as she was able to create intricate nail designs. This look included Sienna from Olive Ave Polish, For Ever by For Tmrw and Basic by Loud lacquer.