Fashion

Halloween Nails You Can Wear Beyond Oct. 31

by Danielle Guercio

It's not too late to grab Oct. 31 by the gobstoppers and don some Halloween-inspired nail art! If you’re hitting the salon or even at home, a skillful, spooky Halloween manicure doesn’t have to be candy corny. If pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns are too reminiscent of the drugstore decorations aisle for your style, let these nail art professionals who kill it every day be your guide.

Creative nail artist Arielle Mosses took a variety of Floss Gloss favorites and brought down the haunted house with this extra-fun set of designs. Skulls, sunsets, witches, and gore are hand painted and ready to soak up all of the cool points Halloween is finally acquiring.

The best thing about Halloween is that it's actually becoming socially acceptable to be enthusiastic about it again. In these stressful times, indulging in a childhood tradition can be cathartic and a downright blast. Some of these designs are low-key enough to wear year-round, but look the part on the night of. Mosses is pretty skilled at making even a creepy look chic enough for everyday.

These seven designs are salon-doable or DIYable if you’re painting on a disembodied press-on nail to apply later. And the best part is that they're just creepy enough to wear year-round. Give it a shot!

1. Skull

You don’t have to rock a full set of ghost emoji nails to get the point across this year. Why not start with the all seasons goth girl fav: skulls! Using a double coat of Floss Gloss’s iconic candy apple red, Gangsta Boo (named after the Dirty South Legend Gangsta Boo) you’re laying down the base for the tip-framing skull. Two drops, one large and one small, of FG’s Moon Baby, allow to dry, and use a fine tipped brush to paint on Black Holy to outline the skull’s teeth and eye sockets.

2. Eyeball

A key drag queen not-so-secret-secret is custom press on nails. They make the Instagram rounds so often, it's really a mystery why it hasn’t caught on to everyone else. Press on nails are an accessory that you can wear for a week at a time, getting as wild as you want, for a night or a week with the appropriate adhesive. Kiss Products’ striped ImPress Gel Manicure make a bomb backdrop for this design, which frankly I would wear any time of year!

3. Black Cat

Another passable year round design is the Internet favorite: cats! What's more Halloweeny but kawaii enough to rock on the regular than a black cat? This anime-style cat rests on the base of the nail, so you don’t have to draw the head shape if you are DIYing. Just add the ears and a few well placed glitter chunks to mimic the starry sky for her to mew at.

4. Red Ombre

Bleed ombré with Bikini Coral, Fastlane, Gangsta Boo, Smoke on The Nail, Honey

Blood red is the perfect nonspecific Halloween color. It passes for blood as well as a trendy a fall oxblood. This ombré nail employs four of the hottest Floss Gloss reds and oranges, and looks like an autumnal progression or a fire pit. This one is easy to do at home with a simple trick: Allow each layer to get slightly tacky before blending in the next, so you get a seamless flow from dark to light.

5. RIP

Smoke on the Nail and Moon Baby look better than printed tights.

Creepy babes often work with spiderwebs even in the heat of summer, so don't be afraid to wear this bold red look well into the new year if that's what makes you happy! The maroon-ish red is looks killer next to forest greens and whites.

6. Witch

Kitschy as it is witchy, this look is terribly adorable. A shadowy figure crossing the moon is an easy Halloween identifier, but as it also becomes more socially acceptable to be a witch, people are expressing it through their clothes, accessories, and even nails! Fastlane reads like a killer sunset, hand painted to look like one of the most badass creatures of the night.

7. Bat

If you live in the supernatural realm, these designs are appropriate for your day-to-day, and if you are just a Halloween lover, they’re worth painting onto nails you can use over and over without any chippage. Bats at dusk are a common site outside of urban areas, and since they're so good to us by eating disease causing insects, celebrating them in all weather seems pretty normal.

Wednesday Addams types rejoice! Now that being on the goth side is pretty mainstream, you can take these anywhere you go.

Photos and Nail Design Arielle Mosses