Spooky Halloween Nail Art

Costume ideas: sorted. Halloween make-up: ready and prepared. Scary hair: good to go.

There’s only a week to go and although we’re almost ready, there is still one more box to tick on our Halloween check list: spooky nails. Being big fans of all things creative, we took this as the perfect excuse to go on a search for some creative nail art ideas.

Obviously, there’s only one place for the job: WAH nails. We headed down to their salon in the new Topshop Beauty Rooms to get a menacing manicure and to report back with some nail art inspiration...

These fangs are seriously ferocious.

The coral-pink is the foundation for this look, followed by the white teeth, red gums and then the added black detail. It looks intricate, but with the right tools, you’ll be fine. Invest in Models Own Nail Art Pens in Black and White, £6.00 each: they’re essential for these Halloween styles but will also come in handy time and time again when you’re experimenting with nail art in the future.

Top Tip: Patience is most definitely a virtue when it comes to nail art: make sure each layer is completely dry before moving on to the next. Taking your time WILL pay off.

Now this one is definitely for the nail art novices amongst us.

A couple of coats of white polish are left to dry before using a red nail art pen to draw a squiggly line across the nail. Then all that’s left to do is paint the top half and add a droplet lower down the nail.

Top Tip: Obviously, when Halloween is over and blood dripped nails aren’t quite as acceptable as they were, you can easily replace the red for another bright colour and you’ll still have a fun paint-drip style. We spied this look on the Prabal Gurung spring/summer 2013 catwalks so it’s worth perfecting now.

A skull that’s more sweet than scary.

On a base of black (ELLE loves: OPI Nail Lacquer in Lady in Black, £11) draw a simple skull shape using a white nail art pen, then add in the details on top in black. The teeth look a lot more difficult than they are; lightly dotting with your nail art pen will give a great effect.

Top Tip: Swap the black for a bright blue like Topshop Nails in Celestial, £5.00 in the summer time for a pretty festival look.

All eyes will be on you with this creepy design.
If you’ve got a steady hand, try dabbing a blue polish on top of a white base coat to create the eye colour, or if you’re a bit more wobbly, Nail Art Pen in Blue by Models Own, £6.00, will make it much easier to perfect this design. The veins are the finishing touches to turn this eyeball from gorgeous to gruesome within seconds.
Top Tip: Don’t worry about painting your cuticles by accident. A concealer brush dipped in nail varnish remover will be the perfect tool for tidying up the edges at the end.

Casper the friendly ghost is a definite favourite amongst the ELLE Beauty Team.

Although the whole design is black and white, this one is all about layers. Start by painting the whole nail in black, then use a nail art pen to draw on the white ghost shape, then a black nail art pen to create the mouth, eyes and eyebrows and then finish off by creating pupils by dabbing a white nail art pen on the eyes.

Top Tip: Don’t have the patience or the sharp eye? Miss out the pupils and the whisker-thin eyebrows and you’ll still have a cute little Casper that’s hopefully a lot easier to achieve.