The Most Popular Nail Colors and Designs to Try in November

The simplest designs can get a major fall upgrade so long as you pair it with deep jewel tones and muted hues, like this abstract look above. Play around with placement for a more tailored look, or opt for the same design throughout with varying colors.

Tortoiseshell nails will never not be in for fall. But feel free to make yours feel a bit more ~fancy~ with these added gold studs. The key is to bring teeny-tiny studs to your nail appointment (or to DIY with), so as to not overtake your design.

Okay, I know I said we should let November shine on its own before red nail season, but these stunning velvet nails are too good to wait on. Paint on a magnetic polish for the hyper-glittery effect.

Consider this watercolor, bright nail design the next gen of aura nails. Nail artist Naomi Yasuda airbrushed these on to get that blended, perfectly imperfect look on each nail. BUT a super cool hack I saw on TikTok involved using eyeshadow to fake it if you don’t have an airbrush tool. Paint on a base color, then take an eyeshadow brush and dip it into your color of choice and pat it on your nails. Once you’re finished, apply a top coat to seal it all in and add shine.

According to every nail artist I’ve interviewed, olive-colored nails are going to be everywhere this fall. But if you wanna make yours feel a bit more special, brush on a chrome powder on top to give it a glazed effect.

No, like, this bronzey nail look is taking chrome nails to the next level, and it’s so good. Instead of a standard deep-brown, coat your nails in bronze chrome powder for a burnished, vintage vibe.

Manifesting Reputation (Taylor’s Version)? Same. But even if you’re not a Swiftie, these snakeskin nails are very on-trend for fall/winter. The easiest way to achieve the look yourself is by sticking on a pair of press-ons or a nail wrap set—as nail artist Zola Ganzorigt used on Jenna Dewan.

You know those coffee charts to help tell the barista how much creamer you want? This is basically that, just on your nails. Grab a handful of brown polishes in varying tones (feel free to include a black and cream in there, as well) and go to town. Bonus points if you get a different shade on every nail, or feel free to repeat the order on both hands.

Chocolate brown is having such a moment in fashion and accessories, so it’s perfect to dip your toes and nails in with this set. It feels creamy and ~demure~ but the depth creates some edge too. Sipping hot cocoa while you have these nails is not optional, actually.

To the untrained eye, these look like a stunning set of fall floral nails. And that they are! But IYKYK, they’re meant to mimic the piano Taylor Swift playing during the surprise songs at the Eras Tour. I am, personally, mourning the end of the Eras era and feel like memorializing it on your nails this month feels just right.

Did you really expect me to not go all out with pumpkin spice while we can?!?! Sry, but it’s a rite of passage to make it to winter. The ones above have a lil bit of chrome powder on top to add a glazed finish too.

Reminder to all that election day is November 5. What better way to encourage doing your civic duty than a set of vote nails? If you’re too busy being a poll volunteer to get your nails done, don’t worry—just stick on these letter decals.

So these nails legit scream fall, Thanksgiving, pumpkin patch, apple-cider sipping vibes. And they’d actually be so easy to DIY. All you need is a few pumpkin-y nail colors, plus a cream shade to act as a base for an orange glitter polish.

Thanksgiving nails aren’t the most exciting, necessarily, but these French tips have an elevated look that offers up a whisper of fall energy without covering your hands in pumpkin pies. My hidden lil secret that I won’t gatekeep any longer is that I always use this silicone nail stamp to make my French tips look profesh.

Gotta be honest, fall nail colors are simply the best. So you shouldn’t limit yourself to just one! There’s kinda no rhyme or reason to the order or color choices here, which makes it even more fun to pick and choose your favorites at the nail salon or from your polish collection.

Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan with six years of experience researching, writing, and editing nail stories that range from October nail colors to Bubble Bath nail ideas. She’s an authority in all nail categories, but is an expert when it comes to fall nail designs and October nail looks (she’s personally been planning her Halloween nails for months).