As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post may contain affiliate links. See our full disclosure here.
With the holidays coming up it’s time to start gathering inspiration for your Thanksgiving nails! If you plan things right, you can easily pick a nail art design that will work throughout the entire holiday season. Or get your manicure done early and enjoy your Thanksgiving nails throughout the fall season.
Some of these Thanksgiving nail design pictures are perfect easy projects for beginners and DIYers. Others are more professional nail art ideas that would be fun for an experienced nail artist to recreate, or to bring to the salon as inspiration for your next manicure.
Popular Thanksgiving Nail Colors
Whether you’re planning an elaborate set or just want some simple painted nails for Thanksgiving it’s a good idea to start with popular Thanksgiving nail colors. Here’s what’s trending this year:
Krona-logical Order by OPI
With purple undertones and a deep brownish hue, OPI’s Korna-logical Order brings in some of the rich colors that are reminiscent of fall’s most gorgeous changing leaves.
Fall-ing for Milan by OPI
This is a great basic brown for fall or Thanksgiving. It’s not too dark, which makes it an ideal neutral for contrasting with deeper shades. Of course, it’s also wonderful on its own, too.
Icelanded a Bottle of OPI by OPI
If you prefer nail polish colors that are closer to nude, Icelanded a Bottle of OPI is a great balance of soft beige and fall-inspired color. It’s bold enough to be impactful, but still a neutral option that can be worn to the office and all your holiday gatherings.
Bold & Boulder by Essie
Essie’s Bold & Boulder is a swoon-worthy fall color that’s perfect for Thanksgiving. It’s a deep burgundy red color (which is traditional for autumn hues), but balanced with brown undertones so it feels rich, warm, and seasonal.
Force of Nature by Essie
Thanksgiving isn’t just reds and browns; plenty of nature stays green throughout autumn and winter. Whether you’re drawing inspiration from pumpkin stems or evergreen fir trees, Essie’s Force of Nature polish is the perfect forest green color for Thanksgiving.
Remington by Zoya
Best described as rosewood brown, Remington is a neutral color that’s both bold and professional. If you want a seasonal look, but love pink, you’ll adore the rose undertones of this nail polish.
ORLY Fall Collection
If you don’t know what to pick for Thanksgiving nail colors why not get a little bit of everything? This bundle has popular, trendy fall colors that are perfect for detailed nail art, Thanksgiving dinner, and the whole autumn season.
Nails For Thanksgiving: Our Favorite Ideas and Trends for Fall 2023
If you’re more into nail art than simple colors for your Thanksgiving nails there are so many great ideas out there. Here’s some of our favorite seasonal ideas to use as inspiration for your next manicure.
Cute Thanksgiving Vibes Nail Art
Love how cute these nails are! They have major Thanksgiving vibes with the colors, but are still simple enough that you can wear them throughout November and December too.
Matte Florals
Matte nail polish is super trendy for fall! Try pulling in your favorite seasonal colors by painting cute Thanksgiving themed floral nails with matte nail polish.
Thanksgiving French Manicure
Brown is no longer a boring color when you use rich fall hues like chocolate. It’s even better when contrasted with a pale contrasting color like nude, clear, or pink. I love how the light pink balances out the darker brown for a perfect Thanksgiving inspired French manicure.
Abstract Designs
Abstract nails are great for beginner nail artists or DIYers. Get creative and combine your favorite seasonal colors to create unique designs. Tip: Grab some small brushes and a dotting tool to make precision work like this easier.
Pumpkin Pie Nail Art for Thanksgiving
No need for subtlety when it comes to the designs on these pumpkin pie nails! Love the idea of doing different coordinating designs. This design would work great on long or short nails.
Plaid Accent Nail
This is another great simple Thanksgiving nail art idea for beginners. Instead of doing a design on each nail, paint just one with a plaid design. You could even do these for Halloween and keep them all season long.
Tortoiseshell Gel Nails
This tortoiseshell pattern looks stunning with the gloss of gel nail polish. Made of browns, oranges, and black, tortoise shell is a perfect choice for fall. If it’s too bold try toning it down with a lighter complimentary color like they did with the pink on these nails.
Sparkle Fall Nails
There’s never a bad time for sparkly nails! Pair glittery accents with Thanksgiving inspired colors to create a seasonal look that’s still a bit glamorous. If you can’t find a great hue in a glitter polish opt for a sparkly clear top coat instead.
Thanksgiving Inspired Fall Nails
If you’d prefer to keep your nail art for the whole season opt for general autumn nail designs that will still look cute for Thanksgiving gatherings. These adorable woodland nails, with orange squirrels, pumpkins, and leaves, are a perfect example of nail art that works throughout October and November.
Thanksgiving Scarecrow Coffin Nails
They might be too cute to scare off any crows but these coffin shaped scarecrow nails are perfect for Thanksgiving dinner, or all the whole fall season for that matter.
Sparkly Maple Leaves
Another fun Thanksgiving season nail art idea for short nails! These maple leaves were hand painted on top of a sparkly base coat, but you could recreate the look at home with nail art decals too.
Multi-Color French Tip Nails for Thanksgiving
I love French tips but the way this nail artist incorporated them onto long, oval shaped nails is gorgeous. If you need a classy, professional look try the cream and brown two-toned neutral tip idea. Or, add some extra fun to your manicure by painting coordinating designs on one or two accent nails.
Gradient Neutral Tones
Gradient nails are super trendy right now! This is an easy idea to DIY at home or for your nail tech (who already has an array of colors available) to paint on without much fuss. As long as the colors match and you go from dark to light you can’t go wrong!
Brown Nails for Thanksgiving
When we think of fall colors brown is often seen as a less desirable one. (Think about the lyrics to California Dreamin’, for instance.) This nail art inspo, which combines shades of brown and tan in matte polish with glittery gold, proves that brown nail art can be so much fun.
Orange Pumpkin Pie Inspired Nails for Thanksgiving
More pumpkin pie nails for Thanksgiving! These ones are super subtle and pull those delicious pie colors like pumpkin orange and whipped cream white. What a super cute idea for Thanksgiving French tips!
Burnt Orange and Glitter
Burnt colors aresupertrendy for fall right now. The matte polish really brings out the rich colors of the burnt orange nail polish and I love how it coordinates with the pumpkin art on the accent nail.
Glazed Nail Trend in Pink
These nails were inspired by the glazed nail trend. Normally done in chrome, pearlescent nails in a fall inspired pink would be a cool, trendy idea for Thanksgiving.
Shades of Green for Thanksgiving and Christmas
The shiny accents of this nail art adds a pretty touch to otherwise simple designs. If you’re working with greens this fall, try using a couple complimentary shades for an eye-catching pop of color. These nails would also look great for Christmas, too.
Argyle Nails
Argyle and Thanksgiving go together like, well… Sweaters and fall. That makes these argyle nailssocute for the season. You can easily swap them out to your favorite seasonal colors and I love the idea of fully painting a couple of nails alongside a few French tips.
Cute Critters and Fall Leaves for Thanksgiving
Another example of adorable fall critters on short nails! This cute design is great inspiration for Thanksgiving nail ideas that use a clear base coat.
Acrylic Thanksgiving Ombre Nails
Ombre nails with French tips for Thanksgiving? Yes please! These nails are easy enough that you could DIY them, but they’d also make a great idea for your next acrylic set or manicure too. Love the cream and brown together for fall!
Sunflower Art
Thanksgiving isn’t too late to enjoy trendy sunflower nails! Paired with muted fall colors they’re a fun way to get a pretty and colorful look this season.
Mix & Match Design Inspiration
For when you can’t decide on just one nail design! Mix and match nails are always fun, especially if you pull in cute fall accents like pumpkins and plaid.
Colorful Pumpkin Nails for Thanksgiving
Whether it’s pumpkin pie or just for decoration, pumpkins are a must-have for the Thanksgiving season. I love the way this nail artist pulled in the vibe with pumpkins and fall tones but still kept the nail art colorful.
Cream Nails and Plant Stickers
These cream nails are absolutely gorgeous! What’s so amazing about this art is that it’s completely doable at home; the designs are actually done with nail art stickers instead of paint.
Retro Thanksgiving Nail Designs
The orange and brown colors of the 70s are absolutely perfect for Thanksgiving season nails! Bright nail art like this is great for someone who wants a trendy design that works on its own, but still coordinates with the fall colors of your outfits.
Mustard Yellow Nail Polish
Another vintage inspired color, mustard yellow is an absolute winner for this time of year. Go with solid nails throughout, or bring in some accent shades with fun designs like swirls on a few nails for a more customized look.
Thanksgiving Fall Color Combo Nails
This is a great example of how you can coordinate different fall colors into one set of nails. Reddish brown and pale green may not seem like a match, but here they compliment each perfectly.
Easy Thanksgiving Nails
If you want easy Thanksgiving nails that will wow your family and friends this is a great design idea to recreate. Start with a clear base coat, then paint on the fall colored polish for a unique look. I love the way they also added an ombre theme to this set by changing the shade with each nail.
DIY Swirls
Swirls are a timeless nail art idea that looks fancy without hours of painting. Start with a clear coat, then pair contrasting fall colors (or a darker fall shade with white) to recreate this nail design.
Short Thanksgiving Turkey Nails
Last butdefinitelynot least, I give you turkey nails. These are just way too cute to pass up when it comes to Thanksgiving themed nails. I love how well they work on short nails too so there’s no need to worry about a broken nail while you gobble gobble your turkey dinner.
Check out theseFall nail designsfor more inspiration that would be great for a Thanksgiving manicure.
