If your wardrobe is a sea of black clothing, rejoice: The term “goth Christmas” is officially trending according to Google Trends’ December reporting, and I’m personally jumping on the bandwagon this holiday season. It may feel mandatory to thread bits of red, green, and blue into your wardrobe at this time of year, but let’s be honest—the “festive” color schemes aren’t the easiest to make chic. Most people opt to incorporate this palette into their manicures instead, asking for cherry-red nails or silver and gold nail art, but chic dressers everywhere are now implementing this aesthetic with deeper, vampier sets ahead of the holidays.

Nearly black manicures have been a staple for most fall and winter nail roundups for the past, well, how long have we been publishing these stories? However, we somehow forget that these edgy hues are options for the lighthearted celebrations that pepper December. Who has time to run to the salon to swap their holiday nails for sleek black New Year’s Eve tips, anyway?

I rounded up the save-worthiest sets to send to your manicurist ahead of the holiday rush. From blackened greens to shadowy plums (and of course, a healthy dose of black polishes), these are the coolest “goth” nail ideas to re-create this season.

A woman wearing all-black walking in front of a Christmas tree.

6 Goth Christmas Nail Ideas

Midnight Moon

Lucy Boynton's black manicure by Julie Kandalec.

Celebrity manicurist Julie Kandalec previously told Who What Wear that she’s “loving moon manis” for winter 2025. The nail artist recently painted this half-moon design on actress Lucy Boynton’s nails, and I’m itching to re-create this look for the holidays.

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Naughty Mistletoe

Dark green sparkly nails.

This is hands down my favorite festive manicure ever. The almost-black emerald hue, the barely there sparkle, the crisp glass finish. Why aren’t dark green manicures as popular as red?

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Merry Mulberry

Dark plum nails.

Deep plum shades are a fall and winter staple, and they look even more elegant over the holidays. Try a few swipes of this vampy hue for endless compliments at holiday parties.

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Velvet Firelight

Velvet glass red and black nails.

Regular nail polishes are effortlessly chic, but what if we took things up a notch? This moody velvet manicure shifts between blood red and black, depending on the angle you look at it. It’s finished with an ultra-glossy topcoat that makes this set look like glass—and utterly eye-catching to the “goth Christmas”–minded.