Blurring your black polish into an ombré effect is one way to take the intensity down from a solid black mani. Lippmann also suggests pairing black ombré with gray or beige polish as a base.

“I love adding chains and metal pieces on top of the nail,” Lippmann says. Go for a painted silver chain or lay an actual mini chain right into the acrylic. It’s edgy and unique without being too over-the-top.

Paint a slick of black paint onto your tips to combine the micro French mani trend with a soft goth aesthetic. As Lippmann says, “If I were to choose a soft goth look to recreate, I love the traditional French manicure with black instead of white — it’s both chic and classic at the same time.”

Pearl details give off slightly historical, Victorian-era energy while still being wearable. “With soft goth, you can create a look that is so much softer and more intricate than just adding black to your manicure,” Lippmann says. She recommends keeping the base colors neutral for this one.

Chrome nail polish is having a moment all on its own, but can also be added to your soft goth nail art to spice things up. “It gives a balance of an edgier look while still being able to keep the manicure simple,” Lippmann says.

If you’re going to write something on your nails, make sure it’s in a Gothic font. According to Monson, Gothic fonts are a staple for goth designs — they’re bold, strong, and they give off vampire vibes. To soften the look, she suggests using a radial ombré as your base and going for a sweet word — like love — to show “you’re the biggest softie gothy around.”

To lean into your (slightly) darker side, Monson suggests painting spooky scenes on your nails, like a moon and stars, spiderwebs, or a mini skull. To make it soft goth, keep your polish light. The goth imagery juxtaposed with a brighter or pastel background softens the look, she says.

Monson recommends mixing creepy designs, like spiderwebs, with brighter colors to take your mani from Halloween to every day.

“Nothing says goth quite like black bats flying from their lair, but when you paint the night sky in a beautiful sparkly ombré starfield, you really soften the goth,” Monson says. “This orange-to-pink to-purple background lets you pair the look with more wearable colors while still exuding your dark side.”

Show your soft side with intricate florals painted on your tips, but make it goth by using black nail polish. Add a nail piercing and a metal cuticle accent and you’ve got yourself a gorgeously edgy mani.

“Goths are known for wearing black clothing and gorgeous dark, abstract eyeliner,” says Karina Medrano, a licensed cosmetologist at Elle B. Savvy in Denver, Colorado. For a similar look on your nails, she recommends going with a milky white base and painting abstract lines in silver or back.

To toe the line between goth and soft goth, Medrano recommends adding a skull gem — just make sure it’s sparkly.

Be both naughty and nice with a mani like this one that pairs dark accents on one hand — featuring metal studs, a rhinestone cross, and dark chrome tips — and white, angelic touches on the other.