Selena Gomez's merlot manicure gets pierced with gold hoops for fall

Selena Gomez has officially entered her vampy manicure era. After spending much of the year in bright tomato reds and pretty, polished pinks, the actor and singer has gone several shades deeper for fall, courtesy of longtime nail artist Tom Bachik.

Her latest set is a rich merlot red painted across long, almond-shaped nails — but this is no straightforward seasonal color swap. Bachik punctuated the deep wine shade with tiny pieces of gold hardware: delicate hoops piercing several of the tips, alongside raised gold dots and curved lines that give the manicure an almost jewelry-like finish. "Really enjoying rich, vampy colors for this season and some hardware to bring some edge," he wrote on Instagram.

It's a moodier turn from Gomez's recent rotation. She has repeatedly returned to vivid tomato reds, while her softer moments have included a glossy petal-pink set and the "sunset frost" manicure she wore to the 2026 Emmys. Bachik has created many of those earlier looks, so the shift reads as a deliberate autumn reset. The merlot shade plays like their autumnal counterpart — deeper and more sumptuous, with some added toughness.

A darker end of the polish spectrum

Gomez isn't alone in heading toward the darker end of the polish spectrum as temperatures drop. Anne Hathaway has recently worn a rich mulberry manicure, while Penélope Cruz has played with graphic dark reds, including a two-tone, asymmetrical set finished with slicks of cherry at the tips during the Cannes Film Festival. Naomi Watts and Uma Thurman appeared to coordinate their wine-stained manicures on the front row at Prada, too.

Nail adornments have also been enjoying a comeback this summer, largely riding the Y2K resurgence, but much of that has skewed loud. Gomez's version is more pared back — and that restraint is what makes it easy to copy. Keep the deep burgundy base, add a few small gold accents, and the whole thing reads like jewelry. It works as well with a leather jacket as it does with an evening gown. Pierce accordingly.