The 8 Autumn Winter Nail Colours That Always Look Chic

Deep, glossy chocolate is the shade of the season. It looks expensive on short, squoval nails and works with every skin tone. Try Essie for a rich, long-wearing brown.

Think red wine held up to the light: sheer enough to feel modern, dark enough to feel wintry. Nails.INC does brilliant jelly-finish berries.

For anyone who wants clean, groomed nails without colour. Two thin coats of a sheer pink and a glossy top coat. It never chips noticeably and suits every dress code.

The glazed-doughnut look has gone wintry: think pearl over burgundy or champagne over brown. Perfect for the Christmas party season.

Muted greens look unexpected and grown-up, especially with gold jewellery and camel knitwear.

A true red never dates. Go for a blue-based red if you wear silver, a warmer tomato red if you wear gold. Chanel Le Vernis in Pirate is the cult favourite for a reason.

A soft grey-beige looks polished with tailoring and is far more forgiving than white when it grows out.

For maximum impact, go so dark it reads as black until it catches the light. Keep nails short so it looks chic rather than gothic.

Wipe nails with remover before your base coat to remove oils.

Paint thin layers and cap the free edge each time.

Add a fresh top coat every two or three days.

Use cuticle oil every night. Healthy nails hold polish longer.

The easiest way to pick a shade is to look at what you wear most. Live in camel, cream and chocolate? Espresso, greige and milky burgundy will look like they were chosen to go with it, because they were. Mostly black and grey? A blue-based red or almost-black plum gives you something to look at without fighting the clothes.

Gold jewellery loves warm shades: brown, olive, tomato red. Silver works better with cooler tones like plum, sheer pink and anything with a chrome finish. Not a rule, more of a nudge. If you wear both, greige sits happily in the middle.

Long, sharp almond nails had their moment. This winter the look is short, neat and softly rounded, filed just past the fingertip. It makes dark colours look deliberate rather than dramatic, chips are less obvious, and you can actually type. If yours are bitten or uneven, file them all down to match the shortest one and start again. Nobody will know. File in one direction rather than sawing back and forth, which splits the ends.

A gel manicure lasts two to three weeks and costs anywhere from £25 to £45 depending on your postcode. Worth it for a wedding, a holiday or December, when there's no time to repaint. The rest of the year, a good polish at home does the job. Just don't peel gel off. It takes layers of nail with it and leaves them thin and bendy for months. Soak it off properly or go back to the salon.

Dark polish draws attention to your hands, so give them some love. Cold weather and central heating leave cuticles ragged and knuckles dry. Keep a cuticle oil by the bed and rub it in each night. It takes ten seconds. A hand cream in your bag, coat pocket and desk drawer means you'll actually use one. L'Occitane's shea hand cream is the classic for a reason, and Neutrogena's Norwegian Formula costs about three quid and works just as hard. Wear gloves when you're out, too. Cold, brittle nails crack and chip more easily.

Boots is the place for Essie, Barry M and Rimmel, all under a tenner and properly good. Space NK has the more fashion-led shades from Nails.INC and Manucurist, a French brand with brilliant plant-based formulas. And for the treat bottle you'll keep on the dressing table for years, Selfridges stocks Chanel and Dior. Chanel's Rouge Noir has been the original almost-black since the nineties, and it still holds up.

One final thing. Buy a decent top coat before you buy another colour. It does more for a manicure than any shade ever will.