The Search for the Perfect Fall Nail Polish

I have a minor obsession with nail polish and always have. When going through my colors the other day, I realized that my collection contains mostly pastels.

I've been hoarding Easter colors since 2012.

You can see a few of my dark red and pink selections. Revlon's "Plummy," Essie's "After Sex" and "Jamaica Me Crazy," Sally Hansen's "Cherry Cherry Bang Bang," and Nicole's "Miss Independent" are totally lovely, but pretty conservative. This collection represents the vestiges of my professionally appropriate polish collection that I wore as a teacher. (I do have concerns about the idea of "professionally appropriate" nail polishes since I think you should be able to wear whatever the fuck you want on your nails, but that's a post for another time.) Anyway, I'm figuring it is time to get a little more sexy and a little less professional.

I've very recently become addicted to the world of indie designer nail polishes. I'm specifically addicted to the polishes on Etsy -- the purveyors of these lacquers take gorgeous pictures, relying on their creative designs and color choices over their brand name loyalty. I've gone back and forth over which fall colors should win my heart, and I think I've found just the ones. No Essie or Lippmann for me this go around; I'm going indie, and I hope to review some polishes for you. Here's my autumnal wish list:

First up, we have Ambrosia by Ninja Polish. Ninja Polish is the only brand of the bunch not sold on Etsy. This is one of the bigger names in indie nail polish designs. Ninja Polish is a website dedicated to bringing the world beautiful, smaller label nail polishes at great prices. The two owners of Ninja Polish actually met playing Farmville on Facebook. If that doesn't make you want to buy this polish, I don't know what will.

Ninja Polish is their own label; however, they also sell hundreds of other small brands. Ambrosia is one of the colors from their "Enigma" line. It's a hot pink, leaning towards red, jelly-based polish with a bit of shimmer in the light. Although it appears to be a year-round color, it reminds me of apples at the farmer's market in fall. I want it.

This next polish from Etsy retailer Pretty Jelly is aptly named "Sexy Pumpkin." Pretty Jelly is a small shop, providing mostly shimmery, holographic polishes and a few glitter-based nail polishes. This is a reddish orange polish with a bit of holographic sparkle and a few different colors of glitter. It apparently contains some reddish sparkle, which we can't see in the pictures. This means I should buy it and test it, right?

This gorgeous color, "Illuminaughty," is by Urban Lacquer, my very favorite shop I found while scrolling through Etsy over the past few weeks. I like Urban Lacquer for its tremendous variety, insanely beautiful photographs, and the fantastic color selection. You should check it out. Really. Now. Check it out.

I've also become obsessed with finding a dupe for Essie's Starry Starry Night, a color from a few years back. This is certainly not a dupe here, but it might fulfill my need for a dark blue nail polish that glints like the night sky. Starry Starry Night is a black-blue, while this blue is closer to a royal. 

Since the actual Starry Starry Night sells on eBay for like a hundred bucks, I am not going to get the real thing, ever. I do want this. Oh how I do. Connection to autumn? It reminds me of the night sky in autumn. Bam. Sold.

What would my sexier autumnal collection be without a dark purple jelly polish, adorned with silver shimmers and sparkles? Nothing. It would be nothing.

This polish, by KB Shimmer, is named "Witch Way?" The name gives it a Halloween vibe, and I could see myself performing a lazy-day manicure with this dark, sultry purple for a witch costume in the evening. It's dark, it's plummy, it's shimmery and feminine. Perfectly divine.

KB Shimmer also sells some amazingly beautiful soaps. Like Urban Lacquer, it's a shop with a lot of beautiful variety among polishes. And the soaps and things are so pretty to contemplate as well.

I'm going to wrap up the list with "Chilean Chocolate" by Two Gypsies Lacquer. Two Gypsies Lacquer was certainly the smallest shop that I found, focusing on smaller releases of nail polish collections. This is, of course, from their 2013 fall collection, and ain't it grand? I wouldn't have thought to pair this rich brown with a light sparkle, but it definitely dazzles. And in a liberal office space, it would probably be considered borderline professional. And certainly still sexy.

My nail polish budget is sadly low, so I limited myself to two to three fall colors, with my next purchasing allowance in December. (I need holiday colors, right?) If I didn't limit myself to a few colors at a time, I'd be buy nail polish all day, all the time, every day of the week. But five bucks here and there adds up, even for a glamorous mama like me. I will have a review for you when I figure out which ones I simply must have.