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.

Now I'm Writing a Beauty Blog. Are you Surprised?

These days, I feel often not-so-glamorous. I used to be oh-so-glamorous before I got pregnant with Sam, developed stretch marks in places I didn't know you could develop stretch marks, and had endometriosis zap my energy. Through high school and college and several years beyond, I was a wear-makeup-everyday, big but classy hair-wearing, and for-the-most-part-stylish fashionista. I think a lot of my attachment to the beautifying world of fashion accessories, hair products, and makeup was tied to insecurity about my appearance. I was always a bit heavier and curvier than most of the girls I knew, and my personality doesn't quite fit into the mainstream. Makeup, in particular, was a way that I could control what I looked like, even if I didn't fit in. It also calmed my often jangled nerves to walk into a Sephora or Ulta and look at all the beautiful little jars and boxes.

In the years after I graduated from college, I "grew out of" makeup to some extent and saved it for special occasions. I also thankfully grew out of some of my insecurities. That was good.

Fast forward to 2010 -- I am married to a handsome guy who doesn't care if I wear makeup or super cute fashion accessories, and I am MASSIVELY pregnant. In addition to loving shopping and all things glittery, I also have an undying love of food, and pregnancy gave me an excuse to eat a completely unrestricted diet. I felt like a gigantic, uncomfortable dinosaur at the end of my pregnancy. My consolation prize -- my son, if you hadn't guessed -- has been a pretty excellent blessing.

Everything else about pregnancy pretty much destroyed my body as I knew it. For me, pregnancy provided not only a dramatic transition between non-parent and parent; it also marked my transition from healthy to not-so-healthy. After Sam's birth, I suffered plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, and a slipped bone in my foot related to my bones and tendons shifting about during pregnancy. The next big thing to pop up was my postpartum depression, anxiety, and OCD. I've also had two bouts of shingles and a nasty kidney infection. To top it off, my endometriosis grew and got much worse after pregnancy. Any doctor will tell you that's not supposed to happen, as pregnancy is often touted as a "cure" for endo. I'm living proof that endometriosis can and does grow after giving birth, and it's quite painful.

A lot of good has come out of the past three years. I've become a decent parent and a pretty legit adult about most things. I've battled PPD, and through tremendous effort, I've come out on the other side. I'm learning to accept now that I'll always have endometriosis, and I'm working on figuring out how to cope with it. I'm also an actual freelance writer, which I wouldn't have pushed myself to do if I hadn't experienced all of these changes.

What does this have to do with a new blog, and why abandon my old one? I haven't really abandoned A Savvy Mom, but I think I'm bothered by my own pride in calling myself "savvy," and I'm greatly embarrassed about some of my early posts touting the more "natural" way of things. My journey now is different than my journey to being a parent. Sam is still the most important thing in my life and the reason I push myself to change for the positive. But my journey is now about becoming a role model for him, and that means working on doing what I love.

Because of my illness and my mental health, part of my journey is about connecting with my body and trying to like it again. One of the ways I've begun that journey is renewing my passion for being glamorous. On my bad days, the ability to put myself together and be even slightly fabulous has helped me feel much better about myself. Since we're pretty broke, I've used money I've made writing online and selling old shit on eBay to trade out my old bras, makeup, and some of my wardrobe. And that's been really fun.

So fuck it; now I'm writing a beauty blog. Read it.