I don’t paint my nails all that often – I’m just too hard on my nails and the maintenance usually feels like too much work. For some reason, though, the beginning of fall always makes me want to play with polish. Maybe it’s the return of rich, highly pigmented shades, or my appreciation for the way a well-manicured hand looks peeking out from the sleeve of a cozy fall sweater. Whatever it is, every year I become obsessed with a fall-ish polish and go a little manicure crazy.

This year, it all started when I spotted the new Olivia Palermo x Ciate London Nail Collection. That blue! That deliciously dark red! Right away I started jonesing for some wine-colored nails of my own, so I scanned my nail polish collection and was happy to find a perfect pick from last year’s fall lineup: Essie Dress to Kilt. It gave me the deep, glossy red I was after, at a much more reasonable price point. I managed to keep this manicure in tact for 5 days, during which time I received a ton of compliments. Apparently, I’m not the only one loving this dark red for fall.

I had no sooner removed that manicure when I received my September Ipsy bag in the mail. To my delight, it contained a fun new polish, Trust Fund Beauty Nail Polish in Elegantly Wasted. This lilac purple shade looks surprisingly great with my skin tone. The polish dried super fast, and I’ve only had it on for a day and a half, but so far it has lasted beautifully through some intense housework and general carelessness (did I mention I’m hard on my nails?). It’s not the traditional plum that you normally see this time of year, but I’m kind of loving that.

What nail colors are you loving for fall?