Ready for the crunch of crispy autumn leaves underfoot? Pumpkin bread, sweet potato pie, hot cocoa and apple cider?

Okay, me neither.  I’m a summer bunny, but one thing I do enjoy about fall (other than football season) is the opportunity to trade my ‘blush and bashful’ summer nails for deeper, more vampy tones, like Essie’s ‘Wicked’ ($8 at Ulta).  It’s an inexpensive way to bring the season’s hautest colors into your wardrobe without rushing out to buy clothes. 

Update your mani/pedi with “it-color” oxblood (a deep mahogany-burgundy), cobalt or sapphire blues (my grandma’s fave, believe it or not), candy apple reds or taupey-grays, which are also favored by First Lady Michelle Obama.  There’s something fab at every price point (about $1.99 for Sinful Colors’ ‘Let’s Talk’ at Walgreens, about $6 for Sally Hansen’s ‘Commander in Chic’ at Wal-Mart, to $8.50 for OPI’s ‘I’m not Really a Waitress’ at Ulta, to over $20 for Chanel’s classic ‘Vamp’)!

Image via Essie