Autumn is my favorite season. I’m lucky to live in New England, where the changing foliage is stunning and dramatic. Even on my daily commute to and from work over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed the previously green trees turning gorgeous shades of yellow, orange, red, and russet. I love the crisp bite to the morning air. Apples are my favorite fruit, caramel my favorite candy, and Halloween my favorite holiday. And the fall collections of nail polish are some of my favorite colors!

This looked better on my practice run on a nail wheel; I sort of rushed it when I did it on my hands. I originally wanted to do a herringbone manicure, but, man, they take practice. I was drawing sloppy lines all over the place. Not good, so I changed gears to what I do best: dots. I envisioned a sort of overlapping radial burst, and while this didn’t turn out quite how I imagined, I do like the way the colors go together, and I’d try it again.

I started with a base of Zoya Flynn, which is a soft camel tan that makes a warmer base than my usual OPI Don’t Pretzel My Buttons. Using a large dotting tool, I applied dots in SquareHue Bikini Beach, a yellow that’s just dark enough to make me think of autumn leaves instead of spring flowers. With a smaller dotting tool, I applied Zoya Pepper, a fall brick red. Finally, with an even smaller dotting tool, I applied butter LONDON in The Old Bill, a gorgeous metallic light copper. I gave the whole thing a quick coat of drugstore top coat for shine and to even out the layers.

If I were more ambitious, I would have done leaves, but even though it’s not perfect, I kind of like the result. What do you think?