When the temperature begins to dip, it’s your cue to trade in the bright, funky colors your clients were so attached to during the blazing hot days of summer. With autumn in full swing, it’s time to turn to polish shades reminiscent of the colors of fall. With that in mind, we asked a few nail artists to come up with fun designs using colors you’re likely to see during the cool months of autumn: shades of rust, brown, and plum. The looks are simple to recreate and they’re perfect to add on your clients’ nails.

1. Angi Wingle of Etters, Pa., came up with this gleaming design. She used two coats of a coppery brown shade as the base, then created rectangles using a burgundy shade containing a bit of bronze. She used a bronze shade to add detail and outline each rectangle.

2. This nail by Kristina Baune of Ultimate Imagge in Redwood Falls, Minn., has a bit of an American Indian feel to it. She first polished the nail with a coppery bronze polish. She polished the edges into a V shape using a darker shimmery brown. To soften the colors, she used a thin coat of a coppery penny-colored polish. Then, she used turquoise polish to create a V-shaped smile line. She used black to outline some of the shapes.

3. Yolanda Hernandez of Hair Today, Nails Tomorrow in Fresno, Calif., added some zing to this design by using orange polish as the base color. She added a bit of tan snakeskin to the mix, outlining it in gold.

4. For this design, Deb Ward of Artisan Salon in Livermore, Calif., used shades of bronze and copper and swirled them together to create a funky, abstract design. She added a bit of glitter for a shimmery effect.

1. Wingle chose soft plum and mauve polishes for this design. The French look was done with a white polish on the free edge and lunula and she used an art brush to carve out the geometric shapes.

2. Adela Muñoz of Sweet Af-Hair in Fontana, Calif., created this dramatic design. She polished the entire nail burgundy then added a swiveled line for vines from the top right- hand corner of the nail and across the bottom. She added V-shaped lines for added effect.

3. Baune’s inspiration for this decidedly feminine design came from a shoe, of all things. First, she polished the nail in a light pink hue. Then, she used a wine-colored polish to create the two curved lines along the bottom of the nail and the two inverted stripes ending at the free edge. She used the same shade and a detail brush to create the stitching effect. Then, she used a shimmery lavender polish to fill in the edges and cuticle areas.

4. Hernandez used a bit of plum in this design — and lots of shimmery green. She first polished the nail green, then used plum-colored polish to create a V shape along the free edge of the nail. She finished with gold stripes and stones for an added glittery touch.

1. Wingle came up with this groovy design. She used brown polish with a hint of plum in it as the base color. She created the geometric shapes using a light pink polish and a soft chocolate-colored polish.

2. Ward created this unique abstract design. She used different shades of brown, ranging from a dark shimmery brown to a coppery tan. She also used shades of gold, black, and even added some glitter to the swirly mix.

3. This feather-inspired design was created by Baune. She used a light creamy brown as the base color. Then, she used a striper brush and a chocolate brown polish to create the stripes, first creating a box in the center of the nail. She used the same shade to fill in with thinner stripes in alternating directions. She added a dab of turquoise polish in the middle of the nail as an accent, followed by a chocolate brown square.

4. For this leaf design, Hernandez used a shimmery brown polish as the base color. Then she added leaf accents on the top and bottom of the nail using shades of coppery orange and tan.

We’re often amazed at the designs nail artists conjure up. They never cease to amaze or surprise us with their creativity and use of color. Take Kristina Baune, a nail tech at Ultimate Imagge in Redwood Falls, Minn., for example. When we challenged her to come up with designs using only plum, bronze, and brown polishes, she readily agreed. Her inspirations for her designs ranged from a runway image of a model to a shoe she spied on the Neiman Marcus website. It just goes to show that inspiration can come from just about anywhere. After seeing this shoe on the Neiman Marcus website, Kristina Baune was inspired to create her stitched design for us.

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