But it also means new trends – not only in fashion, but in beauty as well.

It’s time to throw out those bright nail colors of the summer and transition back into the darker hues of fall and winter.

Purple Reign

Purple is one of the most popular colors of the season when it comes to clothing, and the same can be said for nails. Instead of the bright purples and lavendars we saw for spring and summer, look for deep shades like plum, aubergine and violet. OPI has a new French-inspired collection and also recently teamed up with Sephora to create some beautiful shades, perfect for the Fall. I’m loving Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not (a gorgeous royal purple) and Don’t Go There (a lovely muted violet). I also love Rock Royalty by Creative Nail Design, it’s a beautiful deep purple shade.

Chocoholics Anonymous

A new trend for this season, and a fun twist on the popular black nail polish, is to go the chocolate brown route. Brown nails look classic and the earthiness softens them, making them a great way to get into the autumn mood. Some of my favorite browns out there are Essie’s Wicked and Priceless, China Glaze Unplugged, Avon’s Deluxe Chocolate and OPI’s Espresso Your Style! (several of these also have a great metallic hue, another trend for fall). Jan Arnold, co-founder of Creative Nail Design suggests having rounded square nails that extend just past the tip of the finger for this trend.

Precious Metals

Metallics are another popular trend in nails this fall, whether you go with gold, bronze or copper tones, or if you infuse the metallic trend into the colors of the season (purples, browns, greys, etc.). Chanel came out with, D’or Gold Fiction, a new limited edition, high-in-demand gold polish that is extremely pricey ($30!!!), but most nail polish lines carry their own versions of gold that can look similar with an extra coat or two. Try OPI, or China Glaze’s new collection for the fall called Rodeo Diva. It really plays up on the metallic trend and you can find all sorts of colors, from green to brown to another gorgeous purple hue. You can see swatches of this collection here and here.

Vamp It Up

As is always the case with fall, vampish tones like black, wines and deep, deep reds will be popular this year. From OPI’s new La Collection de France, We’ll Always Have Paris is perfect for the fall as is Lippman Collection’s Pump Up The Jam. Of course, these deep reds and blacks are easy to find in any collection, so just check your local drugstore.

Earl Gray

The last major trend for fall is grays. Gray is always a huge color on the runways and it’s trickled down to fingernails. From soft grays all the way to gunmetal, you’ll be seeing these everywhere. For more muted grays, OPI/Sephora’s new collection has Metro Chic a matte, purplish-grey. OPI’s French Collection has You Don’t Know Jacques, and Rescue Beauty Lounge has Concrete Jungle. For more metallic grays try Revlon’s Dark Pleasures line in Steel-Eto, Patent Leather or Talk Dirty or Color Club’s After Hours. Plenty of other collections are sure to have different hues of gray so keep your eyes open.

Fall is a great chance to let your darker side out, so grow your nails out a bit, slap on some dark polish, and show ‘em your inner demon.

If you disagree with me, all I’m going to say is…..if you could bag Ashton Kutcher would you??? RIGHT. So don’t argue with me, we all would. Demi could teach us a lesson or two, or eight.

Us twenty somethings DIDN’T “bag” Kutcher, a cougar did, since cougars have tricks we should add to the “bag” in order to…. “bag.” (Insert cheesy joke here, I couldn’t help myself.)

Obviously, we’ll never be able to compete with time, since, that’s science and time is an uncontrollable factor. However, if we are SMART, we’ll take some of the vampy COUGAR tricks in order to ooze absolute sex appeal, without having to wear “Mom jeans” (if you don’t know “Mom jeans”, look at your mothers flat, heart shaped ass and tell me how much that ISN’T cougar material.)

If we are smart, we already have a step up, since hey, we don’t have to worry about age defying wrinkle cream, menopause, gray hairs…and shit (the “and shit” was added for my immature emphasis.)

So what is a “Cougar” anyway, you ask??

A Cougar: A babe beyond 40. Sex drive on HIGH. Heels, on HIGH. Hair, on HIGH, with the assistance of Aqua Net, and BOOBS, up HIGH.

But most importantly…CONFIDENCE at a soaring dangerous level of: HIGH.

Who was the first Cougar? Well, for our generation, maybe “Stiflers mom” on American Pie. She had her eye on the prize, she trusted in her ability to follow through with her “mission” and she BELIEVED and ACTED “AS IF”, she were a goddess. Can you imagine if women our age had that approach?

Lord knows, I wouldn’t be alone tonight.

Men want to date Cougars (Dateacougar.com) because they’re tired of our RIDICULOUS insecurites. Yes, some of us have stretch marks, some of us have bellies, or big nipples, BUT damnit, do you think a Cougar gives A DAMN about that? NO. She thinks, so what? I’ve seen the world, I’ve dated numerous men, I’ve climbed mountains….I’m incredible.

If Twenty Something women could have that kind of confidence, it wouldn’t matter if we had a mad case of acne and snorted every time we laughed. Confidence can MASK all of your “imperfections” if we present ourselves with the belief that we are, perfection.

As Cougars do.

So what is the appeal you ask? Well, I don’t know….would you rather date a man who whines about his future and his boss all the time, or would you rather date a man who makes you feel like he has it, “all taken care of.” Since, obviously he’s a stud. I’d go with the latter.

Age does have the benefit of securing your belief in SELF. Cougars may not look as hot, but they wear their stories, their history, their years…..and they mold it all into this sexual energy of self assured beauty.

So yeah, would I like to be a Michelle Pheiffer-esque babe? Would I like to take tips from Diane Lane? HELLO? Of course.

The first step: Walking out of the door with a head held high, and confidence that isn’t afraid to slip my phone number across the table to a babe at the bar.

Thank YOU Cougars, for reminding us that we can be babes at any age.