Indie Spotlight Series: Meet the Maker of My World Sparkles Lacquers!

Image credit: My World Sparkles Facebook 

Hey y'all! Today on the blog I have the next installment of my Indie Spotlight Series to share with you! This month's indie spotlight is all about the maker of My World Sparkles Lacquers, Elizabeth! I have swatched for Elizabeth a few times and love her polishes so of course she was perfect to interview for the series. If you want to meet the maker of My World Sparkles, keep reading!

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What inspired you to create your brand, My World Sparkles and how did you choose the name?

Well since childhood I have been fascinated with things that sparkled, wether it be a quartz rock on the ground to a simple bottle of glitter glue.  As I got older and more knowledgeable I studied gems and minerals and started a collection of gemstones, Swarovski pieces, and anything that sparkled.  I even graduated with a Graduate Gemologist degree just to learn more about things that sparkled.  As for my life I could never leave anything “plain” I always had to sparkle it up.  Cross stitch patterns were changed to add beads and sparkly floss, my very first cell phone was quickly covered with glue on rhinestones way before it was ever cool, I bought Pentel pens just because I could open them up and fill them with glitter, nothing was “safe” around me it all had to be “improved”!  I once had an employee that got me a key chain that read “I was going to conquer the world but I was distracted by something sparkly” that was perfect because that exact statement was me!  So needless to say the name came quickly to mind and nothing else seemed right!  My world is full of sparkles as much as I can make possible.  Now my inspiration for the brand was entirely my husband Jeff.  I was sitting on the floor in front of him as I excitedly went through my latest large box of nail mail.  I was showing him all the colors and saying my ohhhh’s and ahhhhh’s and he looked at me and said “baby you love nail polish and you love sparkly things so since you are a Gemologist and you are trained to know your colors why don’t you start your own polish company?”  I looked at him and said with some hesitation “really?” He said yes and so I sat there admiring the bottles and my mind started to race!  Six months later, many nights of startling him awake with a thought, and a lot of research I started to create my little beauties!  I did have some help in the beginning from a large well known indie brand owner and for her kindness and help I will forever consider her a dear friend.

What goes into your prototype/testing phase?

Well of course the first thing is an idea of what I want it to look like so I start with the color base.  I mix and dabble with combinations till I get it just perfect.  I then play around with different combinations of glitter, if there is to be any, till I get that right.  I take tons of notes so I don’t forget my mixtures and when completed I put it down in my “recipe book”.  I have pretested my colors and glitters for bleeding or other issues so the items I work with in the end are deemed good to use.  When all is said and done the finished piece sits for a determined time to make sure it stays perfect and I check it for any issued that may pop up after completion.  If heaven forbid there is ever an issue after the item has launched I will do a recall and notify each buyer and offer another color free of charge.  After the color has been completed and is ready to go I decide when to release it and I may pre-launch it as a Monthly Mini, a pre release mini size the month before it goes out on my webpage as available, or I give notice of it’s launch through amazing ladies who swatch and blog about it.  They are awesome at what they do and they do not get enough credit for their hard work!  I will also announce the release through my email news letter Sparkly News.  I will give sneak peeks throughout the process on my FaceBook pages to let everyone know what is in the works and to share the fun.  Sometimes I will have a themed release for a specific season or event and for those times the colors will have a set release date but are made well in advance, better to be safe than sorry.

How do you come up with the names of your polishes?

Oh boy there are so many ideas in my head and in notebooks I could create for a very long time!  I can be laying in bed about to fall asleep and an idea will jump out and I have to grab my notebook that I keep at my bedside just for those times.  Sometimes I will have a color idea and only have a name after I am done with it but most of the colors come with the name idea.  Once in a while my 13 year old will come to me with an idea and we talk through it and if it seems like it will pan out then I write it down for later.  Luminous Moon was actually an idea from my son and I tweaked the name.  Other times I will tell my husband about a color I’m working on and he will offer some suggestions, Mystery Splat! came from him telling me the bottle I was holding looked like mystery splat. :)  He didn’t believe me when I said I was going to use that until I showed him the labeled bottle.  I have been walking around or riding in the car and I will get a lightbulb moment and that gets written down right there before I loose it.  But most of all it’s the same way I used to design jewelry; I will look at the idea/item and think about it and a name will come to me based on the contents of the idea.  I like to be cute with some of them and others are named how they are thought up or based on their collection theme. :)  As for the Jewel Box collection well that is all up to Mother Nature, I will look at my gemstone collection and say who wants to be a creation?  And when one catches my eye then I go from there.  

With all the responsibilities of life, how do you find the motivation to keep going with My World Sparkles?

Again my husband has encouraged me to put all my time and effort into my polish.  I love the creation part most of all so when I am stumped or have a blurry moment I just look around at everything and sometimes even play with the bags of color and glitter and remind myself that these are all beauties and they have a place in something beautiful.  My husband is a huge motivator because when I am feeling down he will tell me “baby you love doing it and you are good at what you do so keep it up, you can do it I have faith in you” .  Flipping through my ideas is a great kick start when I am stuck and sometimes I just need to step back and take a day to just do nothing and then come back to it all and start where I left off. 

What do you think makes My World Sparkles a success?

I don’t know if I am a complete success just yet but I have a drive in me to keep pushing till I get things right.  My training and love for color as well as my knowledge of many beautiful things in the world is always there in my head helping push me along.  I keep doing till I have a “winner” and then I move onto the next one.  I think my biggest reward is when I am showing someone my swatch sticks or my iPad full of completed colors and seeing the joy on their faces and the amazement they have knowing that I created it really makes me proud to call My World Sparkles my baby.  I take great pride in it and therefore put my heart and soul into my work.  So if I am to be called a success I would say my love for what I am doing and the loving support from my family are the greatest reasons for my success.

Can you share a few photos of your mixing space/testing space with us?

Of course!  My workspace is in my home and when I first started Jeff teased me about the smell and came back in the room with his gas mask on from work!  I keep the door closed and all the windows open with different fans on so I keep myself well ventilated.  The gold “glob” is a mixing picture taken from a video I took while mixing it.  I though it was so beautiful how everything swirled and mixed together.  My work space is small and I have everything organized so I can get to exactly what I need.  I love labeling and organizing by color and product so the shelves are kept as a sparkly pretty work space!  Remember I love sparkle and whenever and wherever I can see it is a plus to me. :)  The small bottle collection is actually one bottle of every color I have ever made, except custom colors, and they are in the order they were created.  My husband says I’m a little OCD when it comes to my organizing and labeling. :)  The turnstile on my desk makes my little things and bottles easy to access.  The turnstile actually came from a Nordstrom makeup counter that was throwing them away!  I asked to have them and knew someday I would have a use for them. :)  I also have a love affair with Post-its and they are everywhere for quick reminders of ideas and things to do.  Jeff bought me the gemstone dispenser.  Always within eye view they make for easy and quick reminders.

           

I hope you guys enjoyed this month's Indie Spotlight with Elizabeth from My World Sparkles Lacquers. If you're interested in finding out more about her brand and keeping up to date on new releases you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook, sign up for her newsletter, join us in the MWS fan group, or email her with any questions you may have! All of her products can be found in the My World Sparkles store, HERE. 

Thanks for reading! 

Want to see more? Click below to connect with me!

Indie Spotlight Series: Meet The Maker of Message Beauty!

Hey y'all! Today on the blog I have this month's Indie Spotlight Series to share with you! November's spotlight is Message Beauty, a newer indie to our nail world. She makes nail and hand care items but her specialty, in my opinion is her acetone tonic. I reviewed it last month, you can read that HERE. Are you guys ready to get to know the maker of Message Beauty? She dropped us a line, let's jump in!

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Pish: What inspired you to start Message Beauty?

Message Beauty: I love making things for myself, but as most things in my life, my little family of 3 couldn't use enough of the products I was making to be efficient. I hate waste! It feels wrong to me. I started thinking about selling my excess product and really took off from there.

Pish: How do you decide what to do for future products?

Message Beauty: I see inspiration everywhere I go! I take screenshots of images I like, I save articles I read about the healing properties of a certain product. Then I take what I already have. What I already know, and think "How can I incorporate this?"  "Can I make this, into this", or "Can I do something clever to improve this".  I've honestly been trying to pace myself. I have so many more ideas that I can not wait to try out!

Pish: What goes into the testing/prototype phase?

Message Beauty: Out of every batch, I leave product in different settings. One goes in the fridge, one goes on the porch, one in the garage, one on the counter in my kitchen and one in the damp, humid bathroom. And then I let them sit. I want to know how long they'll stay fresh, how long they'll retain their scent, how well they transport, any pigmentation issues. In the beginning, I test out all of my products on myself. I am anal about mixing products. I do tons of research before I even mix two new ingredients. I research, research and research some more. I consult with different professionals (including an aromatherapist) so I feel very confident in their safety before I use them. But having myself as the guinea pig is the best solution. After I'm pleased with their testing results, I share the product with testers. I always ask for their honest opinions. I can't improve things without constructive criticism. I am not above tweaking existing product to make it better, or even tearing it down to it's base and starting over.

Pish: How do you decide on scents?

Message Beauty: There are so many out there! I start with what I love honestly lol. I always try and add one or two outside of my comfort zone to be inclusive of different tastes. And of course there are seasonal scents.  Margarita and Sunscreen might be taking a nap until next summer shortly.  I'm constantly smelling my favorite products and thinking, "What about this do I love?", pull out my favorite part and try and improve it. There are so many options out there, but I kind of want to buy them all. Kind of like my obsessive nail polish collecting. Now I'm browsing my suppliers websites thinking "Shut up and take my money!"

Pish: What do you think will make Message Beauty a success?

Message Beauty: Honestly, my customers.  It's my job to make great products and I'm hoping to find my own little niche but it would be futile without all that my customers do. Social media is such a weapon these days, especially in an over saturated market. I do my part. Run a professional business, make great products and give responsive customer service but that is to be expected of any business!  It's you that makes the difference. It's you taking a picture of your haul, or highlighting what you think is cute packaging or a nice finishing touch. It's you talking about your love for a product. It's you that misses a restock but shares it anyway. You are our voice.

Pish: I know you work by day and make your products by night. What drives you to keep going with Message Beauty?

Message Beauty: Have I mentioned I want to buy all the things to make products? Joking aside, I do LOVE making new products. It's a great creative outlet for me. It is incredibly fun. I specifically kept the brand name vague, because I have so many ways to expand. I wanted to business to be able to grow and mature with me.

But the best part is seeing product make it to it's new home. Seeing the customers using them and loving them. That gives me so much joy. That has always been a part of my personality. Luckily, I only work part time so that gives me plenty of time to work here.  I guess technically I work outside of the home part time, at home part time and as a mom full time. Those are all a luxury and I am very thankful for that. If it ever gets to a point where Message expands, I can easily step aside from the outside of the house job, no strings attached.

Pish: Can you show us some behind the scenes/testing areas for Message Beauty?

Mixing acetone tonic!

New supplies!

Liquid storage!

So that's it for this month's Indie Spotlight Series featuring Message Beauty. If you haven't tried her acetone tonic yet, I highly recommend it! It turns your acetone into a useful tool that won't dry out your nails and it leaves behind a yummy scent! You can find all of her products HERE. She's launching some new seasonal products tomorrow as well as her Black Friday sale! Use code FreeShip for free US shipping on orders over $20 and FreeShipInt for free shipping on international orders over $30! The time to buy acetone tonics is definitely tomorrow as well as she will be offering a 50% off coupon if you buy 3 or more, use code TonicBF. Make sure you add them separately and not the 3/$10 option at checkout!

Thanks for reading!

Want to see more? Click below to connect with me!

Indie Spotlight Series: Meet The Maker Of Lorelei Lacquer!

Image credit: loreleilacquer.com

Hey y'all! Today on the blog I have the September edition of my Indie Spotlight Series to share with you. This month I am featuring Jeanine from Lorelei Lacquer! I've had the pleasure of working with Jeanine several times of the last few months by swatching her collections - she is the first indie to invite me to be a permanent swatcher and WOW was that a huge honor! I definitely adore her polishes and think everyone should own at least one Lorelei. With her commitment to her brand and the quality of her polishes coupled with her unique and flawless formulas, Jeanine has a polish brand that will go places and do great things! So without further ado, let's get to know the maker behind Lorelei Lacquer!

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1.What inspired you to start Lorelei Lacquer? 

Well I guess I can start off being straight forward. I'm bipolar, and if you get to know a lot of the makers, most of them are. We need a creative outlet and it's hard for us to find jobs. At least that was the case for me. I fell in love with nail polish in 2012, I fell into the indie rabbit hole around 2013. All I ever thought seeing all of the creations was by other indie makers was, THESE LOOK AMAZING! I am a smart kid, I want to franken my own polishes so I can get exactly what I want. I actually toyed with the idea of Lorelei Lacquer back in August of 2014. I got the website and everything, but I didn't have the resources to actually open up a shop. So off and on between August 2014 and January 2015 I was playing around with the ingredients I had purchased for frankening. My friend was dropping out of the indie business to stick with her bath and body line and I got a whole bunch of supplies for a great deal. So in February 2015 it was decided to open up shop. I had come up with a few polishes and ideas I loved and went with it finally making it to my opening of May 29, 2015.

TL;DR: I needed a way to make money while being able to keep myself kind of sane and doing something I enjoy, and I just went for it when the time came.

2. How do you decide what to do for future collections? 

I'm not going to do something that I'm not passionate about. I usually start with a theme. For example I decided I needed to do Adventure Time because I've been in love with the show forever now. I made a list of possible names with ideas and started creating from there. There was suppose to be a Lady Rainicorn and an Ice King, but I couldn't make something I was happy with. Plus 9 shades is a lot, especially when you're just opening up shop. I basically have 1 requirements for me to run a line. I need to enjoy it (ex zelda, Adventure Time, My Birthday! LOL). I'm sorry but there are things I am not very passionate about, and I'm not going to run a line on it because I think it's going to be popular. I know businesses should be customer focused, but if I do that, I feel it limits my creativity. I won't release a polish or a line if I don't love it.

3. What goes into the testing/prototype phase?  

I know my bloggers won't believe me because I am the world's biggest procrastinator and they get their packages really late (sorry Becky!), but I know what I'm going to do at least 3 months in advance. I have a basic line ready. I do a settle/stability/bleeding test, recently I started a stain test (stupid red 27 needs to go die), formula test, and an is there something I can do to improve it test. I always have my polishes out. I tend to pick them up a lot because they're pretty and sparkly and oooohh shiny thing and look at them in the sun. Basewise things usually stay the same, but coming down to the month before, and sometimes why it takes me so long to get it out, is because I either need to add something, take something away or get rid of it completely and pick a different prototype that I had worked on at the same time. I can say if you don't waste a lot of supplies, you're not doing the best you can do. I think that is another part of the good thing indie makers are bipolar. We're ok with taking risks. You don't see that with giant companies, they keep everything plain for the general public. We go all out. I love the freedom.

4. How do you come up with the names of your polishes? 

Well, as I had said before, I always have a theme months ahead of time. There are at least one of three things that goes into naming a polish in my case. 1) It needs to make me laugh. 2) It needs to fit with the theme or 3) It needs to rhyme. Once again this goes back to, I make these polishes for me, hoping everyone else loves them, but I do try to not be offensive, but that should be a common knowledge/decency thing, not an indie polish thing. I'm sure most of my groupies understand my humor though. An outsider might give me some side eye and say that's stupid. It's all good :)

5. What do you think makes Lorelei Lacquer  a success? 

I think Lorelei Lacquer is successful because I relate to a lot of the ladies who are in the indie communities and I make them laugh, or at least try to. I know a lot of makers that sound like a customer service robots when you try to talk to them. I'm really really not that professional. I talk to them like I would talk to my friend. I give everyone deals, extras, try to make everyone happy (which is also considered to be my mental downfall, but meh LOL) and I try to go the extra mile for everyone. Like I said before, I'm not going to release garbage. It needs to be 100% before it goes out to my customers. I know I've had a few slip ups (yeah, I still want you to die red 27) but no one gets anywhere without making mistakes to learn from. Also in my group, I'm trying to make money yeah, but I'm more than happy to share the success of other brands, or mani's from other places. I am not going to sit here and say "Yes I love indies! Support me and other indies!" And then turn around and say, but you can only wear my polish and only talk about my polish because MY POLISH! No. I don't work like that. I like the family atmosphere. We're all together in this, it's not the Jeanine show. 

6. I know you have a younger child like me, which I imagine takes a lot of your time during the day! What drives you to keep going with Lorelei Lacquer? 

Ha! Yes. I work from home for my other job. For a while there is was getting overwhelming with having my then 5 year old running around especially with also being a single mother. If my dad wasn't here to help me I don't know what I'd do. It gives me the ability to say "OK mommy is going to work now, I need you to not come in until I say it's ok unless it's an emergency or you have an important question." But now my daughter is is *full day* kindergarten so I do my main job when she is at school, and most of the time I only work on nail polish at night. So being that now since she has a morning schedule and going to bed at 8, I have a lot of free time to get everything I need to done. I know people need to hover over their children all the time, but I actually have a really great kid and I'm ok with stepping away for a minute saying I need to work because she knows no matter what I'm always there for her. 

7. Can you give us a behind the scenes peek where Lorelei Lacquer is made? 

I could but no one would understand.... >.> *hears the tornado sirens going off in my room*

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And that concludes my interview with Jeanine from Lorelei Lacquer! I really hope you guys enjoyed reading this month's edition of Indie Spotlight Series about one of my favorite makers! It is always a blast to write about someone's brand that I feel I can really get behind. The most recent collection by Lorelei Lacquer is The Legend of Flakies collection which restocks on the 15th of each month, be sure you go check it out because its the best one yet! 

Image credit: loreleilacquer.com

What other brands would you be interested in seeing me feature? Which are your favorites? 

Thanks for reading! 

Want to see more? Click below to connect with me!

Monthly Indie Spotlight Series - Meet the maker of Shinespark Polish!

Hey y'all! Welcome to the second installment of my new monthly Indie Spotlight Series! This month, I had the honor of interviewing Molly, the creator, owner, and maker of Shinespark Polish. I've swatched for Molly before, and purchased lots from her - I really love her creativity and vision for her brand. I love that everything is made with such care and love! So without further ado, have a look at our little chat! 

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1.What inspired you to start Shinespark Polish? 

Actually, the ladies at the BHB (...nail group) and my own do it yourself spirit.  I'm one of those who will see something, and see if I can make/recreate it just to see if I can.  After hearing all the things the ladies talked about wanting/looking for in polish, I wondered how difficult making polish would be.  As I looked, I started thinking things like, "If I was making polish, I would try..." and it just snowballed from there!

2. How do you decide what to do for future collections?

Honestly, it's just an ongoing process.  The 90's Kids collection was created from an accident when I had issues with the 80's Neons cremes collection.  There was an initial formula issue with the cremes, and I had to switch it from being the maiden collection, and I was actually trying to recreate it without the trouble pigment.  Instead, I ended up with richly pigmented jellies.  Other randomness has provided inspiration: Childhood memories (Lisa Frank for the 90's Kids colors and names!), the old Hypercolor shirts (The Light, the Heat collection!), splatter paint t-shirts (80's Fun glitter bomb!), Sailormoon, and more.  I still have a ton of ideas and actually find myself having to restrain myself from releasing collections too rapidly, because I just want to make all the pretty polishes!

3. What goes into the testing/prototype phase? 

For me, it's usually a pretty short phase honestly.  If I'm trying new things like formulas, I'll mix a very small batch (2-3 bottles) and see how it works.  If it works out, then I'll consider it good to go, and keep notes on how to recreate it.  If I'm playing with things like mixing pigments for something really new, I'll usually play with it in liquid form before adding the suspension base, so that I can see just how the pigments are going to work together.  I've had an occasional hiccup where things haven't worked together, but most of the time the sight I see in my mind and the actual result are pretty spot-on!

4. How do you come up with the names of your polishes?

90's Kids was very much Lisa Frank.  :)  The Sailormoon-inspired collection, Inner Beauty, actually took its individual polish names from songs from the Seramyu (Sailormoon Musicals).  Very few people probably recognized them, but each polish name was actually the name of an image song for that senshi.  They also happen to be some of my favorite songs from the musicals.  Additionally, there will eventually be a second Sailormoon collection for the outer senshi and Chibimoon, which will be somewhat of a companion collection to Inner Beauty.  I don't have an ETA on it yet though.

5. What do you think makes Shinespark Polish such a success?

It's fun, it's different, and it's something that I absolutely love doing.  I mean, I literally get a shipment of supplies in, and typically I go through them within a few days, because I go crazy mixing!  In fact, the last shipment I got, I literally went through a full gallon of suspension base that day, just mixing up new and restock polish!  

6. I know you work by day and make polish by night. What drives you to keep going with Shinespark Polish? 

It's fun for me, and I love doing it.  I love to paint in general, one of my favorite aspects of painting is the actual mixing of the colors.  This is similar, but so much more involved, and working with the pigments gives so much more control!  It's also a bit of a humbling experience, because there are times when you think, "Oh wow!  This would be so awesome!" and you try it, and...nope, they just don't work that way!  I had that realization in mixing shimmery pigments with a thermal pigment: for example Dusk.  It was a super surprise, because I had honestly expected it to be a deep mauve, and I wondered what I had done wrong to end up with purple!  In the end though, it ended up being absolutely gorgeous, and much better than my original plans!  It was most definitely a happy accident!

7. Can you give us a behind the scenes peek where Shinespark Polish is made?

I can and I can't.  It comes and goes!  I actually use a small dresser as my work surface, and mix in small batches, and when I'm done everything gets stored away.  I store all my inventory in a Helmer, and am contemplating getting a second one to help contain everything!  I can give a few pictures from when I was doing my last mixing batch, when I was reformulating/re-mixing the 80's Neons cremes collection!  I don't usually take pictures of my work area, so it's really just a picture of when I had finished bottling, and had poured my own set of minis to test with water marbling!

Molly emailed me a couple of weeks later when she was finalizing her fall collection with some more pictures! She said I could add the sneaky peak pics! 

Work station! 

Testing them out on the swatch wheel! 

Left to right: Autumn Sky, Ever Green, Harvest, Pumpkin Spice,  Hot Cocoa, Jack O' Lantern, Black Cat Sparkle, and Gilded Rose 

And that concludes this month's Monthly Indie Spotlight Series with Shinespark Polish, make sure you go follow her on Instagram for news on new releases and swatches of the fall collection! I hope you guys enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy putting them together. Look forward to next month when I'll be interviewing Lorelei Lacquer! 


Thanks so much for reading!

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