Elevation Polish: Quick Post, Time Change

Hi Everyone

Coming up for a little bit of air from all the shipping.

I wanted to let you all know that I’m going to be making a slight adjustment to the restock time for future restocks. This next restock on the 22nd of May will be like normal (9PM, CST) No samples or prototypes. Moving forward…….

Future Restocks will look like this:

The 7th of every month at 9PM (CST)
This restock will contain new stock, select core colors, samples & small batch prototypes

The 22nd of every month at 9AM (CST)
This restock will contain restocks of all colors including new stock & 5-10 bottles each of the small batch prototypes originally released on the 7th.

The main difference between what I have been doing is that the 22nd of the month restock will be at 9AM (CST) I’m hoping that this time will be a little bit more friendly to all you lovely international gals.

I am hoping this will be a good balance for everyone.

In other News, I’ve updated the blog to include a tab for A-Z colors with what collections they are from. I’ve also updated the Future colors page.

EDIT (5-22-13): Many questions have come in asking how the new set up works in regards to the limit on small batch prototypes & Samples. The limit will remain a total of 2 prototypes/samples per person per month (as in month not 30 days. If you get one on the 22nd of one month and the 7th of the next month that would be ok). I want to make sure that the samples/prototypes get evenly distributed to all that want them.

Cheers to great polishes,

❤ Lulu

Random: Lulu’s 30 day vacation challenge

I don’t know how many of you were wondering what all I did with  my vacation. I gave myself a little self challenge. Many of you might now that I’m a bit of a handbag nerd (I used to have a handbag blog before this blog came to be). I’ve spent years cultivating a pretty unique collection of handbags. Well not so much unique but the collection it self is unique to me. I dive into really any brand of handbag that strikes my fancy. Certain things just speak to me. Many of my bags are “well loved” (aka not in the best condition) but I love them anyway.

So the challenge was to merge two of my favorite things. Handbags and Manicures. 60 days of 30 different bags and 30 different manicures. I didn’t really get to complete the challenge but I came close. I might edit this post later one with the final 5 bags. I was able to wear some bags that I hadn’t worn in a while and I was able to burn through some of my untried(s) pile of nail polish. Oh and you might get a sneak peek here or there of things I’ve worked on for elevation.

It was very much a fun zen moment for me merging to two loves of mine. I thought I would share a non-elevation post. Here is a little preview of my favorite mani of this challenge. I didn’t want the page to be slow to load so I added links with pics to the mani(s) and bags.

INDEX:
Day 1: Hayden Harnett Marcel + Crowstoes Heartless /OPI Casino Royal
Day 2: Balenciaga Town, Tomate + OPI euro central paprika/Enchanted Dizzy Mizz Lizzy
Day 3: Jerome Dreyfuss Navy Viper Carlos + Dior Tuxedo/ Blue Star Franken
Day 4:Chloe Bay North South, Pacific Blue + Doir Gris T/ Kiko Blue
Day 5: Mulberry Fox Lock Alexa + EP Cascade/ Contrary Adorned
Day 6: Hayden Harnett Paule Marrot Editions Pallenberg, Saffron + Illamasqua Venous, Cameo & MILF
Day 7 & 7 1/2 Hayden Harnett Tamasin, black & Derek Lam Ume black suede + Chanel black stain & dior mystic violine
Day 8: Proenza Schouler PS1 Pouch, Sunshine + Chanel Khaki Rose/ Elevation Polish Huangshan
Day 9: Proenza Schouler PS1 Pouch, Smoke + OPI Glints of Glinda
Day 10: Balenciaga City, Ardoise + OPI Glints of Glinda/OPI DS Sapphire
Day 11: Belen Echandia take me everywhere, bottle green + Dior Amazonia
Day 12: 49 square miles flirt, evergreen + EP “the glacier” prototype
Day 13: Alexander Wang ? Hobo + Dior Pasteque
Day 14: Longchamp Pillege Large + Dior Lime/ Hare Astriod turf
Day 15: Mulberry Postman’s lock satchel + Cadilacquer Cute Poison
Day 16: Belen Echandia Dark Purple Pebbled Love me Mini + Purple Mountain Mani
Day 17: Hayden Harnett Tharpe Hobo, Black (vajay jay bag) + Dior black sequins/Illa milf/Lynnderealla forget me not
Day 18: Lockheart ?? crossbody bag + Naked (butter london horse power)
Day 19: Jerome Dreyfuss Albert, Bottle Green + Elevation Polish Fall Prototype (Golden Moss Holo)
Day 20: Balenciaga Perforated City, Canard + OPI Berlin there done that/$OPI dark room
Day 21: Alexander Wang Lia Sling, Black + Chanel Graphite
Day 22: Hayden Harnett Havana Hobo, Eucalyptus + Ikat nail art
Day 23: Hayden Harnett Wyeth Hobo & Tote + Ikat Nail art
Day 24: Hayden Harnett Paule Marrot Editions Orsay Satchel + EP Prototype
Day 25: Proenza Schouler PS1 Medium, Blanket Print + Dior Charnelle/ EP Prototype

Click the link of the day to see the pictures. All of these were taken with my phone so they are not great but it was easy to do. I just got up in the morning. Picked a bag that went with my manicure from the night before. Snapped a pic.

And finally if you’ve made it this far into the post. A little reward. I’m going to set a little scene here. Picture this.

2AM-5AM Strolling the streets of NYC with a friend. Just chatting. Chatting about everything and anything. Buildings all around. Apartments full of sleeping new yorkers. The streets are quiet, calm and lightly illuminated by street lights. Like this is how life should be. Then like an oasis a street corner flower shop. Fragrant and beautiful. A single bouquet standing out like it had a spot light on it. It was one of a few fantastic moments of my vacation.

And I present: “2am walks with Farrihn” as soon as it gets done with testing (one of the glitters is newish to me, still has a little time left in testing) I’d love to release this. It might be LE it might be core. I’m not sure yet. I’ll make that announcement a little closer to it’s release date.

Dark Grey Jelly Base with an arrangement of purple, fuchsia, pink and sparse green glitters in different sizes and shapes. Yes and there are circles in there too.

Alright folks that was my last act of being on vacation. Back to our regularly scheduled programing. I hope you all enjoyed this little glimpse into my life. I’m well rested and ready to get back to the awesome work of making nail polish.

Cheers,
❤ Lulu

Elevation Polish: B-day Giveaways & Fan Collection

In my previous post I briefly talked about how the EP B-day giveaways were a fun & sneaky way for me to collect information.

How will this information be used, You may ask. Why september’s fan collection of course.

The questions were:

1. I’d love to hear what your favorite polish is. Doesn’t matter what brand it is. I love hearing about new to me colors.
2. I’d love to hear what types of colors you’d like to see in the elevation polish line up. (reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, purples, blacks, grey, different finish types, etc)
3. I’d love to hear your favorite Elevation Polish + Another Indie Polish layering combinations. Leave me a comment here on this post.

All information about your dream elevation polishes and colors you love wearing. The information has been so handy as I’ve started to sit down to think about what the Fan collection should look like. I’ve spent many night googling your favorite polishes, reading through comments.

There were so many amazing ideas!!! I’m certainly going to have to break this up into several future collections. There was one comment that spoke to me right away. I saw it and it sparked a flood of ideas.

Jolène: “I would adore seeing more jellies, your brown jellies have been fantastic. I would also love to see a collection based specifically on the clouds you’ve seen on your hikes– or the waterways– or the stone types– or the wildflowers– or! Basically a ‘macro’ take on hiking. I think that could open up lots of different colourways.” 

The idea of stone types and wildflowers with an array of finish types (matte, jelly, holo, textured). This concept started a google frenzy like no other, researching colors, rock types and flowers seen in some of my personal trip photos. This concept in combination with your color preferences comments/ideas. Has really inspired me and a huge thank you for Jolène for her fantastic ideas.

I saw lots of comments for the following colors and finish types, no particular order. Not including all colors/finishes but these has the most votes:

• Pink
• Orange
• Yellow (a surprising favorite)
• Forest Green
• More Circle glitter
• Super Shimmers/Contrasting shimmers
• Matte
• Black
• Holographic
• Colored Base glitter polishes
• Jelly
• Purple/Purple Holographic

I will likely pull a lot of suggestions from this list, maybe combined a few of them, and work some magic. I think this is going to be a great collection.

My one and final thought on all of this though. Pink had THE most votes out of any color. I have also gotten a lot of requests for this color via email. Pink is a color I struggle with. I’m not really a girly girl and most pinks look weird on my skin tone (I mostly test the color concepts on myself). I spent 2 weeks wearing my favorite pinks. Trying to figure out what makes me like the pinks that I do. What I found out is that… while pink is a color I can totally be inspired by in nature. My passion for them as polishes isn’t there enough to go through the creation process at this time. It’s a color that I might re-visit over time but for now I’m not going to force the creative process with pink. I want it to happen more organically.

Ok at this point I’m rambling. I’m just so excited to be back enjoying color exploration. Thank you all for your input, comments, emails. I’m hoping that this fan collection will be a fun, colorful and enjoyable to wear.

Cheers to great polishes,

❤ Lulu

Elevation Polish: Random thoughts and News

Hi Everyone

Enjoying the last few days of my vacation here. I thought I would give you all an update on some thoughts and news. I apologize in advance that this post will be kind of scattered. I’ve got so much to share and I’m going to squeeze this all into one post.

First off I’d like to thank my friends and family for putting together the “Lulu’s away sale” I’d also like to thank those of you who emailed with both support and concern about this sale. We’ve learned so much about your shopping preferences and how communication with my team is essential. In the future there will be much more warning and accurate information about “impromptu” sales.

The B-day giveaways. I want to thank everyone for entering the giveaways. I will admit that they were very fun for me because they were giveaways with a propose. Fact finding mission. I’m going to get more into this in my next post. An exciting post so be on the look out for that today or tomorrow.

Other news. I made a last minute adjustment to the Australia Collection Line up. Barn Bluff is a color that I had planned to release with the Australia collection. I decided to pull it as the final production version was too similar to enough color in my current core line up. Toubkal. Next month I’ve be releasing it as a small batch prototype since I’ve got a limited # of bottles made already. Here are some pictures with Toubkal, Barn Bluff & Mount Cangyan.

Final news!!! Very exciting news here. Elevation Polish has been picked up by Llarowe. The fabulous website that carries all of our favorite indie nail polish brands. Super excited to have her team as part of our team. I’ll share more news about this as the relationship develops but you can also check out Llarowe’s shop and facebook to stay current on the news.

Shop: http://shop.llarowe.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Llarowe/126027514153022?fref=ts

Elevation Polish: Lulu is away sale + Other news

Good Evening

I’ve been having a great vacation. Team EP is having a “Lulu is away the EP team will play” Sale. It’s excited to have some extra space in the EP Samples & Archives helmers. You may have noticed some new categories on the EP big cartel site. Some of these will only be around for this sale and others will stay on after the sale. Mainly the samples & prototypes and the new category Nail Care. I’ve got some amazing new products slated to be released in June.

The sale will be today (think late late this evening) YAY!

For those wondering there will be no caps on samples. Buy what you please. All I ask is that if your lucky enough to have an amazing connection. Please leave some polish for others. Nail Polish Karma, let’s keep it good. YAY!!!!

In other news. I’ve got some sad news to report today. We lost a very valuable member of the EP team today.

R.I.P. Mercutio “Mirky”

He was with us for 14 amazing years. He was an amazing paper weight, He was excellent at claiming all the EP bottles as his own, loved investigating the labels as we tried to apply them and was a true pro at holding down my keyboard as I tried to type emails. He will be very missed.

Rest in peace my little sun bear.

How his favorite sun spot looks today

 

Cheers,

Lulu

Elevation Polish: Thank you & Giveaway #3 Winners

Giveaway #3 Start Date: March 24nd End Date: April 3rd 3PM
Prize (5 winners) “there is gold in those mountains” exclusive, gold mini nugget polish
Enter this giveaway at the bottom of the page

WINNERS!!!
#1: Amanda P.
#2: Rebecca M.W.
#3: Sarah H.G.
#4: Pat G
#5: Mary F.

Congrats Winners!!!! You’ll be emailed so I can get your shipping info.

 

Thank you all so much for such an amazing year!!! The B-day giveaways where so fun. I’ve loved reading all of your responses. I learned a lot about what colors you’d like to see me do, what your favorite colors are. I’m certainly going to be coming back to the responses when it comes to color creation.

I have the feeling that this next year is going to be even more amazing than the first and I’ve got all of you to thank for it.

 

Cheers,

Lulu

Elevation Polish: April News

HI Everyone.

I’ve been getting a lot of messages in my inbox about April’s restock (or lack of one)

For Members. April will not count as a skip on your membership. All members have been given a free pass for the month of april. I will not be taking any membership orders in april. Orders in april will be processed in the order they arrive in.

I will be on vacation for the whole month of April. There will be no formal restocks. There will be friends and family working behind the scenes so I can keep the shop open while I’m gone. They will be manning the EP email as well.

They did tell me a little secret…. There will be a “Lulu’s away the EP fairies will play” Sale. They will be clearing out my stock of prototypes, samples, trial runs, scratch and dents, etc. Some of these polishes will have a stock of just 1 polish and others will have 28+ bottles. There are a couple of polishes that I almost put into production but abandoned the polish due to materials supply, cost, overall look, etc.

They will not tell me a specific date on this. All I know is that it will be sometime between April 11th and the 22nd. It should be a really fun sale. Lots of really great colors.

The big cartel website will be down for inventory April 5th from Noon-6PM so I make sure I’ve got the most accurate of polish counts before I leave.

 

Alright, back to packing up orders,

Lulu

 

 

Elevation Polish Birthday Giveaway #3 (CLOSED)

Giveaway #1 Start date: March 7th End date: March 16th 3PM
Prize: (1 winner) Full Collection Preview of May’s Australia Sunrise, Sunset Collection, including 1 polish not being produced.
CLOSED, WINNER ANNOUNCED HERE

Giveaway #2 Start Date: March 16th End Date: March 22nd 3PM
Prize: (1 winner) Full Collection Preview of June’s Mongolia Collection, including 1 polish that is not being produced.
CLOSED, WINNER ANNOUNCED HERE

Giveaway #3 Start Date: March 24nd End Date: April 3rd 3PM
Prize (5 winners) “there is gold in those mountains” exclusive, gold mini nugget polish
Enter this giveaway at the bottom of the page

WINNERS!!!
#1: Amanda P.
#2: Rebecca M.W.
#3: Sarah H.G.
#4: Pat G
#5: Mary F.

Congrats Winners!!!! You’ll be emailed so I can get your shipping info.

Giveaway #4 Start Date: March 7th End Date: March 30th
Prize: (1 Winner) Signed, Professionally framed Mountain Collage
CLOSED, Winner Announced here

I’ve extended the date on today’s giveaway. I didn’t get to posting about it right away. I’ve been really busy packing up orders. YAY! Which is also why there are not going to be any pics of the prize until late monday.

There will be 5 winners for this giveaway!!! YAY!!! The prize is 1 polish, called “There are gold in these mountains” I made these special for this giveaway and for EP b-day bash. They are one of a kind and will not be reproduced. Each bottle was individually mixed so each polish is slightly different and unique.

There are gold in these mountains is a light to medium grey polish with sprinkles of multi colored shimmer (blue, green, purple, little bit of red, hint of copper) with intense gold flake shimmer and Real gold mini nuggets.

(The varying shimmers are hiding in these pics but the green shimmer is very apparent on the nail) The vibe of this polish is similar to Ridn but the particle size of the shimmers are larger and there are a couple of different colored shimmers.

To enter: I’d love to hear what your favorite polish is. Doesn’t matter what brand it is. I love hearing about new to me colors.

Then follow this link to enter. (must follow the link for your entry to count)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Elevation Polish: Ama Dablam Issues & Refunds

Hi Everyone

Over the past few months questions have come into my inbox about issues with the charity polish Ama Dablam. There have been several issues and not every bottle has the same issues. It perplexing. Some have had the following issues:

• Major Evaporation (1/3 of the bottle missing)
• The base tinting copper/brown more than it should have. It intended to have a slight tint. (the most common issue)
• Some have had no issues.

I would like to provide refunds for those of you who would like them. Because this was a charity polish. the proceeds have already been donated and I will not be making a claim on my product liability insurance. Refunds will come direct from me. Because of this I have to space out the refunds. I apologize and thank you for your patience.

The refund time table will look like this. For those of you who purchased Ama Dablam during these times. Please email me during the following dates. Please do not email earlier than your refund processing start date. 

• Purchased March 2012 (20 of the round bottle, clear label, 20 square bottle with the color mountain label)
• Refund Processing will happen starting this week, now

• Purchased June/July 2012 (square bottle, clear label)
• Refund Processing will happen starting next week, March 25

• Purchased August/Sept 2012 (square bottle, clear label)
• Refund Processing will start First week of May

• Swapped for (any shape or label style)
• Refunds will be processed starting second week of May around the 12th

I will be honoring swaps for the original purchase price (USA price). Because of this. The refund system I will be using is a little bit complicated.

When it’s time to process your refund. Please email me at orders.elevationpolish(at!)gmail(dot!)com  This email is for Ama Dablam and Ama Dablam issues alone. If you have other comments, questions, feedback please email me at my usual email or use the big cartel contact button.

Please include the following information in your email.

Your name:

Your paypal email:

Your purchase date:

What country it was shipped to:

Please also include a snap shot with your name and the date the snap shot was taken. Please also take a permanent  black marker and X out the Elevation Polish Label. Here is an example of what the snap shot should look like.

Refunds will be:

$11.00 USD for USA

$12.00 for international

Both will be less .30 cents because of a newly imposed paypal fee on refunds.

I can not be apologetic enough for all the issues. It was never my intention. My intention was to share a beautiful polish with you all with the proceeds going to charity.

Cheers,

Lulu

Elevation Polish Birthday Giveaway #2 (CLOSED)

Giveaway #1 Start date: March 7th End date: March 16th 3PM
Prize: (1 winner) Full Collection Preview of May’s Australia Sunrise, Sunset Collection, including 1 polish not being produced.
CLOSED, WINNER ANNOUNCED HERE

Giveaway #2 Start Date: March 16th End Date: March 22nd 3PM
Prize: (1 winner) Full Collection Preview of June’s Mongolia Collection, including 1 polish that is not being produced.

THE WINNER IS: MARY D. P.

She’s love to see a barbie pink holo in the line up. Oh goodness that would be fabulous. wouldn’t it? 

Giveaway #3 Start Date: March 22nd End Date: March 30th 3PM
Prize (5 winners) “there is gold in those mountains” exclusive, gold mini nugget polish

Giveaway #4 Start Date: March 7th End Date: March 30th
Prize: (1 Winner) Signed, Professionally framed Mountain Collage
Enter here

For this giveaway I’ve got the magical Mongolia Collection. Mongolia is one of my favorite places on earth. I knew I just had to make a collection specifically dedicated to my favorite spots. This collection has been a long time in the making. I knew it had to be perfect. This collection (minus the green one, Otgontenger will be launching June 7th)

Gobi- Shifting holographic. The base color shifts from a orange-y brown to a soft green
Lake Achit- Beautiful glitter mix of blues ranging from the lightest blue to the darkest navy blue with added bold blue stars.
Tavan Bogd- Dusty Lilac with a hint of grey. I’m still playing with the lilac/grey balance on this one so this prototype might vary from the production version.
Khongoryn Els- Taupe tinted purple with purple micro shimmer.
Otgontenger- (not being produced) is a foresty green creme.

I apologize in advance here. I lost my sim card for my good camera so all of these shots were taken with my iPhone. The quality is not great.

To enter I’d love to hear what types of colors you’d like to see in the elevation polish line up. (reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, purples, blacks, grey, different finish types, etc)

Then follow this link to enter. (must follow the link for your entry to count)
a Rafflecopter giveaway