Oh, it's another update on Nostalgic Nail Lacquer!

Posted by Erin on 7/17/12.
20 Comments

Hello again. I have quite a lot to update on, so please bear with me while I attempt to articulate all of my thoughts ;)

- I still do not have the the glitter that is needed to complete roughly 50 remaining orders. I am beside myself over it and I hope that you all are able to remain patient with me while I wait to acquire it. I cannot apologize enough for this. I would like to state for the record though that I only blame myself for this. My supplier is doing all that she can and is also waiting on the manufacturer in order to make her own polishes with it. She is 150% not to blame and I would not want her to read this by some chance and think that I am upset with her, because I'm not. I am, however, upset with myself for not being as prepared as I should have been. I shall make this a learning lesson for sure and rest assured, I almost never make the same mistake twice ;)

- I have had an incredible burst of polish making creative energy over the last month and 1/2 or so. I have so many different shades marinating and it is KILLING ME not to post previews. I fight with myself every day not to post them. I want you all to see them so badly but would hate to have one of them fail at the last minute and have to tell you that it's a no-go :/

However...

- I do have a 5 piece collection that is faring quite well for the last 4+ weeks and I do plan to release it in another month or so. I am so proud of it. Not only is the concept/theme one that I have been meaning to  bring to fruition for a long time, but the colors are all very diverse and IMHO the best I have come up with thus far. I do not think you will be disappointed :)

- As reluctant and sad as I am to do it, some shades will be put to rest once the preorders are completed. I haven't decided which shades are going yet, but I do not plan to retire them indefinitely. I will bring them back periodically but they will no longer be a part of my regular restocks. The reason I am doing this is because I would like to keep my operation as manageable as possible and having too many shades to produce weekly or bi-weekly will prevent me from making as much polish as what is demanded. I will make an announcement on which shades will be put on the back burner as soon as I have come to a decision.

- As I have stated a few times before, I will be taking a bit of a "rest" once the pre orders are completed because I am in desperate need of re-organizing and getting all of my ducks in a row for Nostalgic Nail Lacquer. I am in this for the long haul and it's imperative that I get everything back in order so that I can continue to make sparkly nail polish for the masses!

- As always, thank you all for your support, kindness, generosity and patronage. You all are the reason that I am able to call myself self-employed and the reason I am able to sincerely say that I love what I do for a living.

xoxo

The State of Pre-Orders

Posted by Erin on 7/9/12.
2 Comments

Good Morning!

I've been getting a lot of questions about how far along I am with the pre-orders. The answer is: pretty far! However...

I ran out of a glitter recently and am waiting for the supplier to get it from the manufacturer. Now, this was my oversight, as I should have made sure that I had more than plenty of it before I started taking pre-orders. I did not anticipate running out of anything, but as usual...I was less prepared than I thought. I am always so sure that I have everything checked off my list, only to find that I overlooked something quite simple.

I apologize profusely for this. Like I said, it was my oversight. And I do hope that you don't judge me too harshly for it :/

I do anticipate getting this glitter very soon though, and am always bugging my lovely supplier about it (much to her chagrin, I'm sure :P). And literally the second I receive it I will be making the remaining bottles and invoicing furiously. Basically, I expect to be 100% done with invoicing on the same day that this glitter comes to my doorstep.

I am now working on filling and invoicing the orders that do not require said glitter in an effort to get everything done as quickly as possible. I understand that this goes against my "first come first served" promise, and again...I apologize. I can only hope that you guys don't want to kill me for this :/

Aside from this issue, I am happy to report that I have a lot of great stuff brewing and a theme that I think is going to blow all of my past and current ones out of the water. I also have some Halloween themed lacquers marinating and am definitely ahead of the game in terms of future releases.

I am also working on new logos and labels and all kinds of other stuff. Those things will be concentrated on once the pre-orders have all been completed and sent out though. But it's in the works :)

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!








Progress Update!

Posted by Erin on 6/21/12.
8 Comments

Hello!

It has been a crazy week in the world of nail polish. Likewise, it has been a crazy week here in my lacquer bunker. It's hot. Very hot. Nearly 100 degrees hot! But I am still mixing, invoicing and packing every day :) Although truthfully the invoicing has been a tad slower this week than it was last due to a few doctors appointments and "real life" commitments.

As I've said here before, I was in a car accident in February and it has left me with a very aggravating and persistent burning/itching/bugs under the skin sensation along my shoulder blade. When I make polish or pack boxes for long periods of time it acts up. Muscle relaxers? Psssh. They are as useless as a polish bottle full of melting glitter!

I had a cortisone shot on Monday which has not seemed to do the trick, but I do have another shot scheduled for the week after next. Maybe that one will work? :) Anyway, the shot left me feeling like I had whiplash for a few days (it was injected into my neck). I didn't expect to feel so behind on things after just 2 days of taking it easy, but it did.

Luckily that whiplash feeling has subsided. I have a shipment of bottles arriving today and am going to attempt to mix a record breaking amount of lacquers before sun down. Wish me luck! I really want to get these done asap so that all of you can play with your lacquers! I am anxious to see what layering combos you girls come up with for them :)

So as for where I am in terms of filling the pre-orders...
I still have a ways to go, but I am trying to ramp production up. I appreciate everyones patience more than you know and will give you a more concrete idea of when I will be done in the next few days...hopefully :P

Once the pre-orders have all been filled, I am going to try to take a week or 2 off in order to take intense inventory on my supplies and revamp my work area. I am also in touch with a bottle manufacturer who is sending samples for a few different bottle shapes. New and improved labeling will follow suit. I am always trying to improve all aspects of Nostalgic Nail Lacquer and packaging is what I hope to perfect very soon :)

As always, thank you from the very bottom of my heart for your continued patience and patronage. I am deeply indebted to every one of you! You have given me the ability to do something that I love. To be my own boss. To set my own hours. And to see positive reactions to something that I actually created. Thank you!

xoxo





Oh, Hello New Collection (Pre-Order Info)

Posted by Erin on 5/30/12.
2 Comments

While I'm waiting for my air conditioning to freeze my bedroom to a cool 65 degrees I thought would make a quick blog post and update you all on what's happening.

Introducing...The Totally Buggin' Collection!

I've created 3 new shades that are inspired by the film Clueless. All 3 shades are made up of matte glitters in a clear base. Here are some awful close up shots of them. I will be taking much better swatches within the next few days. I promise! This is just to give you a rough idea of what they look like.

Way Harsh
Rollin' With The Homies
As If!
How You Can Get Them (and the others!)...
I've decided to do something different from my usual restock. A lot of you expressed interest in a pre-order/wishlist type of solution and so that is what I'm doing. So if you are interested in the above 3 shades or any of the other Nostalgic Nail Lacquer shades, here is what you should do:

Send an email to nostalgiclacquer(at)gmail.com with the subject line "add". I will then add you to my contacts and you'll be on the mailing list.

What I will do after I've gotten all of your emails and I've got everything together, is send you a link to an order form that you will fill out. Then I will begin filling all of the orders in batches. I will not fill orders alphabetically or anything. I'm just going to run down the spread sheet and fill them in the order that they were received.

By doing things this way, it will almost definitely take me longer to process your order unless you are one of the first ones to complete the form. But it will also ensure that you'll get what you want without having to refresh my shop 50 times :P

I know...I suck at emails...
Ladies, if you have emailed me and not got a response, I really am sorry. I get a TON of spam and sometimes your emails get lost in the shuffle or sent to my spam folder. I am going to make a concerted effort to sift through everything tonight though. And if you got an obnoxious "auto response" from me when you didn't really have a question...oops. Sorry again. The settings in my email program confuse me and I couldn't figure out how to get it to only be sent to people with questions about a restock :/ Basically, I'm a hot mess with email at the moment. But I am trying to change that! :P

Hopefully this has answered all of your questions. If not, it's okay. I will be mass emailing all of you before the order form is sent out with instructions and guidelines. But, as always, you can still ask a question anyway :)

I'm Sorry...

Posted by Erin on 5/12/12.
4 Comments

Firstly, I want to apologize to anyone who was unsuccessful in obtaining my lacquers this afternoon. I believe that Big Cartel is a great service, I just don't think it is equipped to handle the type of business that I run. Meaning that it is not a good solution for people who have weekly restocks with many people trying to buy the same product at one time. I am sorry for making some of you waste your time on a beautiful Saturday :( Truly. It makes me sad to have disappointed anyone.

I think it is safe to say that there is a lot of trial and error involved when you start a small business such as Nostalgic Nail Lacquer. And I know that many other indie polish gals have experienced the same types of issues that I experienced today. It's tough to find a perfect solution. But I am working on it. I promise! I never want this to happen again.

I am sifting through emails, making lists, and will get to invoicing at some point tonight. Because of the unexpected cart issues, I may need a few extra days to properly process everyones orders. But, as always, I will try my best to get everything packed and at your doorstep as quickly as humanely possible. But please also bear in mind that tomorrow is Mothers Day and as my mom is not in the greatest health, I'm going to try and spend as much of the day with her as I can. I will, however, work as many hours on Monday as I possibly can. I hate having orders that aren't shipped!

Thank you to everyone who has been understanding about this. I really appreciate it! If you emailed me, you should expect an invoice between this evening and Monday.

xoxo
Erin

LOTS of info and changes

Posted by Erin on 5/11/12.
1 Comment

- Tomorrow is restock day! So set your alarms and head over to the shop at 12pm EST tomorrow :) This time around I will only be stocking the 2nd (and last) half of the 7 Deadly Sins of Summer collection. I wanted to stock ALL shades but I ran into a few snags. One being that I just couldn't find the time to make so many lacquers and so many people were anxious for me to restock. I had to make a decision and I chose to restock sooner with just the Sins. I apologize to anyone that may negatively effect :(

- Oh, yeah, the second snag!

Know how some of my lacquers have a fine lavender glitter in them? Well, the supplier of said glitter has turned out to be unreliable in terms of their labeling. They keep sending me plastic craft glitter, which, as you can imagine, melts into a goo in the nail polish base. Suffice to say, there's no way I can use it. So I am now in search of a new resource for this glitter. The part that sucks most about this is that one of my most popular shades (Rayanne) can not be produced without it...

Please don't be alarmed though. I have not even tested this glitter, let alone made any of your lacquers with it. I can tell just by looking at it that it's not the right stuff :P

But I'll find a resource. Of that I am certain. I just hope to find it in the next 7 days...

- BASE! Yes, base...again :)

I found some, obviously. And I have to tell you, I cannot stop raving over it. It's noticeably different from the stuff I have been using thus far, but all of the differences (imo) are positive ones. It's thinner, which means that it's easier to work with. It has a super shiny finish. It also ships out to me much faster. All of these pros combined means that working with this base will make it far easier for me to create the lacquers in higher volumes. This means more lacquer, more often.

- I am working on a new collection which features MATTE GLITTERS! If you check out the facebook page you can get a few glimpses of the rough drafts.

- And finally...the update I have been putting off for quite some time now, but sadly has to be made...........

After this last batch of Sins lacquers, I will sadly be increasing my prices. Instead of each lacquer being an even $9, I will be charging $9.75. I hate doing this. I truly do. And please believe me when I say that this does not come from greed or entitlement or any other nasty descriptor. The fact is that between the cost of shipping supplies, glitters (most of which have also gone up in price. Some by nearly 3x...), taxes, and the ever fluctuating bottle prices, it's just something that I have to do to stay afloat. If I could get by in this economy by charging $0.50 I would gladly do it. Sadly, I cannot :( I hope you guys understand!


Mid-week Restock!

Posted by Erin on 5/1/12.
3 Comments

Hello again! Just another quick update to keep you all up to speed.

The next restock is going to take place tomorrow- Wednesday May 2 at 8pm EST! 

The 7 Deadly Sins of Summer collection will sadly not be restocked this week, but all of the other shades I sell will be. This bums me out cause it's really just a reflection of how poorly I planned in regards to the great suspension base shortage of 2012. But I promise to make it up to you. Perhaps with a couple giveaways? :)

And speaking of that base, I have some from a second supplier being shipped out any day now. The only (small) con is that it will ship from California just like the base from TKB does. This means it'll take a whole 7 days to arrive. But hey, what's one more week, right? :)

I am also frequently filling orders for Overall Beauty, so if you ever get a jonesing for some Nostalgic Nail Lacquer in between my restocks, head on over there!