14 May 2013

Inside the World of Indie Nail Polish

unique nail colors, indie nail polish, where to find indie nail polish, do people make their own polishes, nail polish trends
...where did you get that polish? It's so unique!

Where does nail polish come from? The drugstore? Sephora? Ulta, Sally, some salon? WRONG! OK, not completely (OK, not at all, you can get polishes at all those places) and until very recently that's all I knew. But you cannot get INDIE POLISHES there! Nobody told me there were magical little elves making unique polishes and pedaling them online at Etsy and BigCartel shops.

My obsession all began with a hashtag: #indiepolish
We stalked a few pages on Instagram, decided Wicked Polish was to be Our First, and here's how it all went down................................


unique nail colors, indie nail polish, where to find indie nail polish, do people make their own polishes, nail polish trends
Indie Polish: Wicked Polish (screen shots of her IG account and my shopping experience)


From left to right here is a photo collage of how buying indie nail polish works.

  • BANG! Instagram announcement! This is known as a RESTOCK!
  • Next sit by your computer at the time listed hitting refresh like it's a rock concert (mind your time zones!)
  • THERE THEY ARE! add them to your cart as fast as you can! Do not dawdle. Know what you want days before this moment and have a back-up plan if you can't get your first choice. CHECK OUT! Pay, get receipt, done. Now you can breathe again.
  • Relax and watch your polish being made via Instagram updates.
  • This was the hardest part: WAITING. It was killer. I thought they'd never come...but when they did they were packaged well and she included candy! For the record she whipped up that polish the next day and sent it out STAT. It was fast, but it was like waiting for Christmas, you know? Elves, Christmas, polishes...
  • Stabbed By a Unicorn (Lirpa's) and Fairy Blood Splatter (mine) together...they were our first choices.  ...and we were lucky. They sold out in minutes. Exploded Pixie dust lasted a few minutes longer.
  • NAIL DATE! This is when Lirpa and I have girl time and chatter while Tristan naps. We both used a neon yellow as our base color. Twinsies. It's that brand called Spoiled which is actually Wet n Wild.
  • Lirpa went out later and discovered hers is UV/blacklight sensitive! Fun! There was a time in my life where that would have been valuable information.

There is no lacking in creativity out there. I'm blown away by these nail polish elves. There are ones that glow in the dark, under UV, are body-heat/thermal sensitive, big glitter, little glitter, no glitter, have jelly consistencies, matte, opaque, and I saw one seller make a custom blend for a bride and her bridesmaids! I really love it all and think these will eventually become more readily available. Mainstream colors are fun and easy (and all I have other than my one bottle of Wicked Polish) but for the same price you can support a starving nail artist elf who makes polishes in her home with magic and includes candy.

Can't shake a stick at that now can you?

You just have to know where to look. I highly suggest following all_about_indies on Instagram because she posts every sale she finds (and don't we all love special deals?). But you can explore Etsy and BigCartel to your heart's content. It's very exciting and I hope that if you didn't know about indie polishes before that you will love them now, too.

This wonderful blogger even put together an alphabetical LIST for people like us! 

It's the little things in life sometimes.

If you aren't already following me on Instagram I can be found here celebrating little things...

Update and disclaimer: I was not solicited or compensated for this review in any way. I did, however, get a SHOUT OUT after my polish elf read it. Has Revlon ever done that for you? Doubt it! Try indies. They're good peeps. ...and if you DO want me to review your indie polish feel free to contact me at suburbancollision at gmail.com


It warms my heart when my dorky nonsense can brighten another's day!


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