Nail Polish Society's June Spotlight: Painted Polish

Hello my lovely Society Sisters! It is time for June's Spotlight (can you believe we are halfway through the year?!). This month I had the pleasure of interviewing the wonderfully talented Lexi of Painted Polish. If you are uninitiated, this girl creates beauties that make you want them all. Correction, make you NEEEEED all the Painted Polish. I died when she asked me to swatch for her a couple years back, but I think I played it cool, haha. I really enjoyed getting to know Lexi better and I'm sure you will too. Let's read on..

(Oh, and when you're done check out my Instagram for a special giveaway!)

Young Lexi with father. Oh my stars.. how cute is this?!

Tell us a little about yourself (family, hobbies, where you're from, etc.)

I’m a SoCal girl, born and raised! After moving up north for college and graduating with a degree in mathematics, I worked for a couple tech companies in the area. It was during that time in 2013 that I began Painted Polish on the side. Eventually, I was lucky enough to switch to Painted Polish full time and moved to San Diego in late 2018 to live with my sister/best friend! During baseball season you can find us cooking up a storm in our kitchen and glued to the TV watching our LA Dodgers. I’m a fur mama to the cutest senior pup and attempting to become a plant lady as well! I have a tendency to kill all things green so fingers crossed!

Painted Polish Seeing Stars, Seeing Stripes, Summer Sparkler 2.0, and Stamped in Crimson

Tell us about your brand. What do you feel sets you apart or defines you?

From day one, I’ve mixed by the mantra “keep it simple.” I gravitate towards polishes with a limited variety of ingredients in both my nail art and creations. I find so much beauty in simplicity! I also love creating collections with a similar base color, but in a variety of finishes. That way there is a little something for everyone!

Painted Polish Blush Babe

Painted Polish Keep Calm and 30 on Birthday Trio

When did your love for polish begin?

I was actually sort of a late bloomer when it comes to polish. While browsing some Instagram nail art looks in 2013, I found a mani featuring a few nail gems. I tracked some down on Ebay, slapped them on and by the yellow light of my apartment bathroom, took my first “nail art” shots! I became obsessed, mining Instagram for more inspiration and began my nail art account. It was then that I stumbled upon the world of indie nail polish. I had no idea people could even make their own polish and quickly found myself traveling down the rabbit hole that is indie polish!

Painted Polish Funfetti Fandom

Painted Polish Shamrock Your World, Stamped In Taupe, and Stamped in Moss

How did you make the leap into creating your own brand?

When the thought first began to worm its way in, I fought against it for a while! I had a full time job and there were already so many amazing brands out there. Slowly however, the creative right side of my brain began to drown out the analytical left side. Around the same time, with my birthday coming up, my mom gifted me money towards a new camera for my photography hobby. I never bought that camera and instead that money and my savings went towards buying the supplies I needed to create my very first Painted Polish line! I’m about to celebrate 6 years of Painted Polish soon and am so glad I took the leap all those years ago!

Fierce in Facets

Did you ever have plans to be an entrepreneur before starting Painted Polish?

Definitely not! Starting my own business was nowhere on my radar. Anything remotely having to do with sales is sooooo far out of my comfort zone. Ask my little sister - I even made her sell my girl scout cookies when I was younger! It still feels a little weird, but also very cool to call myself an entrepreneur!

Painted Polish Courting Cupid

If you could own and run any other non-nail polish related business, what would it be?

That’s a no-brainer! I would buy a huge property to adopt, rescue and foster ALL OF THE DOGS! The focus would mostly be on older dogs because they are often overlooked in shelters. Rescuing my senior dog, Jackson (aka Action Jackson, aka The Fun Police), was the best decision I’ve made. I may be a little bit biased, but his under bite is just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen.

Do you have a dedicated space for your polish making? Can you tell us about it?

I do! My sister and I just moved into a new home rental in San Diego and it has a built-on studio that overlooks a beautiful canyon. When I first began, the whole operation was squeezed into my apartment’s small living room. It’s grown since then and I feel really lucky to now run my business with a special dedicated space for all things Painted Polish.

Painted Polish Mellow Mustard

Painted Polish Talk Thirty to Me

You seem to have cremes, crellies, and ultra holos down pat. What formula do you find hardest to perfect?

It might surprise some people, but stamping cremes are by far the trickiest little buggers! Even though they involve the least amount of ingredients, they are the hardest finish to get right. Because stamping cremes are crazy pigmented, they typically have some degree of separation. Since I formulate my stamping polishes to also act as one-coat cremes, it’s not always easy to tread the fine line between pigmentation, consistency, coloring and opacity. They are definitely worth the effort though since cremes are my favorite finish! 

Painted Polish Stamped in Cinderelly

Painted Polish Stamped in Honeydew

What is your favorite part of your job?

I love the creativity it offers me! I was a math major, but always had a creative side that I expressed in my art and ceramic classes. Now I get to express it every day in polish! Also, it may sound a bit corny, but when times get rough, it’s always my fellow maker support system and amazing customers that get me through and see me to the other side! I am so so grateful for each and every one that makes Painted Polish possible. 

Painted Polish Gaga for Greenery

Painted Polish Paving Rainbows

What’s your least favorite part?

Everything I own is covered in glitter and flakies! But hey, I can’t complain too much about a life full of sparkles right?!

Painted Polish Glitter Grandmother

Painted Polish Here's to 5 Years

Can you pick a favorite shade of yours? Or collection?

It might be a surprise since it’s one of my more complicated polishes, but it was a previous Polish Pickup shade called ‘Sucker for a Slayer!’ I’ve always been a sucker (pun intended) for vampy (pun intended again) nail polish colors as they were the first and only type I ever owned before I discovered indie polish. Also, the inspiration behind it was one of my favorite shows ever - Buffy the Vampire Slayer! 

Painted Polish Sucker for a Slayer

Was there a specific polish or collection that “put you on the map” so to speak?

‘Drunk On Holo’ is the one that went viral back in 2013 and started it all! It’s one of the few OG shades that’s still around today! It’s also a perfect example of my “keep it simple” mantra, as it’s a combination of just one glitter and base. It also didn’t hurt that it launched at the height of the accent nail craze. I still love a good accent nail and always will!

Painted Polish Drunk on Holo

What was your most popular shade of 2018?

Our most popular shade was the Polish Pickup exclusive ‘Zombie Kill of the Week.’ Even though the inspiration was brain-eating zombies, it also looked like Fall leaves all crunched up in a foggy grey base. It fit perfectly with the season…and zombies are always awesome!

Painted Polish Zombie Kill of the Week and Stamped in Mustard

What can we expect from you in the future? Are there any goals you’re aiming toward?

I think you can expect some new and exciting things as well as some changes to happen later this year and for 2020! Change is always a bit scary, but if you don’t change, you don’t grow, right?

Painted Polish Catch the Canal

Painted Polish Moss Meditation, Mocha Mantra, and Mellow Mustard

Extra tid bits and thoughts:

* Painted Polish was born the same year I started this blog and I have real memories of lusting over Drunk on Holo. The accent nail as Lexi said absolutely had hit its moment and I saw that polish everywhere!

* I absolutely love how simple Lexi keeps her polishes (I had never thought of them in those terms before). They all have a feminine, classy, and may I even say.. boujee feel to them.

* Her creme formulas are SO amazing! I use them as stamping polishes mainly and they have really upped my nail art game!

Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into this Lexi! I hope you all had as much fun getting to know her better as I did!
Thank you for reading. For more Painted Polish goodness and to keep up-to-date with what's new, check out the links below.

Painted Polish
Shop
Facebook

Instagram