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Gold Coast made
About Julisa
Tell us a little bit about yourself, who is behind Julisa?
Julisa is created by two best bitche$, Juliet + Elisa (that’s us!)
How did Julisa come about?
Juliet: One of my life’s motto is that a path or a life event, no matter how fab or tragic,
always leads to another opportunity that you might not have come across otherwise.
I’ve started my mission of detoxifying my beauty cabinet and blogging about my
journey 18 months ago when I fell ill. The cause was a bit of a mystery, but it’s
prompted me to go through every single bottle of my personal care and beauty items
to look for any potentially harmful or hormone-disrupting ingredients. With much
shock and sadness, I trashed four boxes full of toxin-laden lotions, wash, lipsticks and
polish that I once thought I’d never part with.
It’s only taken me a few months to switch over to a toxin-free product based skincare
routine. I’ve been a massive green beauty nerd inspecting every single ingredient
label every time I shop at the chemists. I’ve been feeling renewed, reinvigorated and
guilt-free for my body that I love.
One thing I realised is that it takes loads of research effort and test runs (let alone
bravery) to find alternatives to my once loved toxin-laden products. It was then when
the light bulb moment has blossomed in my head that I wanted to develop my own
range of beauty products which I can wholeheartedly trust and recommend to my
friends. After a few meetups with my cheeky girlfriend Elisa who’s just a downright
genius nail art queen, the vision of Julisa polish has come to life.
The fact is I can’t live a day without pretty colours and Elisa can’t live without creatively manicured fingertips. So it came with no surprise that our first venture into the beauty space is a line of vegan-friendly, 5-toxin free nail polish!
What is your inspiration behind Julisa?
Building a mindful living community is one big mission that both Elisa and I have for Julisa. Focusing on the products themselves is of course important, but we want to make sure we be the change we want to see and make an impact in people’s life. We want to inspire people to lead a cruelty-free, clean and soulful life and we’re inspired by communities who share the same belief.
What is the creative process behind creating nail polish?
We created a face of our brand, Julisa, who’s actually the mermaid on our logo! We think mermaid is best symbolic representation for what Julisa stands for - to live harmoniously with nature and lead a kind life. The shades in our launch collection were all inspired by mermaids’ tales and the nature - for example our pink polish represents pink sunset and our blue range represents the places where mermaids play (we had so much fun naming each shade too!)
What is the inspiration behind your colour palette?
The natural habitats where mermaids live and play! We want people in our tribe to wear our shades and feel inspired to live a compassionate, mindful and free-spirited life.
Tell us about your product range?
We launched in December last year with 15 striking shades that form our 1st nail polish collection! Our polish is cruelty-free and we no say no animal testing or animal derived ingredients. They are formulated without the 'big 5' toxins commonly found in conventional polish, i.e. NO formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate, toluene, formaldehyde resin and camphor that can potentially disrupt hormones and cause allergies. We also make acetone-free polish remover that are gentle and nourishing for our nails. Our whole range are locally made in Gold Coast to minimise carbon footprint. We use recycled paper for packaging. Our jute drawstring bags that are made with vegetable fibre.
If you could see your nail polish on any celebrity, who would that be?
Is Grumpy Cat counted as a celebrity? ;)
A typical day for you involves?
Juliet: Blend some banana acai smoothies and check Instagram while devouring my breakfast bowl. Get on to my emails, update the website, shoot some pretty flatlay, write a blog post or two, water my succulent garden followed by hitting the yoga studio before dinner.
Elisa: Hand wrapping and packaging our products with big love from my home studio. Browse nail art pins on Pinterest for the next nail art tutorial inspirations. Bring out my mammoth-sized nail art kit to create some magic on my fingernails! Oh, and of course, making yummy healthy dinner for myself and my hubby.
What is the best part about working on Julisa?
Way too many but I guess here are some of the best ones: Having a creative outlet that
we fully own and be responsible for. Building a closely knitted tribe of like-minded
mermaids who believe in mindful living. Receiving kind words from those who love our
products or etting feedback from the communities who are genuine about helping out
each other.
…..and the hardest?
To switch off entirely from ‘work’ (though most parts of our daily routine don’t really feel
like work as they are our passion!). Also to be at peace about how much we can achieve
on a day as there’s always another task on our to-do-list to tick off.
What are your dreams for Julisa? Where would you like to see Julisa in 12 months/
5 years?
We’re so grateful for everyone who’s used our products has been so supportive, so in
twelve month’s time we definitely want to keep nailing our customer satisfaction as we
grow! Five years sound like a long time but I guess we can always dream, right? We will take Julisa with us overseas doing actual meet-ups with our tribes such as nail art party or even pop-up nail beauty bar in Paris and NYC!
What advice do you have for others who are dreaming about starting their own small business?
Start small, start now! Don’t let any fear of failure hold you back.
Most importantly, how can people get their hands on your products?
We sell via our online store on http://julisa.co, at the Gold Coast Design Collective markets regularly. We just got our first stockist Kitten Claws Parlour in Aspley, Brisbane and are on hunt for overseas stockists!
Social Media is so important these days, how can people connect with you?
Facebook: Julisa
Instagram: @MermaidJulisa
Pinterst: mermaidjulisa
About you
Every small business owner is driven by their ‘WHY’, will you share your ‘why’ with us?
We’re both very goal-driven and we celebrate small wins along our journey. I guess our ‘why’ would be the great sense of accomplishment when we achieve milestones and as we continue to set the bar higher.
What is your work/life background?
Juliet: I’ve worked in travel and digital marketing since finishing uni. I moved here from Hong Kong when I was 17 and am so proud of calling Australia my second home (while missing street food in HK and mum’s cooking). I’ve been bitten by the travel bug at a young age. Travelling to Madagascar would be an absolute dream to fuel my wanderlust!
Elisa: I’ve worked in various hospitality roles in Taiwan including being a bartender and a wine sales lady (yep I’m proud of my Mojito making skills!). My love for creative nail art has started more than 10 years ago. I love finding simple hacks and tools that are readily available at home to paint pretty fingertips!
You are super passionate about living a natural lifestyle, have you always been this way?
Juliet: Not really. I grew up as a city girl and I didn’t really feel my connection with nature until I moved here. I guess having the opportunity to explore and connect with the natural surrounding living in beautiful Queensland make me feel at peace and tranquil, and that was how I felt inspired to lead a natural and mindful lifestyle.
How can everyone incorporate a more natural approach to their everyday living?
The best way to is connect with nature is get to experience how it revitalises your senses. It’s something that can’t be taught but an appreciation that comes from the experience.
When your working and working out what music do you
love listening to?
Bossa Nova and Big Band Jazz for work. Nothing can beat
Michael Jackson’s beat for a good workout sesh!
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Journalist and novelist
Who do you look up to? Who inspires you?
Audrey Hepburn. She’s one truly classy and compassionate lady.
When your not working on Julisa where would we find you?
By the pool sipping coconut water, in our local hot yoga studio or
exploring the handmade markets!
Where is your favourite place to visit on the Gold Coast?
Burleigh Heads with the killer view and positive community vibes!
Favourite place to eat on the Gold Coast?
Kiyomi Japanese at Jupiters
Favourite coffee/juice shop?
Black Coffee Lyrics at Surfers Paradise
What are your favourite Gold Coast made businesses?
It’s too hard to pick our faves as all the makers are simply inspiring
in their own way! But we have to say the mermaids themed vegan cake from Nourishing by Sally totally got us obsessed (and our stomach rumbled).
Favourite quote you live by?
“Admire someone else’s beauty without questioning your own”
I couldn’t find the source of this but we came across a beautiful wall quote on Pinterest and we’re so in love! We’re all about living in gratitude and in harmony. Sadly, in the business world there are way too many comparision games going on and that kind of ‘I’m better than you’ negative vibes. We believe we can all blossom in our own unique way. We’re big believers of the idea of ‘collaborating not competing’ with creators in the same industry.
Julisa
Julisa is the Gold Coast made, body loving, vegan friendly nail polish created by two friends Juliet & Elisa. And did i mention that it's cruelty free?
Living by example, the ladies behind this earth friendly brand love the life they live and live the life they post! They are passionate about being kind to themselves and their community and are thrilled with the reponse from their launch collection.