It's official. I've caught Con Fever. GeekGirlCon in October was my gateway con and I am a full on addict now! We're going just to enjoy (not have a booth at) Emerald City Comic Con next and I'm not sure my heart can handle it!

This past weekend we had a booth at Wizard World Portland. This was great for me, since we're based out of Vancouver, WA (just across the river from Portland) this was an opportunity to meet locals, and Portlanders are definitely fans of handmade, local goodies.

Our table was near some other amazing creative types including Fizzy Fairy Apothecary (we picked up some awesome Pokeball bath fizzies, while I work toward d20 bath bombs I highly suggest checking them out), Swansong Studios (if they'd had a larger size of their A Leaf on the Wind print it would have been mine!), and the amazing artist Delia Gable (some NSFW stuff in that link).

I also got to meet some artists I admire such as FableFire (if you love foxes and/or cute with a bit of macabre, check out her stuff) and Amanda Lafrenais (another NSFW warning) and I have about 50 business cards of new artists and creators to follow. I instantly fell in love with Jenny Parks and I got a large print of TARDIS Cat.

Overall this was a very different experience from GeekGirlCon since we had an Artist Alley table instead of a booth, but it allowed us to make friends with our neighbors which I really enjoyed.

Check out the amazing cosplays I saw (there were even more I couldn't get photos of). The last pic is of a Portland legend, the Unipiper! And yes, I totally wore leggings as pants on Friday, no shame!

Now, on to my personal/non-business experiences at Wizard World!

Since I had some great friends helping cover the table I got the chance to go to a Q&A, photo op and get an autograph from Alan Tudyk. The autograph was the most exciting part of the weekend, I brought a bottle of A Leaf on the Wind in the hopes he could sign it for me and he did!!! Please note that he purely, 100% did this as a favor for a fan and he in no way supports or endorses Lucky 13 and therefore I won't be sharing a photo; this is no different than him signing any other art inspired by him. I'll just say that it's beautiful and I love it!

About an hour after the autograph I had my photo op with him. This photo was taken the third time I'd spoken to him in 2 days so that smile might mean "send help, she's a madwoman!" I'm still not sure ;-)

Those of you who follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram hopefully saw the release of the 12 Days of Glitter indie advent box last week! This collab box includes 12 mini polishes from 12 different makers--including quite a few exclusive shades.

Check out the photos below but you might want to grab your box quick before they're gone!

Some makers created more than one color for the box so there will be a chance at getting one of the colors listed for that day from that maker. These are just quick pics so please forgive the quality and remember that these might look slightly different on your nails!

Lots of great things going on this month, folks. A collab box that will be coming soon, a new collection, Black Friday, new goodies (and getting rid of some old goodies), and the return of two popular limited edition shades!

During my childhood my favorite part of the holiday/Christmas season was the advent calendar with little pieces of chocolate for every day. For my adulthood I wanted to rekindle that memory and turn it into something I could enjoy today and that means....nail polish!

The 12 Days of Glitter Advent Box (available now!) will include one mini (5ml to 7ml) polish from 12 indie brands. Each brand has created 1 to 3 shades inspired by their favorite holiday movie, most of which are only available in this box; one polish from each brand is included in each advent box.

There are only 50 of these available at $65 each (with free US shipping!) and no discounts can be applied to them so keep an eye out for their release and don't delay! The exact release date is still to be determined (depending upon when I can get a lost package replaced) and it may be after Thanksgiving but it will still be released in time for delivery no later than mid-December for US folks.

This year's Winter collection is inspired by Frozen! There are 8 shades, including a thermal and a linear holographic, inspired by the movie. Good luck getting Let it Go out of your head today, sorry ;-)

Please click the picture below for a better view!

This year all non-charity/custom products will be available for 25% off while supplies last during Black Friday weekend with the code TOFURKEY. The sale will run from 12 noon on November 26th until 11:59PM on December 1st. I'll be enjoying amazing food and family things that weekend so I won't be able to mix any additional stock though I may restock some on a preorder basis to be mixed when I return home. Orders from that weekend will begin to ship out the Monday following Black Friday. Please expect me to take a few days to get your order out due to anticipated high sales volume.

Any orders made NOW will be going out before any Black Friday orders and you'll be guaranteed to get your polishes in the event I can't restock anything during Black Friday weekend.

I've been experimenting with my new vinyl cutter and I'm now confident in the quality of the vinyl decals I can produce. I will be considering custom decal sheets for a fee in the future but right now what's in the shop is all that's available unless you'd like a design in a different color. Contact me for color options.

The Orphanage has new polishes in need of loving homes! Orphanage polishes are perfectly good but for one reason or another didn't become a released polish. In most cases these were reformulated to become a released polish or were customs that needed to be reworked.

The Emerald City trio was this year's Halloween collection so when current stock runs out it will not be restocked. Anything left over on Black Friday will be part of the Black Friday discount.

The discontinued polish requests (where you can get a polish even if it's been discontinued as long as I have supplies) will be removed from the site in a couple days and won't be returning at least for a while. I have so much to do in the coming months and there simply isn't time to do these anymore: Black Friday, Christmas rush, and Portland Comic Con in January!

However, I have put a couple popular discontinued shades back in the shop, namely....

Last year's Black Friday polish, No More/Gallifrey Falls, was super popular! I've stocked up on additional thermal pigment and No More is back in the shop while supplies last. Softening the Bad Things is also back in limited stock. These polishes will not be part of the Black Friday sale as they're limited edition.

Hey everyone, this is an update to my recent announcement of my grandmother's death, it's just personal things and nothing relating to Lucky 13 so please feel free to skip reading this post if you need to. Click "Read More" if you'd like to read!

Warning: depressing and personal stuff below. If you just want the sale use code FAMILYFIRST to get 20% off everything here.

Hi everyone, since I have so many social media sites it's just easier to write everything out here instead of trying to fit it into 140 characters, but I'll still try to make this brief.

As those of you who follow me on Facebook have likely seen, my grandmother had an accident and has been comatose for about the last week. She was diagnosed as having no brain activity, which was confirmed by a second doctor, and the family has chosen to remove her breathing tube and allow her to pass (or, if by some miracle it happens, to heal. I'm still hoping, but knowing it won't happen) naturally. Right now we're not sure when that will happen as she's been breathing on her own for a day and a half so I'm going to be getting plane tickets and a hotel as soon as she passes, but for now I'm stuck in the horrible limbo of Waiting.

My entire family is in Southern California and I....am not. I'm up here in Portland. And I really need to get home to see my family. So, that means sale time for you! Silver lining, right?? From now until whenever I leave for CA I'm doing a 20% off sale with the code FAMILYFIRST which gives 20% off everything except charity items, so everything listed here. You can add other items to your cart if you like, the coupon just won't apply to them. I also have all Elemental Ward top coats on sale for only $5.

This sale is kind of wibbly wobbly, it currently doesn't have an exact end date; I'll be discontinuing the code 24 hours or so after I get my plane tickets to CA so there will be warning. Thank you to everyone who has sent me kind words and positive thoughts <3

We need to have a serious talk, folks.

I learned at GeekGirlCon that far too many of you aren't using top coat and this is just straight-up NOT OK! Top coat is amazing. It smooths out glitter, makes your nails super squishy and shiny, and helps your mani last a lot longer without chipping off. In a word, it's magic. And not enough of you are taking advantage of this readily-available magic!

This is a serious enough issue that I did some science for you and took pictures of my nails without top coat. I am forever shamed, but it's worth it to prove a point!

Look at how dull and lumpy that looks. Kinda gross, right? Let's see how these exact same manicures look with top coat.

Mmm, yeah, check out that SHINE! And it smooths out all those glitters. AND, if you're using a quick dry top coat (like Elemental Ward) it even helps your nails dry way faster than they naturally would (EW dries rock-hard in 20 minutes or less, great for us late-night lacqueristas). It can also help to re-apply top coat after a day or two to re-strengthen the protective power.

Oh, by the way, those polishes in the pics? Uhh, don't worry about them for now :D

So please, do yourself and your nails a favor and invest in a top coat! More expensive doesn't always mean better, too, but definitely spend more than a dollar or two on a bottle.

From a totally unbiased standpoint I do like Elemental Ward the most out of the top coats I've tried. I used to only use Butter London's Quick Dry top coat but it didn't dry nearly as fast as Elemental Ward does (and it's like $18 a bottle, ouch), but even if you don't use EW please spring for at LEAST Sally Hansen brand or something similar. And I do mean real top coat, not just clear coat!

So there, now you have no excuse not to use top coat! The more you know ミ☆

I had an unbelievably great time this weekend. I met amazing people who I'd only talked to in occasional FB comment threads (or not at all!) and I got to meet some people I've emailed regularly for a few months but never gotten to meet in person. It was two days of whirlwind craziness but I'd have to say it was the most satisfying craziness I've ever experienced. Despite the insanity I was able to set up the booth in time and get everything ready to put my heart and soul on display, and let me just tell you....worth it!

Saturday I dressed as a genderswapped Captain Reynolds from Firefly and another captain found my booth! Raph of Digital Nails requested a picture of us together and we were happy to oblige.

I saw a ton of other amazing cosplayers as well and even did manicures on some of them. My friend Winnie (who was selling her awesome jewelry, Happy Nerdcore) took some pictures of the great costumes she saw. I'll be doing my best to label the costumes I can recognize, if you see any that I get wrong or don't know please leave a comment!

Other exciting points in the weekend included going to a panel with Christal of Espionage Cosmetics and getting to chat with her about small business stuff, seeing Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency (I tried to get her to check out my booth but she was more interested in the tea booth next to me, sadface), and eating some fantastic pizza at Serious Pie.

At the end of the con Sunday night all my friends and I got together for dinner and staying up far too late for almost everyone having to wake up for an early flight and then go straight to work, but it was an amazing time regardless (but then, I was one of the ones who got to sleep in the next day!) and I'm already looking for more conventions I can go to. I'm crossing my fingers that it's not too late to apply for a table at Portland Comic Con in January :)

Check out all these cool people!

And finally: the swag! I got some awesome goodies at GGC, here's just the stuff I could fit on my side table.

Rainbow Love pin from ACLU WA; sushi animal, Portal, and :P pins from Nauti Art; Digital Soaps pins; Gay/Straight/Wibbly-Wobbly, Sexy-Wexy pin from Northwest Press (my friend Briannon also got me a shirt that says this; it's officially my new fav tee!); Key earrings from GeekStar Costuming; Girl Power charm, earrings, and glow necklace, paw print glow necklace, and pink/blue/white Swarovski earrings by Happy Nerdcore; I ♥ Games and I ♥ Gaming stickers from pixelkin.org; Tea, Earl Grey, Hot card by Dancing Heron; What Does the Fox Say postcard by fablefire; kitty tote (that was previously stuffed with a bunch of tees) from shirt.Woot; and tentacle teddy bear stickers from someone whose name I can't remember :( All in all a very good haul!

I also wanted to remind you all of my social media sites, since I have a few new accounts now!

https://www.facebook.com/Lucky13Lacquer (My most used platform)
http://instagram.com/lucky13lacquer (new and I love it so far!)
https://www.youtube.com/user/Lucky13Lacquer (YouTube? Whaaaat? Yes, Lucky 13 videos are coming in the future! Leave a comment with ideas for stuff you'd like to see me do or discuss)
https://twitter.com/Lucky13Lacquer
http://lucky13lacquer.tumblr.com/

And I can't figure out how to end this post, so...

It's finally that time of year! The time for cool weather, crunchy leaves, trick or treating, and pumpkin spice everything!

It's also time for some giveaway fun, in the form of two surprise prize packs--one Trick, one Treat! And which winner will get which prize? Even I won't know! Both prizes are already boxed up in identical boxes and both weigh the same amount. I'll pick one box to go to one winner and the second box will go to the other winner.

The Trick prize pack is full of good-natured fun and tricks (it even has a nail polish! With some assembly required) and the Treat prize pack has nail polish (maybe even some unreleased shades...) and nail care goodies. I checked ingredients for everything and hopefully there should be no allergy or dietary restrictions in any of the edible things.

To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter widget below. Some tasks you can do every single day for more entries (like tweeting and posting to Facebook), so make sure you do them! This giveaway starts now and ends October 8th at 11:59PM.

Please note, this giveaway is only open to US residents UNLESS you have a US shipping address (such as a friend) or are able to cover the difference in shipping (which is approximately $6 if you're in Canada or $12 elsewhere). Sorry!

Today, June 13th, marks 2 years since Lucky 13 Lacquer first started taking orders!! How perfect is it that it falls on a Friday this year as well? To celebrate I want to do some very special things with/for you all! Here's a quick run-down of the announcements.

1. Starting off with sad news, the Sailor Senshi collection (except for Lady of the Moon) will be discontinued and removed from the shop on June 30th.
2. A collection inspired by The Avengers is being released today! It includes a freebie if you order the whole collection!
3. Everything except charity polishes, limited editions, and the new Avengers collection is 20% off with the code HAPPYBDAY2U from now until 11:59PM PST on 6/19.
4. To celebrate Lucky 13's birthday being on a Friday the 13th (so it's extra special!) I'm allowing 25 requests for any previously released polish that has been discontinued (NOT charity polishes, EXCEPT for Softening the Bad Things, sorry) for just their normal price! The 20% off birthday code does not apply to this.
5. Other miscellaneous birthday fun!

OK, so there's the short version, now for the long version!

The time has come to let a collection go so that new collections may take its place. I love the Sailor Senshi collection but it needs to clear out to make room for other exciting things in the works. Lady of the Moon will remain as a one-off but the rest of the collection will not be restocked once they've sold out.

Lucky 13's latest collection is inspired by Marvel's The Avengers, primarily the recent movie franchise, but also a little bit of the comics! There are 7 shades and if you order the entire collection you get one of them free!! The free shade is a green to black thermal inspired by Loki and the freebie version is 10ml with the option to upgrade to full (15ml) size. And because it's L13's second birthday, the first 2 people to order the complete collection will get a free upgrade to a full size bottle of Loki's polish, just make sure you add the proper item to your cart! (Update: the 2 free upgrades have been claimed!)

What's a birthday without a sale?! From now until 11:59PM PST on 6/19 you can get 20% off almost everything with the code HAPPYBDAY2U! You even get an extra 20% off of sale/clearance items!!

Across the months there have been many requests for discontinued polishes, and while I'm happy to fill them when possible I wanted to open up for everyone to have a chance at getting a shade they've been wanting!

Only 25 slots are available at this time, when they're sold out and the requests have been fulfilled I may release another 25 slots. Please bear in mind that by purchasing this item it is only a REQUEST, I must still have enough of the ingredients in stock to fulfill your request and if I am unable to fill the request I will let you know as soon as possible so we can go from there. Currently there are no shades that I am completely out of stock for but if an item is requested more than once it's first come first served to be fulfilled. I do ask that you limit yourself to 2 requests so that everyone who wants a discontinued shade has a chance at it!

These items will be mixed to order and will add a bit of time between ordering and shipping.

Please read through the "How to order" instructions on the product page!

Currently I have limited ingredients for the following shades:

• Hey, Who Turned Out the Lights?
  

Throughout the day there will be a couple other fun things like flash giveaways and coupons for your next purchase! Keep an eye on the Facebook page for announcements! The birthday fun will happen randomly so let's hope that Friday the 13th is YOUR lucky day!

Hi folks,
A bit of sad news. This was the first year I filed taxes for Lucky 13 and it made me realize that I should have been collecting taxes! So, beginning immediately I will begin collecting taxes on US orders. [Update: tax is only applied to Washington orders!]

Additionally, the following 38 polishes will no longer be restocked and, if sold out, will be removed from the shop the evening of March 11th. If a color listed below is marked as Sold Out in the shop and you'd like a bottle, please send me an email and I will mix up a bottle for you! They will otherwise not be restocked.