Creator of Huge Lips, Skinny Hips Lip Gloss (at Scoop, Ron Robinson and b-glowing), Karen Robinovitz takes us through the trials and tribulations of creating a beauty brand from scratch.

Before I go on, note: Everything I'm blogging right now happened a while ago (at this time, the product is actually in stores, but I want to give you all the background to catch you up on how I got to today).

So, picking up from where I left off last week, I had made it into Scoop, my first choice in stores. Next stop: Space.NK -- the British prestige chain that is "the" place to go for beauty products.

It's sophisticated, sparse, Calvin Klein-esque and houses only about 60 well-edited brands.

The Space.NK chain was making a play for the U.S. and opened four stores, two in NYC. Plus, there was the store-within-a-store deal they struck with Bloomingdale's. A friend of mine knew the Space.NK founder, a very inspiring woman whose initials are, go figure, "NK." She introduced us through an email and the NK team asked to meet me... in London.

As luck would have it, Todd and I already had a trip planned to England. We hadn't taken a vacation since our honeymoon and desperately needed to get away, even if our accountant didn't agree!

One small prob: I didn't have a formal presentation. With Scoop that was okay because I knew the girls. But for Space, I needed to impress. I called JD (my designer) in a panic. I was leaving in three days.

I then scoured my closet and came across an amazing evening bag just large enough to house five glosses comfortably. Fortuitously, I had kept the hard white quilted box it came in. With the addition of purple tissue paper and my business card -- which happened to be thick white with purple metallic writing -- affixed to the top, it was perfect.

Upon arrival in London, I was jet lagged, yet managed to pull it together in a purple Lanvin dress (I could write that off, right?) for the big buyers meeting. They were quite sweet and taken with the gloss. "We don't have anything like this," they said. It was true. Their merch was very luxe but very safe. This would be a departure for the store, which seemed to stock only white products. Mine was purple. It stood out. I wanted to set up a pole for the color "Kitty Poledancer." (I know that scared the hell out of them).

They told me if they took me on, they'd want a U.S. exclusive for six months. "I'm already signed on with Scoop," I muttered under my breath, hoping they didn't hear. But their eyes lit up (if Scoop liked it, it had to be good!). They said they'd get back to me in a few weeks.

The waiting. Was. Torture.

Then, I got the email. It took me two days just to open it because I was so scared of being rejected. But it was a go! And the best feeling -- like getting into your reach school! There was a ton of back and forth over an ironclad agreement that included words like "herein" and a lot of legalese, so I enlisted my lawyer/brother to translate. (Scoop was nothing like this. I felt like I was doing a serious real estate transaction. And was kinda surprised they didn't ask for my ovaries!)

Once everything was signed, I received a five-inch-thick dossier which included shipping requirements. It was full of details on how things needed to be packaged and labeled and the process for getting the product to London. Plus, it cemented the 18-month exclusive. I was so overwhelmed, I actually cried.

The list was endless. If I tripped up on one thing, I'd be charged. Shipping incorrectly could mean I owed them money even though they were buying my product!

That's where Todd comes in! I could no longer manage this alone. "Um, baby, you need to quit your job and help me!" While he didn't have a background in the beauty industry, he is a savvy entrepreneur and knows the right questions to ask and how to handle things like insurance. (I needed a $3 million dollar policy per the agreement.) We did feel like we needed a beauty insider, someone who had done this a thousand times . But for now, we had to deal. Paying a salary was out of the question.

There is a ton more to say about my husband transitioning careers, working with him, running out of money, manufacturing issues, etc. I could go on, and will next week, when I'll finally get back to PR and some of the huge mistakes we made along the way!

Mwah!
Karen Purple Lab Creatrix