Skyline student Michelle Miller no longer has to wish on stars to get in touch with celebrities; the stars are coming to her.

As the founder of Crystalicious! nail products, Miller is adorning stars such as Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears, and her products are being sent home with many others, packaged in desirable bundles such as the 2004 Official Oscar Goodie Bags.

At an age when most students are still following trends, Miller is creating them. The 20-year-old has had her products featured in magazines such as Teen People and US Weekly, and has been listed as a “must-have” product on CBS.

Don’t let her pastel pink polish fool you-it is Miller’s strong drive and ambition that is at the heart of Crystalicious!’s success.

“I want to be my own boss-that was a huge incentive,” Miller said. “I would rather work for myself, set my own hours, and know what I need to do and not be told.”

“I like to give out the orders, not take them.”

With the creation of Crystalicious!, a line of polishes and nail art kits which shine due to the inclusion of Swarovski crystals, it looks like Miller will have the opportunity to do just that.

It was Miller’s interest in doing her own nails and noticing nail art on hands of people around her that lead to the birth of Crystalicious!. Whether it comes to makeup, clothing, or nails, most trendsetters will say: if you want something done right, you do it yourself. So, Miller began compiling kits completed with polishes, Swarovski crystals, and manicure sticks, making it easy to do the glamorous designs herself.

The idea quickly caught on with Miller’s friends and family and, coupled with her desire to be her own boss, sparked an idea to market the products to others.

With help from her friends and especially her mom, the business soon gained its name and later a website, both of which have brought compliments from those close to her as well as customers and others in the industry.

The polishes and nail art kits are sold primarily in boutiques in the Midwest, but since the launch of the company’s website in 2002, products have been made available to people from all over-including admirers in Hollywood.

The inclusion of Crystalicious! polishes in the 2004 Official Oscar goodies bag was a particularly exciting and beneficial event. This allowed for Miller’s products to go home with many of the celebrities in attendance at the awards show.

Such exposure and success would go to the heads of most people Miller’s age, but the Crystalicious! creator remains down-to-earth, friendly, and appreciative.

“I think it’s really amazing,” Miller said, enthusiastically. “It makes me feel really proud of it. Everything that I’ve done, I’ve worked really hard for. And everyone else that has helped me with this, it’s just really great to see everything come together and be successful.”

Although fast, Miller’s success was anything but overnight. The student has a very realistic outlook on her goals and the steps needed to achieve them. Miller spent time and effort researching the industry, market, and production process before launching Crystalicious!. Through the process, she learned about the demand for a product such as hers, as well as the steps needed to start her own line of polishes. Even the name of the company, Crystalicious!, was a result of Miller and her mother doing repeated brainstorming and asking outsiders for feedback until they came up with a name that worked.

Although Miller has people helping her with different aspects of her business, she makes sure to stay involved in all the different aspects of the company. For example, although the website is designed by an outside company, Miller writes the text for the site herself.

One thing Miller definitely makes sure to keep control over is the colors that make it into Crystalicious!’s line. The polishes are mixed in a chemical lab, and Miller oversees the process to make suggestions on the exact end product. The process is actually a lot longer than one would think, since even basic colors, like Miller’s favorite, pink, have many possible shades.

“You work with a specialist in a lab and custom make [the colors]. You tell them if you want more shimmer, a pinker pink or a lighter pink. Pink bubble gum, or cotton candy.”

Once the colors are developed, Miller spends a lot of time testing products and asking people for suggestions feedback. This, along with keeping up with magazines and television, helped Miller to produce a product that fits in with current trends.

“A lot of the brand is influenced by what I like, but you have to read magazines and other things and find out what other people like,” Miller said.

As much as Miller’s company is shaped by her hobbies and goals, it is also shaped by the demands of her consumers. Much of Crystalicious! is a result of polling potential customers and researching the fashion and cosmetics industries to see what would take flight.

It is impossible to please everyone, and Miller does have a clear focus for Crystalicious! “It’s a girly line.” Miller said adamantly. “It’s very girly and very pretty.”

One of Miller’s greatest struggles came at the very beginning of the process to create Crystalicious! as she was trying to cope with transforming a hobby into a valid business idea. She was torn between her attachment to her product and the fear of the product’s rejection by others-but a true entrepreneur will not let fear stand in the way of success.

“It’s your idea, and you love it and your friends love it, but then putting it out in the real world, that’s the challenge and having other people really learn to love it and like it,” Miller said.

Miller’s business savvy is as beneficial to her schoolwork as it is to her company.

Although her courses continue to offer insight on ways she can improve her company, Miller’s work with Crystalicious! also influences her schoolwork. Miller knows firsthand that it’s not always a matter of taking material from the classroom to the meeting room-it can very well be the other way around.

In addition to strengthening her ability to talk to other people, Crystalicious! forced Miller to become more disciplined. With the success of her company depending directly on her, she didn’t have the ability to slack off. There is no “extra credit” in business.

Running her own company gave Miller a fast, hard lesson in time management.

“Like how you need to make time to study, you need to make time to fill orders.” Miller said. “You need to depend on yourself, because no one will do it if you don’t.”

Additionally, Miller’s experience with the media and advertising gives her a practical, real-life exercise for the concepts she learns in her journalism classes.

Currently, Miller is a part-time student in her first semester at Skyline College. She took a few years off to get the company started, and is now taking classes that interest her. Her long-term academic goal is to get a degree from San Francisco State University.

“I feel like I have [work] under control now, so I went back to school,” Miller said,

Her next professional goal is to expand the line of Crystalicious! products and its hold in the retail market.

“We are still a relatively small company, but that’s what I’m focusing on right now, is expanding our retail, getting it into more boutiques, and getting the word out there,” Miller said.

For summer she is looking to release a few more color, preferably more pinks, a strong consumer favorite, as seen in the successful sales of the “Sweetee” polish, and Miller’s personal favorite color.

“Pink is the most popular color,” Miller said. “Everyone loves pink.”

Aside from investing a lot of time in researching the industry and the process of creating your own product and company, Miller stresses the importance of having something tangible displaying product information and
company merits.

“It’s key, really, having a website,” Miller said. “You need to have something where people can always go, and look at your products and learn about them.”

The internet was a valuable resource for Crystalicious! in more than one way. Registering the website with different search engines allows interested consumers to search for the products, but some of the most valuable marketing in the company’s early days came from websites other than Miller’s own. The exposure gained from makeup review sites such as Makeup411.com perked the interest of makeup junkies and trend-followers from all over.

Other important sources of marketing for Crystalicious! are magazines and television, and occasionally, Miller will receive notice that a new show is featuring her product, or a new celebrity has made it her favorite.

“I haven’t ever directly talked to a celebrity, but I have talked to publicists,” Miller said. “And I receive confirmation lists from the magazines as part of their fact-checking process, so I know the celebrities are wearing the products.”

Most of all, Miller will tell you her work ethic comes from loving her work, and loving it enough to stick with it even when it seems like the input is outweighing the output.

“You have to have passion about what you are doing otherwise you won’t make it anywhere,” Miller said.

Good thing celebrities like Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, and LeAnn Rimes notice.