Julep Maven January 2014

I decided to get my Julep Maven box this month.  The thing that did me in, was that they offered an extra nail polish in all Maven boxes. I thought that it was a  good deal and I liked the polishes that were sent out, so I went and shipped out my box.

First Look!

This month the theme is "The Dramatic Collection

Cameron - Stardust finish. Metallic Purple

Love - Gold Shimmer with red glitter flecks This was the bonus nail polish included in every box this month.

Rooney - slate gray

One coat of Cameron.

Opaque in one coat.

One coat of Love.

Opaque in two coats.

One coat of Rooney.

Opaque in three coats.

The bonus product this month was the Eye Sheen Liquid Eyeshadow.  You could pick one of four colors to add to your box and I chose "Dusty Taupe Shimmer" This was a lot smaller than I was expecting and more liquify than the preview pictures showed. I will have a full review of this product in an upcoming post. 

If you would like to sign up for Julep, please use my referral code, link here
Use code "Freebox" to get your first box for free
Use code "Sheen10" for an extra 10% off

Julep September 2013

I received my Julep Maven box! 

This box ships out at the first of the month and when I opt in for the month it is always the first beauty box that I receive each month. 

This month's theme is "CityScape" and it was supposed to be inspired by different cities. I received the 'Boho Glam' box this month. 

First Look!

One packet of 'One Step Polish Remover Pad" 

$9.99/$7.99 Maven (for a set of ten pads)

 I have a few of these nail polish remover pads in my supply and I keep hoarding them for emergencies or when I travel. But I tend to keep them in storage, continually thinking that I will need to use them later and when I eventually do end up attempting to use them, they are all dried up and unusable. I need to find a better way!

FULL SIZED "Bare Face Cleansing Oil"I have tried out this cleansing oil a couple of times, but haven't really gotten the hang of it and figured out what is the best way to use it - therefore I have not developed an opinion on the product. 

$28.00/$22.40 Maven Price

This is what got me this month.  I opted in because I have been wanting to try out a cleansing oil, so when I saw that this would be in the box, I decided to have it shipped out this month. 

New Packaging!

'Boho Glam' "Kristy" This is a deep, dark blue color. I applied it on my nails and it looked black -regardless of the lighting or angle. 

'Boho Glam' "Tatiana" Microglitter orange color. 

I painted my nails using both of these colors and I looked like I was ready for Halloween. My nails looked black and orange - despite the claim that Kristy is a dark blue.

Please consider using my referral link, Here.

Julep June 2013

My June Julep Maven box arrived. 

First Look!

I actually though that I skipped this month, but I was wrong and I received the box in the mail.  I have been skipping the past few months, trying to save money for my trip. My style profile is "It Girl" and with that profile, you receive three nail polishes in the monthly box. Three other style profiles come with two nail polishes and an extra beauty item and the newly revamped "Modern Beauty" box contains three beauty products. I actually just switched my style profile to "Boho Glam" in case I forget to skip another month so I can get the one beauty item alongside my two polishes. This months's beauty item was a new product for Julep, DD Cream. I'm kind of glad that I didn't get the DD Cream in this box, because as I stated above, I forgot to skip this month and I wouldn't have been able to pick my DD Cream color when the box shipped. Which could have meant it a wasted product if it was not my shade.  This month's theme is 'Sail into Summer' and is described as being perfect for summers on Nantucket. 

This month's extra was salt water taffy from Dolle's.  I received the lime, chocolate and strawberry flavors. I tried the lime one and it was good - tasted just like salt water taffy should. I usually like the harder taffy's and these were soft ones - but they were still good. 

The three color's I received were:

Bess

Nan

Char

The thing that I hate the most about Julep polishes is that the formula is so inconsistent. I painted my nails with Bess (Light blue) and Char (Navy) and both of them applied so differently. Char was so THICK. You only need one coat to reach opacity on Char, but it's hard to apply because it is so thick. Bess was much thinner, but needed two coats. Both of the polishes, as with all Julep polishes that I have tried, last a really long time. I would equate the longevity to my Essie polishes. The color lasts more than a week, most times longer. 

You can sign up for Julep here (<--referral link).  Use code 'Freebox' to get your first box for FREE!

Review: Julep 'Simone' Nail Polish

If you are interested in beauty boxes, there is no doubt that you have heard of Julep's Maven box.  They always have deals where you can receive the first box for next to nothing. I think I signed up with a code that gave me the box for a penny(plus shipping costs, but I think I only paid around $4.00 for my box), but I have recently been seeing links all over the web where you can get the first box for totally free. You will take a style quiz to see what your "Style Profile" is and they will send you a box that corresponds to that style. I was "It Girl" which is for the nail polish lover.  This ended up being the colors that I would have picked anyways, so I was totally happy with my style profile. The first box is the same for each person. It might change with time, my first box came with two colors that were from the Trina Turk collaboration.

You can check them out by clicking on my referral link. Put "freebox" in the coupon code box to get your first box for free!


Now on to the review!


I received Simone as part of the March Maven box.  At first glance it is a really pretty shimmery lavender color. Purple is my favorite color, so I was really happy to receive this polish. The hue lets off a dark purple or blue shimmer color in the light.

Now for the bad. I hated the formulation of this polish! The consistency of the polish ended up being really thick and you really had to get the brush into all the groves of your nail if you wanted coverage. The polish also was really streaky - I had to load up the polish on the brush to get the coverage that I needed to not look like a five year old had painted my nails. This technique caused the polish to get all over my cuticles. Not a good look. Plus the polish took forever to dry and smudged and moved all over the place.

Another issue I had was that the brush was horrible! I felt that the brush was too think and the bristles would go where they wanted, not where you wanted them to go.  You really have no control with this brush.  This isn't the first time that I have received a Julep polish with a crap brush.  The intro box that I received also had a brush that was crap.  It was even worse than the brush that came with Simone.  The hairs went everywhere!

Despite the horrible time I had painting my nails, here is the look I created.

These are the polishes I used:

In artificial light:

In natural light: 

Polish: Julep 'Simone'

Ring Finger: Savina 'Fairy Dust' and Zoya 'Electra'

Top Coat: OPI