New Nail Polish Swatches: Julep Alicia, China Glaze Aquadelic

Once the color Alicia arrived, I noticed that it reminded me an awful lot of a Wet N Wild color that I already own from last year! The Julep Alicia is like a more pale muted version of the same exact color! So funny.

Painting my nails with the color Alicia proved to be somewhat of a challenge. Generally I haven't had issues with "gloppy" formulas from Julep, but I have heard others mention that their polishes were like that in the past. Well this bottle is "gloppy" for lack of a better term. Getting it to paint on was tricky, because it wasn't like my other polishes that flow smoothly and thinly off of the brush. Instead it kind of just came off in big pools and I had to shove it around on my nail. This resulted in a really thick streaky first layer.
After letting that dry, I put on a second coat to cover up the streakiness, but it looked REALLY thick on my nails.
I definitely need to invest in some nail polish thinner! I've noticed that my creme finish polishes are the ones that I have issues with texture from. My shimmer ones are usually a breeze to apply. Glitters are thicker as well, but I only usually need one coat with them as well, so it's not an issue.

Sorry for the terrible looking manicure! I really like this color though. It's a really pretty coral, very 80s to me.

The texture however, is really bad. So I'll have to get the thinner and try again!

The next color came in my order in the mail. It's my order from BeBeautiful and I highly recommend them if you are looking for a place online to purchase nail polish from! Shipping was fast, everything was packaged REALLY well. It came in a cardboard box, inside of which they had put the polishes into boxes, wrapped them with bubble wrap and then put paper around for more cushioning.

I got Aquadelic from the China Glaze Electropop line, Techno from China Glaze also, and then the Hunger Games colors I was missing, because my Sally's ended up selling out of them really quickly. They also sold out of the blues from the Electropop line, and did not have Techno.

Aquadelic is also a creme finish, and I had some problems with it being kind of thick as well! So this problem is definitely not brand specific. I think the creme formulas just end up being thicker so that they are more opaque? But I want to get some thinner for this polish as well. Again sorry for the REALLY sloppy paint job. I didn't clean up my mistakes before taking a photo! But you can see that the color is very opaque and it has a shiny finish on it.

Aquadelic is a really gorgeous aqua/teal color, like the tiles on a swimming pool. This is my all time favorite color, especially with coral. I wear a lot of coral and a lot of teal, so I like being able to paint my nails in either one to contrast with my clothing. I feel like both colors are fun, summery colors and they definitely make me happy.

I also went to CVS and purchased one of the Wet N Wild Sinful line colors. It's called Distant Memory. It's a shimmer finish teal that's like a more green version of Aquadelic. I had a hard time photographing them accurately because the lighting was bad. In person it's much more vibrant and doesn't look like a creme finish as it does in this photo!
Hopefully I can get swatches of it soon.




After that haul I'm taking a hiatus from Nail Polish shopping because it's just to tempting! As it was, I restricted myself to just the two blue colors from the Electropop line. I wanted to buy the whole collection, but realistically, I won't wear most of them so it would just be a waste of money.
But I'm really happy with the colors I got, I think they'll be perfect for this summer.

Julep Maven January Box: Boho Glam

Hi everyone! This week, I received both of my January Maven boxes in the mail! Yay! So exciting. My boxes both had an extra in them for being one of the "original Mavens" which was a nice little perk. I ended up choosing the nail treatment, since I already had both of the other colors available as the perk. You can never have too much clear nail polish, right? I'm doing a separate post for the American Beauty box, since it's so image intensive. All the photos on here were taken with my new camera, so please let me know what you think!

If you're not sure what the Julep Maven program is, here's a link to my post detailing the program. If you would like to go sign up, or check it out, here's the link for the Julep Website!

The first box I got in the mail was the Boho Glam one. This is the preview email, detailing what is in the January box.

This month, the product is a Pomegranate Scrub. Last month was the matching lotion, so at least the scents are compatible. Then we have a bottle of Blake, their cream finish summery yellow that was in last years Summer collection, but is a classic. Then the new color in the collection, Heather, a metallic platinum "greige" Now for the unboxing! It's probably hard to tell, but they've really improved the packaging! If you compare it to one of my posts showing the first incarnation of the Maven box, you will see that they have really made the box better. It's much smaller, and now they're using crinkle paper for padding, along with bubble wrap. The set came wrapped in a pretty cellophane bag, with more crinkle paper inside, and the products were kept in place. They also tied the cello bag shut with a pretty grey ribbon. Opening it this month was really just like opening a carefully packaged gift, and I love that!

Here's a photo of all the contents, we have the card detailing what the specific contents are for the month, the cello bag with the products, and my bonus Nail Therapy in the separate little bubble wrap.

Here are the polishes! We have Blake, Heather, and the Nail Therapy. There was also another bonus inside the bag! It's a nail polish remover pad. [I admittedly already tested this, and will post my blog write up about it for you this week!] But it's always cool that they're working on new product lines and letting us try them out. I'm really happy with Heather as well, because it's a pretty shimmery neutral. It's kind of a khaki color, but metallic too, which makes it unusual, but still very wearable. I already own and love Blake, but I'm going to add this bottle to my growing box of duplicate colors. To be frank, I really wish there was a way to switch out colors we already own with another color instead. After being a Maven since September, along with ordering a few sets last year, I have quite a few of their colors already. I feel like the Maven program is really good if you don't order anything from them, otherwise you risk getting dupes.

Next we have the Pomegranate Body Scrub. Last month there was a bit of a fiasco with packaging of the body lotion that they sent out. Many people had problems with theirs coming undone in shipping, and making a total mess in their box. Thankfully that did not happen to me! But I was really glad to see that they listened to feedback, and heat sealed the product. I feel more comfortable using products that have that heat seal, because then I know it's sanitary. The other nice part is, if you want to give it as a gift, it does not look like you already opened the product! So props to Julep for fixing that.

Next we have a another difference I noticed this month. They started putting the names on the bottom of the bottles! I always have found it strange that they put them on the side on those huge rectangular labels. To me, those labels completely detract from the design of the bottle, and obscure an entire side. I don't like them placed on the lids either. So I'm really happy that they finally are starting to label the bottom like most other brands do. I think it looks more professional and nicer in general.

All in all, I am pretty pleased with the Boho Glam January box. I haven't tried the scrub out yet, but I'll review it when I do. I'm generally not a fan of pomegranate scented things, but the lotion smelled good to me, so I am hoping the scrub is scented the same. Heather is a really nice new color, and the bonus products are always fun to receive.

Black Friday!

Hi everyone! Did anyone take advantage of Black Friday Deals? For the most part I didn't get much, except for at Bath and Body works were I went a little nuts. At midnight I went to Old Navy and bought a friend a polar fleece scarf, a plaid wrap and a polar fleece lined hat for Christmas. It ended up costing me $11 out of pocket, thanks to the sales and a $10 rewards certificate. Just for fun I went over to Kohls to look for a pair of headphones, but they were sold out and the line wrapped all around the whole store. Best Buy had a HUGE line as well. I found headphones for my parents, and a 4 gig SD card for my moms camera there for $7, and after using my phone to check their online prices, realized I could just come home, order it, and not have to stand in the gigantic line. So that's what I did! The next morning, I went to Bath and Body works! They allowed coupon stacking that day, so I got the VIB bag and 14 signature collection products for very cheap! My mom sent me back later in the day for more, but it wasn't as good of a deal because they ran out of the VIB bag.

I used the second run to complete some of the sets of lotion and body wash from the first run, so that I could gift people complete trios. I ended up with the VIB Bag, 1 set of White Citrus, 1 set of Japanese Cherry Blossom, 1 set of Paris Amour, 1 set of Vanillatini, 2 sets of Sparkling Strawberry, 1 Country Chic body spray and 1 lotion, 1 Warm Vanilla Sugar lotion, 1 White Citrus body spray, and 1 complete set of Secret Wonderland. I have a lot of family members who love BBW products, so this was a perfect way to get gifts for them all! That was the extent of my black friday experience! Did any of you go out? What did you end up getting? PS - Don't forget to enter in the Julep Nail Polish Contest. I appreciate all the people who have left comments entering and cannot wait to be able to pick a winner! Sorry about the hiatus, things got a little crazy starting a new job and with the holidays starting. Just as a note, all prizes in the Julep Giveaway were purchased by myself, and I was not given any of the products that you are receiving.

November Julep Maven Boxes: American Beauty & Boho Glam

I am so, so excited about this months Julep Maven boxes. First off, if you aren't sure what the Julep Maven program is, read here.
It's a monthly subscription service, similar to Birchbox, Beautyfix, and the like, but it's for nail polish! The cost is $20 a month, and you take a quiz, which assigns you a "style profile", and each month a different box is created for each style profile. You're emailed ahead of time what colors are that months color picks, and if you do not want them, you can either skip that month, or do a shelf pull and request another style profiles box instead! Super easy and flexible!
If that sounds interesting to you, here is a link to the Julep Maven Website where you can check it out and join.

I've been a member since they started, so for 3 months now, and I have to say, I am not disappointed at all. But on to this months boxes!

This month, Julep is expanding their horizons to cosmetics! I've seen mixed reactions to this. Many people are upset, because after all, Julep is a nail polish company, and they signed up for nail polish boxes. Others, like myself, are really really excited! But the company promises to take both sides into account, and is coming up with options so that people can opt in or out of the cosmetic portion. Don't let that put you off from these awesome boxes!

First off, we have the American Beauty November collection:



(you can click the photo to enlarge it)
Inside is a gorgeous cosmetic bag that I am sooooo excited to get to use! I am thrilled it has a metal zipper! Plastic zippers are a peeve of mine, because they always get "zipper disease" and stop working. Metal looks much classier. The bag is beautiful!

Also included is a lipgloss! The color here is Arousal: Neutral, rosy-brown with pink pearl. The lipgloss also has lip plumpers in it. I love and use lipgloss all the time, so I will definitely use this!

The color included is Trina, a deep aubergine with shimmer.

As much as I love this box, I actually put in a shelf pull for the Classic with a Twist box instead. I have a lot of purples in my collection already, Gayle being one of them, and to be honest, I really just don't like purple nail polish all that well. It's not something I would want multiples of. So while I do think these colors are gorgeous, and am sad I don't get to try out that lipgloss, a shelf pull just seemed best for me personally.

Next we have the Boho Glam November Collection:


In this box we have that beautiful cosmetic case! The nail polish color included is Selena, a yellow green. I'm hoping it's not pea soup green, or another not so polite name my friend has for that color that I will spare you. I'm half excited to see what it looks like in person, and half scared that it's going to be REALLY ugly. Which is why I did not do a shelf pull on this one. I don't have any colors remotely similar to this and I don't mind yellows. It's a creme finish, which I love. So we'll see! I'll post swatches and a review once it arrives, I promise!

Next is the lipgloss! This one is called Extravagant, and is a warm pearlized golden bronze. I love bronze lipglosses, and cannot wait to get to try this out!

All in all, I am really thrilled that Julep is expanding their lines into cosmetics! Their products are very high end and wearable, and on trend without being crazy. Definitely excited that they are keeping things fresh.

What style profile are you? Are you excited about the cosmetics or just want nail polish?

Julep Maven American Beauty Unboxing!

Yesterday I received my first Julep Maven box in the mail! So exciting. If you're not sure what the Julep Maven Program is, basically you take a quiz and sign up and you get assigned a "style profile". If you don't like the one you get, you can try re-taking the quiz to get one of 5 different results. They send you an "editors box" similar to the boxes that they send to magazine editors to promote their new colors. You get sent 1 box every month that contains new colors or new products of theirs to sample and test out before anyone else can get them! If you don't like a color they pick, you can have them pull a new one instead, and the program is one of the most flexible subscription programs I have seen. You are allowed to send the box to someone else if you want, skip that month, cancel or have a shelf pull of different product taken, all with no extra fees or consequences. That was one of the main reasons I signed up, since most of the others have hidden fees and catches.

When I took the quiz, I got assigned "American Beauty", which included 1 nail treatment, 1 bottle of Cameron, a nice bright pink, and a bottle of Alfre, a "royal purple", which I would describe much more as a gunmetal grey with purple undertones.

Opening the box, there was a really nice handsigned Thank You letter for being one of people in the "soft launch" to sign up. So sweet and nice!

Opening the box, everything was packaged beautifully! The extra bottle of nail polish you see in there is Sienna, a lovely shimmery bronze gold. I ordered that separately and they put it in the same box.


Included in my box was a full size bottle of the Glycolic Hand Scrub, 1 bottle of Nail Treatment, 1 bottle of Cameron, 1 bottle of Alfre, and 4 sample packets!

Here's a close up of all the product, including the bottle of Sienna. Left to right is: Sienna, Cameron, Alfre, and the Nail Treatment.

The only somewhat disappointing thing for me is that Cameron is an exact dupe of Niecy. So if you're looking for a nice bright pink, either of these should work since they're the same color. If I had been able to use the "shelf pull" option, I would have used it on the Cameron color since I don't really need 2 of the same exact pink.

Also, I found all the results and realized that Boho Glam is a better fit for me, unfortunately. I'm really not sure if we are able to switch style profiles, but it was a little disappointing to realize that the quiz had a better fit for me than the one I got. But this program is new, and the experience over all is totally worth the price. If you sign up, make sure to use the code TWITTER for 50% off your first box! Then you can have $40 worth of product for only $10. Another perk is, if you sign up for the Julep Maven program, you get free shipping as long as you are a member, and 20% off of any other orders you make! Pretty sweet deal.

I am excited to see what Septembers pulls will be, and that I got to try this program out. My favorite is Alfre, because it's a beautiful shimmery lavender gunmetal grey color which will be perfect for this fall.
Thank you Julep!

Go check it out and see what style profile you get! If you end up getting your own box, comment and let me know how yours was too. I love seeing what everyone else is getting and so far I've only seen 1 other person who had the same box as mine.

Just as a note, I paid for the Julep Maven program out of my own pocket, they did not furnish product for me to review.

Julep Review Summer Collection

The other day, I noticed a little banner on Facebook, announcing a discount code for purchases of $35 or more. You get $15 off for putting in the code FB15 where it asks for a Coupon Code.

Right now, Juleps "Summer Collection", which includes 3 shades of nail polish, is marked down from $42 to $35. With the discount code it makes it $20, and I had a gift certificate for $15, so I paid $5 out of pocket for it shipped. Shipping is FREE all summer, so take advantage while you can!
$20 is still a great deal for these "3 free" nail polishes, which are seriously the nicest I have ever used.

This time around, Julep seems to have drastically improved their shipping procedures! Today my order came in a completely different box, it was a little black gift box with an elasticized ribbon bow holding it closed, and inside, each of the 3 bottles were carefully wrapped in bubble wrap. Hooray for companies that listen to customers and fix problems!

They also kindly included a coupon for $10 off my next purchase of $30 or greater, and samples of their "Facial for Hands Glycolic Scrub" and "Everyday SPF 30 handcream", which was a really sweet surprise!

The three colors included in the "Summer 2011 Collection" are Blake, a buttery yellow, Jaime, a dark super saturated turquoise, and Niecy, a bright pink. The yellow is honestly the color I am most excited about, because it's a color I've been wanting and I don't have any like it in my collection. Jaime seems similar to Amy, and Niecy to Natalie. I'll do a post comparing the colors, so you can see how they differ.

Painting on Blake, I noticed that it was VERY opaque for a yellow. Most yellow nail polish I had in the past required about 5 layers to even come close to being opaque. This one is there from the get go. However, painting it on is a little tricky. I had one hand that the nail polish seemed a little gloppy and then when I tried to do thinner layers on the other, it turned out streaky so I had to kind of pile it on at the end to compensate. Their nail polishes dry really fast, and they don't stink like other brands. The bottles are a good size, not too big, and not so small it's ridiculous. Looking at them, you think it won't last long, but I've painted on layers and layers of the color Natalie and the bottle is hardly touched. I've been using it for the past month straight, because I adore the bright coral color.

Using the glycolic hand scrub is simple. You wet your hands, and then dispense a dime size amount. Then you rub your hands together and it scrubs off all the dead skin and helps revive the skin. To be honest, while this product worked really well, I doubt I would end up buying it. It smelled and looked exactly like my St. Ives apricot face scrub, that I already own. I'm sure the ingredients are better, but I don't really see the point in purchasing redundant products right now. In the future I might spring for a large bottle so I can test it more properly, but judging from the sample packet, this is not a product I "have to have" at this point in time.

The SPF 30 hand cream basically looked like sunblock. It rubs in fast, and doesn't leave a greasy film, but I don't like how it smells. It has that plain lotion almost sour cream smell to me, which I did not find enjoyable. After drying, it has a scent reminiscent of white glue. But I do enjoy how fast it absorbed, and that it still feels moisturizing. If you need unscented lotion, then you would probably enjoy this! Again, if they made a scented version, I would buy a large bottle to test it out with.

All in all, it was nice to get to try the new products though! I really enjoy when companies put samples in their orders, and package things with care like Julep does. The samples were also extremely easy to open, which was an unusual surprise. Most sample packets have a ridiculous little "tear here" thing with a slot cut and then you rip it and either the package rips in half, wasting product, or it doesn't open at all so you have to get scissors. This is not the case with theirs. They have a perforated line across the top and it actually tears across that. Again, a company that actually thinks things through! Amazing.

Julep Nail Polish set review

Last week, the "Must Have Summer Set" by Julep, normally $64.95, was on sale for $28 shipped. Normally I would never spend that much on nail polish, but the colors are the same ones I have been looking for for summer, it comes with a cuticle oil roller-ball, and a nice box to keep it all in.



The shades are: Helena, Amy, Natalie, and Jennifer. They name all of their nail polishes with actual names, and sometimes they're named after celebrities.

Helena is a vibrant fuchsia color. Normally I think fuchsia looks gaudy or loud, but it really is prefect for a nail polish. Here I have my nails painted with it. (Please excuse the weird looking hand. It's hard to take a photo of your own hand, with an iphone in the other one as the camera in bad lighting.)



Amy is a nice turquoise that's perfect for summer. It's not as vibrant as Helena, but still just as pretty. This is one of my all time favorite shades of blue, so I was surprised that I was more drawn to Helena right now. But this will be great for later in the summer, and I think it would be fun to play with putting white designs over it because they would really pop.

Natalie is described as a "retro honeysuckle pink" on the website, but to me it's more of a coral pink color. But it definitely looks like a color out of the 50s, but this is one of those colors that never goes out of style.

Jennifer is a nice pinky nude, which is perfect for my pale skintone. It's fleshtoned without looking creepy, and you could easily use it for a french manicure, or a job interview where you want painted nails but clear is too boring.

The set comes in a nice little black cardboard box that ties shut with a black ribbon, making it perfect for gift giving, or as a Thank You favor for your bridesmaids. It's nice to have a little box to store the polishes in because then you can be assured that they're all together.

I love this set, and $28 was a total steal because I know that I'll regularly use all of these colors. There is a lot of variability even though it's only 4 colors, you can easily go from professional looks to fun looks and they're not too bright to wear on your hands. I generally stick with clear on my fingernails and do the crazy colors on my feet, but I can wear these on my hands without feeling like it looks tacky.

The included cuticle oil is amazing. You don't even have to wear nail polish and it'll make your nails look shiny and nice. See below? I don't have any nail polish on, just the cuticle oil.


Another thing I loved was the customer service. When I received my set, upon opening the box, I noticed that it smelled strongly of nail polish. Carefully examining the bottles, I realized that the bottle of Helena had been damaged in shipping. It has a crack clean through the bottle diagonally. Thankfully the nail polish did not leak out everywhere though. I emailed them *politely* explaining what happened and they sent me back a very sweet message saying that they were so sorry it had been broken and they would send me a new bottle right away. Two days later my new, unbroken bottle of Helena arrived in the mail. It's always nice to do business with a company that clearly cares about its customers and providing great service. Below is a picture of the busted bottle next to its unbroken twin.




All in all, I highly recommend giving Julep a try. If you're lucky enough to live near their nail salon I imagine it would definitely be worth it to stop by!

Also, now until the 30th, Julep is running a promo where you get $15 off any order of $30 or more with the code GIRLFRIEND, because they have a new summer set (see below) that's super cute.



Go check it out and take advantage of their sale if you're looking for some nice nail polish. Another great thing is, they're "3-Free" which means they're healthier to use. (I can tell because the fumes are WAY less than the nail polishes I have used in the past. I actually paint my nails outside most of the time because traditional nail polish smells up our whole entire house like chemicals for hours and gives me a headache.)

This is what the whole "3-Free" means: Our Julep Nail Vernis is 3 Free, which means we do not use carcinogens like formaldehyde, DBP and toluene. Also, our colors are ultra pigmented for easy application, fast drying, and long lasting – we developed them for use in our parlors.

If that wasn't enough, they also donate to organizations that help empower women. Definitely a good company to buy from!