Julep March Mystery Boxes!

I'm sure my postman, or lady, in my case, thinks I'm a shop a holic, or crazy because I have so many packages that come in the mail due to the monthly subscriptions, or really killer deals.

This month was no exception, as Julep ran their Mystery Box promotion again for St. Patricks Day! I'm a sucker for their mystery boxes because I like surprises and it's fun to get different colors [hopefully] that expand my collection!

I gave all my dupes to my friend last week and she was super thrilled, so I don't mind getting dupes since I have friends who will use and love them.

This time when they sent my Mystery Boxes, they arrived in one large white box which was unusual! I like this packaging much better because obviously it's nice to get everything all at once instead of having one mystery box arrive and then having to wait 3 days for the second one to show up. It also protects the products a little more and I prefer my boxes not to have company logos or say what they are on the outside, since that deters package tampering.

Opening both boxes, I was greeted with the products wrapped up in bubble wrap and a green gift bag. I'm so glad that they switched to these flat paper bags instead of the handled Julep Logo gift bags that they used to use in the beginning. These are much easier to save if you want to save them, and I feel like they look nicer.

Both boxes look pretty similar, as you can see. They both were wrapped in the green paper bag, and then each one had 4 chocolate coins along with a little card explaining what things were in it.

 This is my first mystery box. Included in it are 3 nail polish colors, and the clear topcoat. From left to right, the bottles are Clear Topcoat, Sofia, which is a green glow in the dark version of Porsia and the other glitter topcoat, Charlotte, and Rachel. I don't own any of those colors, so I am super happy with that!





For Box 2, I got the clear topcoat, Sofia which is the glow in the dark green, and then the red color is Glenn, which I have a bottle of, and Heather, which I do not! Plus each box has a glass nail file and minis of the Polishing Scrub and Hand Lotion!

Oh and they both came with chocolate coins. =]


I looked up unboxings online, and it seems like this version had a lot more variety of colors available! For me this was a super good deal because I only received 1 repeat color, and even though I own several of the minis, I pass them along to friends who love them! I will also be passing along this bottle of Glenn to my friend who will totally love it!

If you get a chance to partake in the mystery boxes, and you're new to Julep, or know someone who will use your dupes, I think it's a great way to build your nail polish collection without much hassle. Plus it's fun to get surprise boxes in the mail!

If you are interested in their Maven program, here's my blog post explaining it all!

Thanks so much for reading, and please let me know if anyone gets a goodie box when they have them next. They're doing another Mystery Box for Easter since 500 people liked their FB question about it, so stay tuned for that!

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.

China Glaze Hunger Games & ElectroPop Collections!

Originally, reading about all the Hunger Games colors from China Glaze, I was kind of on the fence about the collection. I read the books and liked them, and the concept of a themed collection seemed like it was promising.
But then there was the leaked info, and the colors didn't look that appealing, and then the new naming system made some of them even more unappealing to me. Foi gras anyone? . The only ones that interested me were Electrify, Luxe & Lush, & Riveting.

I heard that Sally Beauty Supply had them all for sale [they still do! But hurry because they are selling out fast!]
Off I went to my local Sally's to pick up some colors, managing to snag the very last bottle of Riveting, and a bottle of Electrify. Then after I looked through the colors they had, I realized that I really liked Smoke & Ashes, so that was added to the list!
Sadly, that store was all out of the Luxe & Lush, so I ended up driving to the next town over to their Sally's, who had the whole collection in store! I bought Luxe & Lush, & Stone Cold.
They also had out the whole ElectroPop collection and today I realized I really really wanted the blue ones from that collection.

Today I realized I wanted the rest of the colors, so I ordered the rest of the set off of bebeautiful.com. Right now, all China Glaze colors, including the ElectroPop colors, and Hunger Games collection are only $3.75, and shipping is only $4! I ended up ordering the colors I'm missing out of the Hunger Games set, and then one of the blue colors, Aquadelic. That color of teal is what I like to call my "signature color". Everyone who knows me knows that I love that color, I have my room painted it and I wear it constantly.
I ordered it after checking out my local Sally's, who unfortunately did not have the whole display out like the one in the town over did. =( They had the colors, but they were sold out of extras, so I managed to snag the only remaining bottle of Electric Beat.

I'm super excited to try out all of these and highly recommend getting your hands on some or all of both collections if they appeal to you because they're already selling out like hotcakes!

Hunger Games is the one that surprised me, because originally, the collection didn't seem that amazing. But after looking at the swatches on AllLaquered up, my mind was completely changed! There are beautiful shimmers, glitters and even a really cool matte in there. The little circles on the press release do not do these colors justice and if you can see them in person, it's highly recommended to do so! But the swatches on her blog are amazing and show just how pretty these are!

Are any of you purchasing any of these? Do you already own some and have favorites? Let me know!

CVS mini haul

After coming back from staying with my grandparents, my skin was a mess because I forgot my facewash.
I had some ExtraCare bucks to use and decided to go and get Biore strips. Luckily for me, they had a special, where if you spend $10 in biore, curel, or jergens, you get $3 in ECB's. So that was nice because it's what I was going to buy anyways! They had a shelf tag on the 14 pack of face and nose strips indicating that if you bought that box, you would qualify for the ECB, so I nabbed the last box. Always read the little shelf tags if you can! It's easy to "tune them out" but sometimes they can help you save money.

I had 8.50 in ECB to use, and then the "magic coupon machine" printed out a coupon for $3 off of any $10 cosmetic purchase. If you have a CVS rewards card, make your first stop in the store the red coupon machine! Scan your card until you get the message on the screen telling you there are no more coupons. For some reason, it doesn't print them all out at once, and sometimes it takes multiple scans to get them all to print.

I also had a coupon for 35 cents off of any Carmex product, and after looking up online for a match up, I found out that the Moisture Plus brand at CVS has a rebate offer good for up to $2.99 on it!

Admittedly, I ended up getting the Rimmel Lash Accelerator serum as a sort of impulse buy, since it costs almost $10, and the Wet N Wild Nail polish to bump the purchase up to $10 to get my $3 off. The pretty coral color is what I like to wear on my toes, so I'll definitely use it all up.

Here is my running total:

1 Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips combo back 14 ct ... $9.99
1 Carmex Moisture Plus ultra hydrating lip balm ...........$3.39
1 Rimmel Lash Accelerator Serum Grow Lash Complex.$9.29
1 Wet n Wild "Wild Shine" Nail Polish in Blazed................$0.99
----------------------------------------------------------------
Total Before Discounts $23.66

Coupons: - $8.50 ECB
- $3.00 CVS coupon
- $.035 Carmex Coupon
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Saved - $11.85

CA Tax $1.17
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Total after discounts and added tax $12.98

So for the price of one box of Biore Strips and the Carmex, I also got a nail polish and the lash accelerator. I also get $2.99 back from the rebate, and had $3 ECB print out on my receipt from buying the Biore! So after those are added in, the whole thing was only $7.

I'm by no means a "Crazy Couponer" but I do use them whenever they match up with things I am already purchasing, or make something I have been eying for awhile [the lash accelerator] much more affordable.

Definitely make sure you check out the ads, and see if there are any coupon match ups. Lately I've been making all my beauty related purchases at CVS because they have the Beauty Rewards program, that gives you $5 back for every $50 purchase you make. Add that onto the CVS rewards card kickbacks that I get, and coupons, and you can score some good deals. It does take some effort and timing, but I think it's worth it!

I like to use this site for "Match Ups" because it tells you if there are printable coupons, manufacturers ones, or peelies on the labels that will save you $$.

I'll try out the products and post reviews on here soon!

Julep October Boxes American Beauty & Boho Glam unboxing!

First off, apologies for being away for a week. I helped my grandparents move down from Oregon, so I went up there for a week in order to help them pack, and I was one of the drivers on the way down. The drive took 14 hrs on sunday, so I recovered yesterday. But now I am back!

My October Julep Maven boxes arrived while I was up there, and I have been dying to get to open them up!

If you're not sure what the Julep Maven program is, here is a link to a previous post about the program, and here is a link to their website so you can go check it out. If you use the coupon code FB, your intro box only costs $5! Not too shabby.



First, I unboxed the American Beauty profile box. I'm not sure if you can tell, but Julep made the boxes that they send the products in smaller. I am so glad! I kept one of my previous months boxes in order to store my polishes, and another for the hand creams and things that they sent. The boxes are nice and sturdy, so they would also be great for wrapping Christmas presents in! You could also redecorate the gift bags and reuse them as well.

Opening the box, the two nail polishes [yay we got 2 this month like the intro box!] were wrapped in tissue, and then the new Age Defying Hand Brightening cream! I haven't had a chance to test it out yet, but I'll definitely let you know.



Another difference this month is that there were no product samples included. That's okay though, because I really do not need more samples of either the hand scrub or the SPF hand cream.



The two colors in the American Beauty box are one of the New Holiday 2011 collection colors, Brooklyn, which is a GORGEOUS sparkly true crimson red. It's stunning. So so pretty. I cannot wait to wear it. The second color included is Dendrie, a "chic, dove grey"


Admittedly, I was less excited about this one because from the photo it looks like an exact dupe of Annette, which the company also described as a "dove grey". However, I compared the two colors and they are distinct from one another. But I probably don't need any more grey nail polishes between the two of those. Here's a comparison shot of Annette and Dendrie next to one another so you can see. Annette is on the right, Dendrie on the Left.


I was wary of the bright sparkly red, but I think that's going to be my fun holiday color that I end up wearing to holiday parties, along with Sienna, their gold polish.



Here is a shot of Dendrie separately, so you can get a better sense of how it looks. Brooklyn turned out beautifully in the above photo, but Dendrie looked washed out. My camera tends to focus on the darker color, and the lighter one gets washed out next to it.






For the Boho Glam Box, the packaging is the same deal. A smaller box, with a gift bag tied with ribbon [love the attention to detail!], and inside the bag is a tissue wrapped set of the two nail polishes, and the box of hand cream. There's also the nice profile card on top so you can see what you are getting inside.




The colors included in this months Boho Glam profile are their 2011 Holiday color of Gayle, which is a deep creme finish purple eggplant color, and then Malin, a "pink champagne" color.

Unfortunately, since the colors are so drastically different I had a hard time getting a good shot of both.

Here's a shot of Gayle alone. I plan on swatching Gayle, I'm still a bit skeptical about it because I don't generally wear purple. But I am hoping it looks good on, and I know the quality is good!



Here's a better photo of Malin so you can see.


Out of the two, I have to say Malin is the one I am more excited to wear, but that it also looks almost exactly like the color Jennifer. Malin in on the left, Jennifer on the right.


Comparing the two, they are not exactly the same. While they are the same color, Jennifer is a creme finish and Malin is shimmery. I prefer the shimmery version so I am excited to add Malin to my collection. It's a nice neutral, and those are always useful to have, so I'm not upset about it being so close.

All in all, I love both my profile boxes. They are completely different from each other, and that's great! My favorite is Brooklyn, and second favorite is Milan. So neither box was a bad choice and I'm happy to own all the colors.

It should also be interesting to try out the hand cream and see how it works.
Thanks so much for reading!