Tag: Julep
Invisible Wiener
I hate posing my hand like this, without polishes. It looks like I am holding an invisible wiener…or sausage…or um, frankfurter…cylindrical meat product? There is just no good way to say it.
On top of Julep “Natalia”, I tried 5 different glitters to see which one looks the best – I cannot decide! They all look awesome!
Thumb – Julep “Oscar” – Multi-dimensional gold glitter
Index – essie Luxeffects “A Cut Above” – Shattered pink diamond glitz lacquer
Middle – Julep “Jane” – Full-coverage rose gold multi-dimensional glitter
Ring – essie Luxeffects “Set in Stones” – Disco mirror ball chaos
Pinky – Julep “Antonia” – Light pink holographic diamond glitter top coat
My 1st Birchbox Purchase
Don’t you love it when you get home and there is a stack of shipments? I came home to 3 today…some Victoria’s Secret Yoga Pants, some Julep polishes and a Birchbox order!
My Birchbox points had been adding up and I had $20 in credit, so after hemming and hawing for 3 days, I ordered the Cynthia Rowley Beauty Collection No. 2. It came with Cynthia Rowley’s Eye Shadow Palette – No. 2, Mini Creamy Lip Stain in “Valentine” and Mini Eyeliner in Black, all in a Neoprene Confetti Bag. List price was $35, but I got an email with a code for 20% off of my first purchase. With $20 in Birchbox points, my total was $8 – what a steal! I was supposed to get 2 free samples, but for some reason, I only got one…more StriVectin Night Cream with Retinol. That shit WORKS. In another 10 years, I’m really gonna need it…
Even though I’m excited to try out my Cynthia goodies, it’s bittersweet. I wish I had waited a few days to use my points…I want that Modern Mermaid box in the WORST way. I need more points! Click my referral link – https://www.birchbox.com/invite/5453f – I’ll get 50 points if you join!
Priscilla & Kathy
I am loving Julep’s Birthstone Collection. They’re like Pokémon – gotta catch em all.
“Priscilla” – Emerald for May is a full-coverage Emerald glitter. It’s named for Priscilla Presley. She hardly stacks up to Rosa Parks or Coretta Scott King, but they’ve got to be running out of names?
“Kathy” – Pearl for June is a pearl shimmer. It reminds me of mother-of-pearl, more than a regular pearl. It’s named for Kathy Bates, possibly the best thing about this past season of American Horror Story. I picked up 2 – one for me and one for my mother-in-law, also a “Kathy”.
I had already used my “BOGO” code, so I used “$10 off $30”.
Penny, Penny, Penny
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Julep’s description of their polish “Natalia” is refined copper metallic. Well…that’s just fancy way of saying that the polish looks like a freshly minted penny.
Even more than a penny, “Natalia” reminds me of rose gold. (Rose Gold is a mix of gold and copper, usually 75%/25%.) Back in grade school, I won a $25 Zales gift certificate (Spelling Bee, I think) and picked out a rose pin made out of rose gold. At the time, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I wonder if I still have it?
Considering adding pink glitter to the rose gold…or maybe gold glitter. Or both.
Morpho
Julep “Jennine” – I’m in love!
“Jennine” reminds me of a Morpho – a genus of tropical butterflies, the brilliant blue iridescent kind that you only see in Butterfly Exhibits like the one at HMNS or the Rainforest at Moody Gardens. Or maybe a the head of a horny peacock, huge tail displayed, eyes darting around for a homely brown female…In sunlight, there are flecks of gold, green and violet.
I’m in love with the stardust finish. My husband said it feels like sandpaper, but it’s smoothed quite a bit since yesterday. I definitely wouldn’t recommend wearing pantyhose with a stardust or sand polish – they’ll get shredded.
I was was actually a good girl and used the Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat. It dried quickly and gave a beautiful smooth start for my nails. It was like a coat of gesso on rough canvas. We’ll see if it prevents “Jennine” from staining my nails – blues and greens are notorious for staining…
My one complaint with stardust/sand formulas is edge creep. As it dries, it tends to retrest from the cuticles and edges of the nails. I feel like the base coat helped a lot, but I still have major chip on my right index finger. I’m going to patch it tonight before bed, but I’ve got a feeling that I’ll be seeing “Natalia” tomorrow.
June Julep Maven Box – The Three Wishes Collection
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I got my box! I got my box! Of course, my BFF already got her box on Saturday and totally rubbed it in…
June’s box is called “The Three Wishes Collection”. I guess they’re going for the “genie in a bottle” Moroccan theme. I’ve been fairly MEH about the last several months’ colors, but I absolutely LOVE every color in every box this month. It took FOREVER for me to choose which box I wanted. I was going to customize, but then it turned out that I didn’t need to. I thought I had pre-paid for 3 months of the customizable plan by accident…but then I wasn’t charged for it. Hmmm… I ultimately chose “Boho Glam” again, although I had initially planned to keep “It Girl” – but I had to have the new Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat. I never EVER use base coats, but I should.
“Boho Glam” came with the Oxygen Smoothing Coat, “Natalia”, refined copper metallic, and “Harlow”, golden dragonfly iridescent chrome. I went crazy with the add-ons this month. I got “Jennine”, full-coverage borealis blue stardust (matte glitter), from the “It Girl” box. I also got more “Swatch Me” stickers and a color fan to test out my color idea. Because I got 3 add-ons, I got a special gift: “Marjorie”, citrus orange frost, and “Veronica”, modern mauve crème. Both colors are from the August 2013 “Garden Party” box.
I almost forgot – there were 3 Grape Pixi Stix in the box, too. Julep…STOP with the candy!
Not a Julep Maven? CLICK HERE to join! Your first box is free with code FREEBOX!
Celia
I could only handle my multicolored clown nails for a few days. Keep on voting!
This is Julep “Celia” – icy, green metallic. Although I just received it in my Golden Ticket Mystery Box, it was originally part of the “It Girl” December Maven Box – The Glitterati Collection. Even though I’m an “It Girl”, I had chosen the “Classic with a Twist” box, which had “Jillian” and “Mia”, so no overlap!
“Celia” is like the green version of Zoya “Bobbi”. I’m brainstorming a way to get the two of them together…
Also, I fixed the jacked up cuticle on my middle finger – thank you, Julep “Vanish”!
20 Polishes
The other day, I told my husband that I wish I had 10 more fingers. He laughed and said, “You do – they’re called toes.” Painting my toenails is just not the same as painting my fingernails. They’re hard to reach and all different shapes. Plus, I hardly ever have a chance to show off my toes. I have so many ideas for polish combinations, plus – I’ve bought or been gifted about 25 polishes JUST in the month of May (which isn’t over yet.) Sure, I can practice on my junk mail, but it’s just not the same…what do I do? I stay up late and do a different combination on each finger!
Let’s start with my left hand…
Left Thumb – China Glaze “Four Leaf Clover” and Maybelline Color Show “Emerald City”
Left Pointer – Orly “Purple Poodle” and Sparitual Luminary Matte Top Effect in “Opaline”
Left Middle – Nina “Blue La La” and Sally Hansen Gem Crush “Lady Luck”
Left Ring – Julep “Tatum” and Julep “Rosa”
Left Pinky – Sinful Colors “Sugar Sugar” and Nina “Gold Flake Topcoat”
My right hand was a little bit more difficult, both to paint AND to photograph…
Right Thumb – Orly “Bubbly Bombshell” and Sinful Colors “Nail Junkie”
Right Pointer – Zoya “Dillon” and Sinful Colors “Bombshell”
Right Middle – Sinful Colors “Inkwell” and essie Luxeffects “Set in Stones”
Right Ring – Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Magenta Motion” and Sinful Colors “Call You Later”
Right Pinky – Sinful Colors “Nova” and Nicole by OPI “Rainbow in the S-Kylie”
Which one do you like best? Vote in the poll below and let me know what you think!
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Pink Dots
I just can’t leave well enough alone.
Dookie Glitter looked great, but I had an idea to make it even better. I kept thinking of my favorite dress of Lily’s, from when she was a year or so old. It was an Easter dress that I picked up at Kohl’s – a chocolate brown sundress with pink dots and roses. About half of the dots were sparkly and holographic. I put it on her every chance I got. Of course, I’m a hoarder and never got rid of the dress…so I was able to give it to my niece, Olive (pictured yelling at her mother on the left).
After 2 coats of Julep “Candace”, I topped with a coat of essie Luxeffects “A Cut Above” . I had tried this glitter before, but it just wasn’t striking over another pink or fleshy tone like “Set in Stones” is. But over a dark color…”A Cut Above” is AMAZEBALLS. Now you know…
Dookie Glitter
After having bright, bright nails for several days, I had to go dark.
The first polish I picked to try out of my Golden Ticket Mystery Box is “Candace”, described by Julep as golden chocolate microglitter. Well alright, it’s chocolatey enough and it has a lovely golden sheen….it reminds me of the chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory…but it also kinds looks like my fantasy of a poo-poo after drinking an entire bottle of Goldschläger. I always claimed that I would look for gold in my poo after drinking Goldschläger…but I never really did it. IF I DID, this is what I would have hoped to find.
I broke out the Plié Wand again. I’m getting better with it…I just have to remember to go slowly…