Author: Lara
May Julep Maven Box – Rainbow Bright
I was so super excited to use all the products in this month’s Julep Maven box – “Rainbow Bright” – but unfortunately, two of the products were totally unusable. I was so bummed!
My first pick was Your Lip Addiction Tinted Lip Oil Treatment in “Covet”. I was going to wear it yesterday, but the applicator tip had fallen off into the bottle. FAIL! For polishes, I chose Bombshell “Regina” – Nebula pink iridescent chrome – and Boho Glam “Wilma” – Mojave sunrise gold chrome. Unfortunately, “Regina” was 100% dried up. Double FAIL!
What am I gonna do with the bright pink candy thing? It’s either a jawbreaker or a gumball…I’ll let Lily figure that out.
The good news is that Julep’s customer service is second to none. Within 24 hours of my email (with pictures of the FAILs), they already had replacements ordered for me. In just a few more days, I’ll get to play with “Covet” and “Regina”.
Not a Julep Maven? Click HERE to join – I’ll get a $15 credit and you’ll get your first box free!
Diamonds and Pearls
After a brief detour, I’m back to Prince.
I created Diamonds and Pearls with two of my favorite polishes. After Sinful Colors Base Coat, I did two coats of Sinful Colors “Tokyo Pearl”. “Tokyo Pearl” is a difficult polish to work with – every brush stroke shows and you must be very careful. I topped it with essie luxeffects “Set in Stones”. Finishing move was “HK Girl”.
The silver glitter in “Set in Stones” makes the white pearl of “Tokyo Pearl” appear silver. First it turns gold and now this – it’s a chameleon polish.
Amazon Luxury Beauty – Spring 2016
So now Amazon is getting in on the beauty box game. They offered this luxury beauty box for FREE with a qualifying luxury purchase…or $8.99 by itself. I opted to just pay for the box.
I have never heard of most of these brands, but there are a few gems inside the box. Let’s see what I got…L’Occitane Almond Milk Concentrate Body Cream; Sabon Body Lotion in “Delicate Jasmine” (yummy); Ahava Deadsea Water Mineral Hand Cream; Toppik Hair Fattener (odd); bliss Foot Patrol; La Roche-Posay Anthelios 60 Ultra Light Sunscreen Fluid; Julep It Girl “Carla” ( I don’t have this one!); Juicy Couture Malibu; Nuxe Merveillance Regenerating Night Cream; Vichy Idealia Life Serum; Lierac Mesolift Serum; Vincent Longo Sweet Melody Trio Eyeshadow (I fail to see how these colors would look good on the eye – matte violet, baby pink and mint green…uh, NO.); Shaveworks The Cool Fix (for ingrowns and razor burn – yes please); Marvis Cinnamon Mint Toothpaste; Calvin Klein Euphoria; and Catherine Malandrino Romeance de Provence.
Something in the box smells like patchouli, but I haven’t figured out what it is yet…
There was also a coupon for $10 off a $50 luxury beauty purchase…I may have to browse…
My Gecko Does Tricks
I’d been eyeing this polish on Instagram for a while, so when I spied it on a clearance rack at Ulta for $4.99, I snapped it up.
This is OPI “My Gecko Does Tricks”, a beautiful kelly green/gold duochrome. It kind of reminds me of Julep “Tatum” and Sinful Colors “Happy Ending”.
After Sinful Colors Base Coat, I just did two coats. Like almost all OPI polishes, the application was flawless. I finished with “HK Girl”.
Horror of horrors, I blew a huge chip off my left index finger putting my laptop in my trunk…before I even had a chance to take a picture! I had to let it go, as pretty as it was. Such a tragedy…
More Sephora Math
Boys and girls, it’s time for another round of Sephora Math. Sephora Math is when you buy something in order to get something else cheaper.
In this case, the new Sephora Favorites Perfume Sampler includes Tory Burch Jolie Fleur Rose, which I was pretty sure I wanted…even though I haven’t smelled it yet. But…rose! Even if I didn’t like it, there are a few other scents in the sampler that I love – Atelier Cologne Mandarine Glaciale and Stella McCartney Stella. Also inside the sampler: Elizabeth and James Nirvana White (no), Gucci Guilty (no), Marc Jacobs Mod Noir (maybe), Tocca Stella (maybe). But it doesn’t matter – I love Jolie Fleur Rose. It reminds me a bit of Rosabotanica, but rosier. Here’s where the Sephora Math comes in…the sampler was $25, but Jolie Fleur Rose is $28…so again, saving $3!
I also got a gift with purchase…the Flower Child Perfume Sampler Bag, which includes Maison Martin Margiela REPLICA Beach Walk, Stella McCartney Stella, Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb, Burberry My Burberry, Elizabeth and James Nirvana White, Chloe by Chloe and the Tory Burch trio: Jolie Fleur Rose, Jolie Fleur Bleue and Jolie Fleur Verte. I am gonna smell SO GOOD.
For samples, I got Benefit The POREfessional (I keep picking the new version, but they send the old one…suck!), Josie Maran Argan Oil Foundation Fluid (6 different shades!), and MD Solar Sciences Evening Facial Repair Serum (also not what I ordered). Only $177 to Rouge!
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Look…I could give a shit about Alice Through the Looking Glass movie coming out…but the new Urban Decay Alice Through the Looking Glass palette ($60) – that’s a big fucking deal!
I was expecting it to become available on May 1st, but I was surprised to see it show up on the Ulta site on April 28th. I was at Ulta on April 29th, a quick pit stop on my way to Texas Frightmare Weekend. I stopped in The Woodlands, knowing that if it was out of stock, I could also stop in Conroe.
It was so pretty, I had to open it in the car. The packaging is very elaborate – the top opens up and a butterfly pops up. I’d heard that it is supposed to play a tune, but I haven’t figured out how to make it play. The shadows slide out of a drawer on the bottom. 20 new shadows, 4 for each character – Alice, Mad Hatter, Mirana, Iracebeth and Time.
I also had to swatch all of the Urban Decay Alice Lipsticks ($18): (L-R) “Time”, “Mirana”, “Mad Hatter”, “Iracebeth” and “Alice”. At first, I thought I would get the blue one – “Time”, but where would I wear blue lipstick? Work?
I played it safe and picked “Mirana”.
The best part? The palette was FREE and the lipstick was almost FREE, because I’d been hoarding my Ulta points for the last 10 months and had $72 of points built up. Go ME!
Oh yeah, I also grabbed a clearance OPI polish – “My Gecko Does Tricks” ($4.99), a green that I’d been coveting for a while.
Graffiti Bridge
Now THIS one turned out sooooo much better.
I killed two birds with one stone – Prince + using a new polish. I started with Sinful Colors Base Coat and then two coats of Sinful Colors “Stone Cold” for the bridge. For the graffiti, I used Funky Fingers “As If”. Once again, I had no problem getting stars out of the bottle. I got a few for each nail without even trying. Finished with “HK Girl”.
Shhh…don’t tell anyone, but I’ve never seen Graffiti Bridge. Surely, I’m not the only one…
Raspberry Beret
Raspberry Beret turned out kind of weird. I was going for a velvet-y look, which it kind of does? Note to self: Don’t use a matte top coat with a jelly polish.
I started with Zoya Anchor and then two coats of Zoya “Paloma”. I then topped with Zoya Matte Velvet Top Coat and that’s when things got weird. It looked fine at first, but it started to shrink around the edges. I actually got long furrows in my thumb nail – almost like a crackle polish. I also got a weird white residue on my thumb. Does matte top coat go bad?
Yeah, I took this off the very next day.
Getting Funky
I absolutely cannot walk into Five Below without walking out with at least 3 fingernail polishes – it just does not happen. All I was looking for was a bag of poop…
I brought home Funky Fingers “Son of a Nutcracker” – white, pink and green glitter from last year’s Elf Collection (I love pink and green together, Xmas or not); “As If” – black, pink and purple glitter with stars; and “Bottle Rockets” – red, white and blue glitter, perfect for the 4th of July.
They didn’t seem to have any new collections since the last time I was there a few months ago. They better get on the ball or I won’t have anything to buy!
Purple Rain
How could I not honor His Royal Purple Sexiness? Who is gonna make music to fuck to now?
After starting with Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat, I painted 2 coats of Julep “Aubrey”, Rosewood Shimmer AKA browny purple. I used Julep “Geo” as an accent on my thumb and ring finger for the rain. Top coat is “HK Girl”.
Thinking about a whole series of Prince tributes…Little Red Corvette, Raspberry Beret, Diamonds and Pearls…