Category: Nails
Construction Paper Orange
Julep “Jenna” – tangerine burst creme – was my first pick from my Mystery Box Bonanza. My mother-in-law was looking through the polishes with me when I opened the boxes and this is the first one she grabbed…so of course this was the first one I had to try. I also knew I had a good hour of signing my name the next day and I wanted BRIGHT. I may or may not have low-key pretended that I was a hand model while signing all those closing papers for my new house.
I started with Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat. This is two smooth coats of “Jenna”. The first coat was a bit streaky, but the second coat was absolutely smooth. I finished with my favorite top coat, “HK Girl”.
“Jenna” reminds me of orange construction paper. There’s something weird about orange and purple construction paper. It’s got a different texture than the other colored paper and the color is just off – almost muddy. Although “Jenna” is a vibrant orange, there’s a bit of muddiness in it as well.
Allure Beauty Thrills – August 2016
So…we’ve been in the middle of a big move and I’ve been on hiatus for the last 10 days or so…but I haven’t stopped hoarding. I’ll never stop hoarding…I’ll just have to get more creative, since the new house is about 800 square feet smaller than my old house.
The first thing I must find room for…August’s Allure Beauty Thrills Box. I ordered for the whole year and it showed up on my doorstep a few days before my move. I haven’t even gotten to try any of it yet! Inside the suspiciously light August box: Arm & Hammer Truly Radiant Clean & Fresh Battery-Operated Spinbrush and Truly Radiant Clean & Fresh Toothpaste (I’m starting to rely on getting these in every box); Aveeno Pure Renewal Shampoo and Conditioner (it’s sulfate-free, which is good for my septic system); ChapStick Total Hydration Moisture + Tint Rose Petal (I love the ChapStick Total Hydration and I love Roses – I would have bought this if I hadn’t received it in this box); Grande Naturals GrandeLIPS (not sure if my lips need to be any plumper, but I’ll give it a shot); ittse Eye Shadow in “Obsidian” (another shadow for my new zPalette – oops, haven’t posted about that yet); Lumene Bright Now Vitamin C Sleeping Cream; Neutrogena Ultra Light Cleansing Oil (I bet this would ROCK with my Clarisonic); Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream (I am guessing my husband will be getting this one to use after a shift on the tractor); Not Your Mother’s Double Take Dry Finish Texture Spray; One ‘n Only Argan Oil Treatment; Redken Diamond Oil Glow Dry; Rimmel London The Only 1 Lipstick in “Oh-So Wicked” (Oh, dark crimson); Rituals Happy Buddha Foaming Shower Gel (excited to try this!); RoC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle (I haven’t tried the first one yet); RUSK Styling Collection Elixir Mist; Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Duo Pack – in “Flower Crown” – and Big Cuticle Oil; Simple Skincare Dual Effect Eye Make-Up Remover; Skinfix Daily Lotion; Toppik Hair Building Fibers (Uhhhhh…no); and WEN Spring Gardenia Green Tea Cleansing Conditioner (the one product I WILL NOT try…there’s a class action lawsuit alleging hair loss – FUCK THAT SHIT).
I have another box coming in December…I just need to figure out who to call to change my address!
Thank You, Julep!
When it comes to customer service, Julep has never disappointed.
I got an email a few weeks ago that Julep was unable to release the Gel Sunscreen that was missing from last month’s Julep box. No details, but an apology and a code for $50 off my next purchase. I only pay $19.99 for my box each month…and even though I got my two polishes, they sent me a code for $50. $20 would have been generous…but $50! I immediately got online and ordered all 3 of this month’s Mystery Boxes ($19.99 each). I paid just $9.97 for all three boxes – 21 polishes in total. That’s less than 50 cents a polish!
The Shimmer and Glitters box came with “Pepper”, “Neely”, “Queen Anne” (already got this one), “Oscar” (got this one, too); “Roxanne”, “Judy”, and “Tish” (and this one). The box also had metallic temporary tattoos.
The Metallics box has “Penny”, “Rachael” (got it).“Marika” (got it), “Sawyer”, “Joss”, “Missy”, and “Mia” (pretty sure I got this one in one of my first boxes). This box came with gold chevron nail decals.
The Brights box included “Jenna”, “Connie”, “Suzanne”, “Lee” (got it), “Sam”, “Ari”, and “Danica”. Light blue nail chevrons were included in this box.
21 polishes with only 7 repeats – not bad! Thank you again Julep – your customer service exceeds expectations yet again!
I’m So Money
I’m so money…you don’t even know.
This combination reminds me of a crispy $20 bill – one of those new multicolored ones. I started with two coats of Sinful Colors “Moss Have” over Sinful Colors Base Coat. “Moss Have” is a creamy moss green pearl chrome – similar to “Tokyo Pearl”. I like this formula much better – fewer drag marks from the brush and it doesn’t leave streaks.
For contrast, I used Sinful Colors “Under Cover” on my thumb and forefinger – two coats. More glitter = more happy. I love glitters like these with a dense concentration of different sizes and colors of glitter.
“HK Girl” sealed the deal. I’m hoping that this manicure lasts a while…I don’t know when I’ll have a chance to paint them again…Shhhh…
Polishes and Potato Chips
Oh Walgreens, I love you so much…
I knew when I left for Mexico that Walgreens was running a 2/$3 Sinful Colors sale. I pushed it out of my head, which was all the harder since 90% of my polishes are packed away. Sigh.
But wait! On Friday, we were running errands and needed drinks…I commandeered the vehicle towards Walgreens…
…and was excited to find that this Walgreens finally had a new collection! I grabbed three polishes from the “Camo Glitter” collection – “Under Cover” (different sizes of black, gold, green and light pink glitter with tiny white skull and crossbones), “Cute Cadet” (black, white, gold and pink holographic glitter), and “Army Brat” (pink glitter with a mystery black shape I cannot determine).
I got another “Sugar Crush” called “Surreally Sweet” – I loved “Sugar High” so much, I had to get the pink version. The last two were “Moss Have” (reminds me of cold, hard cash) and “Purple Diamond” (oops, I already have this one…so I gave it to Lily – she’s the one who asked for it anyway).
…and then I saw the potato chips.
I am a sucker for those weird Lays flavors. Instead of the contests they’ve done the last few years, they rolled out a series of International chips called “Passport to Flavor”.
“Greek Tzatziki” was my hands down favorite – it has a rich cucumber dill flavor. I would love to eat one with one of last year’s Gyro chips. This one was also Lily’s favorite – I’m assuming it was close enough to Ranch Dressing for her to love it.
“Brazilian Picanha” was my husband’s favorite. To me, it was just all right…nothing special.
My son’s favorite was “Indian Tikka Masala”. To my knowledge, he’s never had real Tikka Masala, so I was kind of surprised. I need to get him to an Indian Buffet soon.
Walgreens didn’t have Chinese Szechuan Chicken, but I picked it up at Kroger this weekend. Although my husband thought they were yummy, no one else liked them – a bit too spicy and sour.
I ate half a bag of the “Tzatziki” chips last night. I’ll be sad when they discontinue them.
Moist Stephanie
Doesn’t Julep “Stephanie” look like juicy, moist strawberries? So wet, so…MOIST.
I don’t care if Julep describes “Stephanie” as juicy cherry holographic – it’s moist strawberry holographic to me. I’ll say it again…MOIST.
“Stephanie” has the same fantastic formula as “Pam”. After Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat, I painted two coats of “Stephanie” – it went on like a dream. It seemed a bit thinner and easier to work with than “Pam”. My middle fingernail had peeled a bit and “Stephanie” covered it like a champ. I sealed the deal with “HK Girl”.
I need to get the rest of the polishes from August’s Collection – I am totally in love.
Just one more time…moist.
August Ipsy Bag – Sugar Highness
YASSSS Ipsy…give a bag that is not specifically summer themed!
This month’s “Sugar Highness” bag is all about living the glam fantasy. Inside this month’s adorable “makeup princess” bag: ciate London Paint Pot in “Dangerous Affair” (Finally – I’ve been wanting to try ciate SO bad); tarte tarteist Lash Paint (another YASSSS); NOMAD Makeup Eye Shadow in “Marrakesh – Spice Market”; thisworks In Transit Camera Close-Up Mask, Moisturizer and Primer in One (hold the phone – is this for real?); and Peter Lamas Supreme Radiance Complexion Booster.
This set of products FUCKING KICKS ASS. I am loving all of my products this month!
If you’d like to try Ipsy – click here. I’ll earn 250 points if you sign up through my link.
Doritos Locos
As I was eating my lunch today, I was struck by how my nails matched my lunch – a tasty Doritos Locos Taco. Seriously – that taco shell was an exact match for my nails. (I considered taking a picture, but I didn’t want to get Mild Sauce and Dorito dust all over my phone.) I’m quite sure that I shouldn’t be eating food this color, but…
This is Julep “Pam”, tigerlily holographic. (I love tigerlilys – almost as much as stargazer lilys.) It’s so rich and juicy…and a fabulous formula. This is just two coats over Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat. The polish was slightly thick, but not goopy. I finished with “HK Girl”.
I’d like to team “Pam” with a dark green metallic for a tribute to my alma mater – UTD. Orange and Green are absolutely horrible school colors, but it eventually starts to grow on you…
Pepto Monkey Nutz
Hands down, Nubar “Pinktober” is the most annoying polish I’ve ever worked with – an utter and complete pain in the ass.
It looks completely innocuous in the bottle, but don’t let that fool you…It’s ridiculously thick, but somehow streaky? It took three thick coats to get a somewhat opaque finish. It’s possible that it didn’t like the Sinful Colors Base Coat – it’s almost like it wanted to slide off. I also did three coats on my toes – it took nearly half the damn bottle to do both toes and fingers.
Even with three coats, I still had a few bald spots on my nails. Luckily, “HK Girl” made them less noticeable. As annoying as it was to apply, it last fairly well through four days of beach and pool action in Mexico – it didn’t look like utter shit until the very last day.
The only reason I picked this Pepto Bismol pink nail polish was to match the flamingos on my new flamingo swimsuit…but while on vacation in Playa del Carmen, I found something else that my nails matched…
Meet “King Monkey”.
The kids and I started calling him “King Monkey” because he is OBVIOUSLY the head monkey running this joint – I mean, look at his big, pink, swinging…gifts. My 11 year old son was utterly disgusted, while my 8 year old daughter was just confused by the “saggy skin bags”.
We were lucky enough to have “King Monkey” and his concubines visit our balcony several times during our stay in Mexico. Even though there were signs all over the resort warning us not to feed them, they delivered a fruit platter to our room – surely they had to know that we wouldn’t be able to resist “King Monkey”.
August Julep Maven Box – Endless Summer
I wish this really was an “Endless Summer” – I feel like this summer has gone by much too quickly. I can’t believe that school starts in less than three weeks!
I got a note from Julep last week that there would be a delay in sending out this month’s new product – No Excuses Invisible Sunscreen Gel – but they would go ahead and send out the rest of my box. That’s nice and all…but I am really bummed. I was hoping to bring it to Playa del Carmen with me next week. Oh well…
My other choices this month were two sparkly polishes – It Girl “Pam”, tigerlily holographic, and Classic with a Twist “Stephanie”, juicy cherry holographic. Funny, I have a sister named Pam and my husband has a sister named Stephanie. This month’s treat is a Lemonhead – a single solitary Lemonhead. Gross – my husband can have it.
Not a Julep Maven? Click HERE to join – I’ll get a $15 credit and you’ll get your first box free!