Julep July 2014

Julep July 2014 Review

Now that Julep is in its second month of "customize your own box" boxes, I have to say, I am just as happy fully customizing my box as I was when the colors were set in pairs already.  Also, I apparently have boring polish color choices.

Julep July 2014

The beauty item this month was the Bare Body Milk lotion.

Bare Body Milk lotion and bonus Tootsie Rolls.  Because 'Mur'ca.

This lotion is light and smells very, very faintly like something tropical.  Other than that, it is pretty unremarkable.  I like it, and I needed a new bottle of lotion, so this is working out nicely.

The Chosen Ones

This month, Julep released the Poolside collection.  It was filled with brightly colored creme polishes, with a stardust (matte textured glitter) thrown in as an add-on option.  Bright chartreuse! Bright fuchsia! Bright cerulean!  ...And the colors I chose.

Lorenzana and Kelsey

I think I picked the two colors closest to neutrals in the collection.  This is why I can't be left up to my own polish-making decisions.  I'd just pick neutrals, every time!

They are pretty, though.
Lorenzana, top, and Kelsey, bottom

Lorenzana is more greige than purple (like it looks above).  Julep calls it a "shiitake creme" to sound fancy.  It is a nice understated color, and it is on the unusual side for a neutral, therefore I like it.  I've been more into demure nail looks in the past few months, and this will be a nice polish to wear year-round.  Julep does cream finishes really, really well.  They barely need two coats, never are streaky, and last for almost a week without chipping on me.

Kelsey is a pale peach creme (yeah, like I need another one of those), and it made my skin look a little redder than I would like.  I think this would look fantastic on someone with a darker skin tone than me.

I decided to use them both at once in a Ruffian-style manicure that I wore for a full week.  Yup.  A whole week.  That's how busy I have been! I don't even have time to do my nails any day other than Sunday!

Julep Lorenzana over Julep Kelsey

Julep is now a minimum of $19.99 per month if you prepay for 3 months at a time.  New customers also only get to skip twice per year.  If you want to sign up, you can try a starter kit with the code FREEBOX and you only pay shipping!  Julep polishes last almost a week on me without chipping (and that's without a base or top coat) and are some of my favorites.  I think the quality is worth the price.

To try it, please use my link here.  I'll get a discount on my next box for each referral.

No special consideration or compensation was received for this post and all thoughts and opinions are my own. All items mentioned within were paid for by me.

Julep June 2014

Julep, June 2014

This month, Julep is a little different for me.  I decided that since Julep FINALLY listened to the people and is now letting you build your own box, I should take advantage of that.  I pre-paid for 3 months to keep my $19.99/month price (and then my sister gifted me 4 months for my birthday! Thanks, Beth!) so I wouldn't have to pay $24.99 for the custom box.

Julep June 2014 First Look

Julep's new system allows you to pick two polishes and one product (or additional polish) for the small box.  The larger box is a higher price point and you probably get to pick more things.  I'm not sure, as I did not choose this option.

Julep June 2014, Pixy Stix, Natalia, Phia, and Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat

Because I got to customize my box, I got exactly the colors I wanted from this month's collection.  I chose the Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat as my product, Natalia from Boho Glam, and Phia from It Girl.

Three Wishes collection

The base coat goes on milky and matte, and dries in about a minute.  I have similar base coats that cost way less, but I like that Julep products are all compatible and my polish won't dissolve my base coat, and my top coat won't dissolve my polish.  That's always a mess!

Labels

Natalia is supposed to be a copper metallic, but it looks more like a rose-gold foil to me.  It's pretty, whatever you want to call it!  It dries fast, like most things packed with shimmer, and is not streaky at all.  The shimmer is more foil-y than chrome-y, so you get a more even finish that's super shiny but not mirror-reflective.  This is one of my favorite Julep colors ever!

Phia is called an orchid iridescent chrome, but it is just a sheer purple-gold sparkly duochrome to me.  There's some iridescent sparkles to it, but I don't think Julep knows that chrome finishes are supposed to be mirror-reflective.  It's pretty, but it is more subtle than I wanted it to be.  It definitely needs two coats, as it is on the sheerer side of polishes.

The bonus this month was some Pixy Stix, and I got 3 of the same color/flavor.  Booo!

Not the best nail pick, but Natalia as an accent to Phia.  Both are really shiny and Natalia is definitely pink IRL.

All in all, I'm loving Natalia, I like Phia, and the base coat is kinda boring.  I do like that I can pick my two favorite colors each month, now, though!  That makes this a little more worth-it to me.

Julep is now a minimum of $19.99 per month if you prepay for 3 months at a time.  New customers also only get to skip twice per year.  If you want to sign up, you can try a starter kit with the code FREEBOX and you only pay shipping!  Julep polishes last almost a week on me without chipping (and that's without a base or top coat) and are some of my favorites.  I think the quality is worth the price.

To try it, please use my link here.  I'll get a discount on my next box for each referral.



No special consideration or compensation was received for this post and all thoughts and opinions are my own. All items mentioned within were paid for by me.

Julep Maven, Boho Glam February 2014

Julep Maven, Boho Glam February 2014

This month is the last one from the 6-month subscription my sister gave me for my birthday!  I'm sad!  If I want my Julep fix, I'm going to have to pay for it now.

Julep Boho Glam, February 2014

This month, Julep featured liquid eyeshadows called 'Eye Sheens' and everyone got a bonus polish from Julep's founder, Jane.  This month's Dramatic Collection also featured "stardust" polishes (textured with glitter, much like OPI liquid sand or Zoya Pixie Dust) and polishes named by Jay-Z's ROCNATION.

I wanted a Stardust polish, so I opted for the Boho Glam profile.  I love that Julep allows you to choose the style you want that month!  They have an all-beauty box now, as well as a "basics" box, in addition to the 4 polish-based styles.

This month, we were allowed to choose what color Eye Sheen arrived in our boxes!  Great job, Julep!  They listened to their subscribers when the lip glosses came out.  At that time, each color gloss was assigned to a particular style, you could not pick.  I like being able to choose.

Pale Nude Shimmer Eye Sheen

I chose the pale nude shimmer and it is very subtle and gold.  Definitely shiny.  Definitely stays put!  My hand swatch stayed on for 12 hours.

Pale Nude

From the original pictures, I wasn't expecting something so liquidy.  But, Julep did say these were liquid eyeshadows, so I'm not disappointed.  They go on easily and a little goes a long way.  Good thing, because the pot is SO SMALL.  The diameter is that of a quarter.  The box looked huge, but it was totally an illusion.

Pale Nude Shimmer

See? Subtle.  I might try using this as an eyeshadow base.

Top to bottom: Love, Rooney, Cameron

This might just be my favorite month of Julep, yet.  These polishes knocked it out of the park.

Julep Love on ring finger, over Julep Abigail

Love is a gold, pearl, and fuchsia microglitter polish.  It was so hard to take a picture of, but it is stunning in real life.  There is a major flash of gold over the pink glitter, it is super pretty.  This was one coat over my existing Abigail mani (2 coats).

Julep Love

Cameron is the stardust polish that I wanted.  It is a silver liliac with various sizes of glitter.

Julep Cameron

This was one coat.  I used two for the real thing, but one covered very well and you could get away with just that.  It also removed very well! I did not have to soak or foil or pick off random left over glitter pieces.  Very impressive, although it could have been due in part to the layer of Abigail underneath.

Julep Cameron

Rooney is the polish that I was a little hesitant about.  I don't have any brown polishes, and I was a little hesitant to order this walnut bark creme, but I wanted Cameron.  I'm so glad I picked this style!  Rooney is perfect.  I'm a brown-polish believer, now.  It is so flattering against my skin, and isn't as harsh as a deep purple or navy.

Julep Rooney

This was a two-coated, but barely.  Like most other Julep cremes, it went on like butter.  So smooth and easy!  

Boho Glam polishes

I can't wait to try Love over a darker polish! I'm sure the gold will stand out even more

Julep Rooney with Julep Cameron accents.

Julep Maven costs $19.99 per month and includes shipping.  You get at least $40 worth of products, and being a Maven gets you a discount on anything you buy on their site.  There are 3 profiles where you get 2 polishes + a beauty item, one 3-polish profile, a 2-beauty item profile, and a nail-care based basics box to choose from each month.  HOWEVER.  If you sign up for Maven now, you can only skip your box once every 6 months.  Anyone who signed up before December (20th?) 2013 can skip any and all months, but Julep has changed this policy for new subscribers.  You can still cancel at any time by calling the company, but not being able to skip boxes kinda sucks.  

If you are still interested in Julep, you can use code FREEBOX to get your first box for free, you just pay a few dollars in shipping.  You can use my referral link here and I will get 1000 Jules (Julep points).  

This post contains items purchased by me.  All thoughts and opinions are my own, and no compensation or consideration was received for this post.  This post contains a referral link; see above for details.

Julep Maven, Boho Glam November

Julep's November box came today! I selected Boho Glam as my style this month, mostly for Alexandra, but also because I liked the gloss color the best.

Boho Glam November 2013 First Look

This month, Julep also included a holiday catalog with some of their special gift sets.

Luxe Repair Skin Serum Sample

The extra this month is Julep's new Luxe Repair Skin Serum.

Julep Boho Glam: Aisha (top) and Alexandra (bottom)

Aisha is a wildberry creme and Alexandra is a blonde creme.  I think these will both be nice shades for this fall/winter.

Aisha and Alexandra

I also used up some Jules and got an add-on polish this month.

Julep Cynthia Add-On

Julep Cynthia

Cynthia is described as a desert sand microglitter.  The glitter is holographic! I couldn't resist this, and I had more than enough Jules, so why not?

Julep Lip Gloss in Charming

This is a "sheer mauve" and smells like vanilla frosting.  It's a little sticky and my boyfriend's opinion was, "I don't like that one, it gets everywhere!"

Julep Lip Gloss in Charming

I think it looks nice.  I don't mind the stickiness that much, it's not goopy at least.

Julep Aisha and Cynthia

Julep Alexandra and Cynthia

Julep Alexandra, Aisha, and Cynthia

All swatches are two coats, no base or top.

Julep Maven is a monthly nail polish subscription service that is $19.99 per month.  Use code FREEBOX to get your first month for free! You can pick whatever style profile you want for a month, or skip without any penalty.  Being a maven also gets you a site-wide discount and free shipping.  You can sign up with my link here.  I'll get Julep points (Jules) to spend on items.  

All items in this post were purchased by me and all opinions are my own  No special consideration or compensation was received for this.  This post contains a referral link.