31DC2013 Day 3: Yellow

Hey everyone

I forgot to upload this yesterday. It was yellow day. 

This is Julep's Catrina from the new September Julep box. I'll be reviewing the entire collection soon. Catarina is such a beauty. And a 2 coat yellow. If you do a thicker coat you can even get it in one. The shine on this polish is wonderful, I didn't need a topcoat at all. If you're looking for this sunny yellow color, Julep's Catrina is the choice for you. 

August Maven Box

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Today I have my Julep August Box. This month I got the Classic With A Twist box with one add on. 

This is Julep's 2 year anniversary so their box was special this month. I really liked getting this box instead of a traditional black box. 

This is the inside of the box thanking everyone for being a Julep Maven. 

They included Forget-Me-Not seeds. This was actually the only special thing in the box. I was kind of disappointed. It's their anniversary and I get flower seeds? I do not have a green thumb so these are going to get gifted for sure. 

I have dry feet so I used this as soon as I could. It did help but it's not a product that I would use full time. It was a tad bit greasy so I haven't used it for it's friction purpose. Honestly I would recommend getting their foot lotion, that product is amazing. 

These are my polishes! In order we have Sylvia, Marjorie, and Veronica. Marjorie came from the It Girl box. 

First up we have Veronica. 

This is such a pretty reddish pink cream polish. At 2 coats Veronica appealed smooth and evenly. 

I honestly have nothing like this in my collection. It's so pretty and shiny. I'm not wearing a topcoat in any of these photos. 

Next up we have Sylvia. 

Sylvia is a bluish purple cream. It reminds me of a lighter and creamier Eden. It also applied very even and smooth after 2 coats. 

See how shiny this polish is? I love it. I have one polish that's similar and I'll feature it in a comparison post soon. 

Last we have Marjorie. 

Marjorie is a bright orange with a golden shimmer. I was worried it wouldn't transfer on the nail but it does!

This and Veronica are my favorites that I got. 

This box was nice but a bit of a disappointment. I am excited to see what they come up with for fall. I have yet to get a Fall box from July. What do you guys think of this month's box?

MSMD Monday: Kite Tails

Hey everyone

Today I have a design from Paulina's Passion. She did these amazing kite tail nails that I knew would be perfect for Bow Day. What is Bow Day you ask? I started a new challenge on Instagram. The Alphabet Challenge. Today is B for Bows. Yesterday was A for Aztec but it'll be featured tomorrow for YTT. You can view Paulina's design here! 

Polishes used:

1. Zoya's Kristen
2. Zoya's Wednesday
3. Zoya's Katy
4. Zoya's Mira
5. Zoya's Paz
6. Julep's Something Blue
7. China Glaze's Fairy Dust

So what do you think? I love them.They were easier than I was expecting which is certainly a plus after working on a Monday. :) Hope you guys enjoyed today's Monkey See Monkey Do Monday.

Julep Comparisons

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Today I have the comparison shots from my Julep Secret Store purchases. First up we have Sally.

We have Julep's Sally, OPI's My Vampire Is Buff, and Julep's Kennedy. I honestly grabbed Kennedy by mistake thinking it was Sally. As you can see via the bottle these all look quite different.

The swatches aren't similar at all either. Thumb, index, and pinky are all Sally. Ring is MVIB, and the middle is Kennedy. Sally  has a more peach tone to it where as MVIB has a very white base to it. Kennedy is also khaki as described compared to Sally. Now if I was going to pick a favorite out of all of these, it would certainly be Sally. MVIB is so streaky and thin. It took 3 coats to get it smooth. Kennedy and Sally are both 2 coats. Kennedy is just a strange yellow khaki that I wouldn't use for a flesh tone at all. While Sally doesn't match my skin tone at all, I still think it's the best option for a flesh color if you're doing nail art. 

Next we have Korin's comparisons. 

They all look fairly similar. We have Zoya's Mitzi, Julep's Korin, Sinful Colors' Innocent, Wet N Wild's Toss Me A Lifesavers, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's Lickety-Split Lime. 

On the thumb we have Mitzi, index has Korin, middle has Innocent, ring has TMAL, and pinky has LSL. Mitzi and Innocent are completely dupes of each other. Mitzi just happens to have a matte finish. They are both very close to Korin, it's just a bit darker. A person who's not obsessed with nail polish would tell you they are the exact same polish. TMAL is a dark shimmery green and LSL is lighter than TMAL without the shimmer. Korin is $14.99, Mitzi is $8 and Innocent is $1.99. If you're looking to save money then Innocent is what you need to pick up. But formula wise you need Korin. Mitzi is very streaky and you can even see the bumps in this picture. Innocent isn't that bad with 2 coats, but Korin you can totally get away with one. It all depends on a personal preference. My pick is Korin hands down. 

Those were my comparisons. If you'd like to see more leave me a comment and I'll start working on more of these. I hope you enjoyed today's post!

MSMD Monday: Leopard Gradient

Hey everyone

Today I have a fantastic new spin on traditional animal prints. The design was originally done by Very Emily. She was nice enough to also include a tutorial as well. 

The polishes I used today were Zoya's Sookie, Zoya's Paz, Zoya's Katy, and Julep's Alaina. I just adore how this turned out. You can read Emily's post here. I hope you enjoyed today's MSMD Monday. 

July's Add Ons and the Secret Store

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As promised I have the Add Ons and my purchases from the Secret Store. Julep allows you 3 add ons every month when you purchase a box. The best part about the add ons is that you get them for a lower price then what they are listed normally. Add on polishes are only $4.99 and they usually have specials that aren't included in the boxes. My add ons were all specials not included in the boxes.

First we have Adele over Cassie.

Adele is a shimmer/flakey top coat. It's primarily a copper color, but it does flash blue and gold every once in a while. It's completely unique and I love it. The formula is great and the above photo is only 1 coat. This polish is perfect for taking your day polish to glitzy night polish. 

Next we have a 4th of July themed polish called Fireworks. If you remember last year they had America the Beautiful and mine was a super clumpy thick polish. Firework is nothing like it

This polish needs some undies but I wanted to see if it could build up like America the Beautiful. This is 2 coats. The formula is great. There's a perfect amount of glitter in each swatch. It mainly has red and blue glitter with a little bit of silver glitter in a large and small size. 

Lastly I have Something Blue to show you. This is part of their wedding themed polishes. 

Look how beautiful and bright it is! It's such a lovely blue. I can see myself using it for any mani that needs a baby blue. 

The formula is also fantastic as well. So smooth and shiny. I recommend this polish over all of the other polishes in the box. It's just wonderful. 

At the beginning of every month after the boxes have been selected the Secret Store opens for a few days with excellent discounts. These are the polishes I picked up. First we have Wendy from the Rock Candy Nail Glaze.

What a fantastic jelly. This is 3 coats. I love how bright a juicy it is. There is a little VNL (visable nail line) but  it's not as noticeable in person. 

It's interesting the swatches I've seen online make it look like colored water, but that not the case at all here. I seriously recommend checking out these polishes. I know I am not going to purchase the rest of the collection the second I can. 

Next up we have Sally which came in a Brights set. Sally is a nude polish with a hint of white peach base. 

The polish photographs really strange. It looks a lot like make up, but it's not that yellow in person. I did feel like I had something similar to this polish already, so you are going to see a comparison post in the next few days. 

You can certainly see the peachy base to the polish when it photographs though. 

Next we have Korin. A beautiful bright lime green. 

Korin is the reason I bought this kit and not a different one. I loved this green. Sadly I have a few like it in my collection, but of those, I like this one this best. So when I do comparisons of Sally I'll be sure to thrown in Korin as well. 

I love how bright it is. But it does have the ability to stain, but it's light. So I would double up on the base coat just to be safe. I really want to put a matte top coat on this.

Lastly we have Eden. This polish is a very rich purple, perfect for Fall. However, when photographed...

It looks blue. Strange I know. It's also not as streaky as it appears. 

All in all I'm extremely happy with all of my purchase. My Julep collection is expanding quickly. I'm going to need more space soon. Hope you guys have enjoyed all of my Juleps today. And in case you want to join in on the fun, here my referral link!

July Maven Box

Hey everyone

Today I have the July Maven Box! This time last year I received my first actual Julep Maven box. I'm so excited. I've been a year! This month was a very hard decision. Based on the swatches I pretty much wanted one polish from every box, but not really both. I ended up picking Classic With A Twist, my default box. There were also a ton of add ons as well which I bought 3 of. I'll be featuring it in a second post later today. 

So this is what it looks like. Love the tissue paper. I opened it up and right on top were these:

Green Tea Blotting Papers. Too bad I don't have oily skin. Scratch that, I'm glad I don't have oily skin. I'll just have to gift that to one of my friends. Then I got my polishes. Cassie and Alaina.

Also tucked in the box was my Beach Tonic. It smells so good, but I have yet to actually try it. I'm a little worried that it'll be greasy, but as soon as I try it I'll let you know. 

Lastly we have the add ons. Adele, Fireworks, and Something Blue.

The best part about this month's box was that I used my Jules that I got from last month's makeup fiasco. I ended up getting all of these stuff for only $10. Now I just need to start referring people so I can get free boxes too. Now on to the swatches!

This is Cassie. A lovely jelly coral. This is 3 coats and it is just lovely. 

There's no top coat on by the way. It's also fairly bright too which makes it perfect for Summer. This polish was the whole reason why I picked this box over all of the others. I had to have it. Next we have Alaina.

A very beautiful gray/taupe color. It even has a slight purple tint to it as well. 

I ended up liking this polish a lot more than I thought I would. I also have nothing like it in my polish collection. The formula on both of these polishes were amazing. 3 coats for the Cassie and 2 coats for Alaina. Definitely win win for me. 

The add ons that I bought and the items that I purchased from the Secret Store will be posted later on today so keep an eye out! And if you are interested in purchasing a Julep box please use my referral link. Also use FREEBOX to get your intro box for free!

Jindie Nails: Princess Consuela Banana Hammock

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I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but I am a huge FRIENDS fan. (If you follow Sweet T Lacquer you'll notice I do have a FRIENDS collection up!) Jindie Nails recently created a polish called Princess Consuela Banana Hammock and I knew I had to have it. I missed out on the full sized polish, but I was able to pick up a sweet little mini. 

Here she is with 3 coats. It was a little thinner than I expected, but it builds nicely. The bigger glitter was also a little hard to get out so you have to do a little fishing and dabbing. But the final product is totally worth it.

It's so pretty. I'm going to need a full size bottle of this polish very soon. I don't think  my mini is going to cut it. 

Now for me the worst thing is to see a blogger swatch a polish and not tell you there's an undie on. And undie is where there's a base polish decided to match the polish and bring out the glitter more. It also helps you avoid needing multiple coats for the thinner polishes. I don't know how many times I have bought a polish only to discover that it's super thin and I don't have a matching undie. Today I'm going to show you the perfect undie to go with PCBH.

This is PCBH over Julep's Abbie. I put a dabble of PCBH over my 2.5 coats of Abbie and I was good to go. I know it looks really bright here, but it's not. It's a perfect base for PCBH.

The only thing I could say that it does to PCBH that you may not like is it takes away some of the milky base in the polish. But if you're looking to conserve polish (because you only grabbed a mini like me) then this undie is perfect and you'll love it. I honestly haven't been able to stop staring at my nails. It's also completely perfect for summer too!

Hope you guys enjoyed my Jindie Nails today. Stay tuned for Limited Edition Jindie-Pendence tomorrow!

Julep Warehouse Sale

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What's this? Two posts in one day? I know! I'm on the ball today. I recently received my order from the warehouse sale that Julep was putting on. I mentioned in my review of the June Maven box that I have trouble from time to time with Julep. When the sale was going on I almost missed it. I happened to get on Instagram and see the post and it was around 11:30pm. So I get on to see if there's anything left and I make my order. For some reason it would not process the order. I tried it at least 20 times. I ended up taking a screenshot and sending an email to Julep. They usually take about a day or two to answer their emails and I didn't want to miss out on the sale, so the next morning I call their customer service.  They were super nice to me and still processed my order with the discounts. I ended up getting $200+ worth of stuff for only $38.

I got 10 cabachon rings to make nail art with for my Etsy shop, a gray jeweled necklace, 4 lip glosses, and 3 tubes of nail polish. Today I'm going to show you the nail polish. First up we have Olivia.

Olivia is a warn chocolate brown. Lovely. This is 2 coats without a top coat. The formula on Olivia is fantastic. I seriously love this brown. 

In between pictures I must have dinged my nail on something. I don't have a lot of brown polishes, but this one is certainly my favorite.

Next up is Brant. 

This is a darker blue. I wouldn't call it Navy because it has more of a gray tone then a black tone to it. I feel that it's really unique because it's not like a lot of the darker blues out there. 

This is 2 coats without a topcoat as well. Great formula again. 

Enough of these dark colors. Last but not least I have a bright summer time color. Abbie!

This is 3 coats of Abbie, it actually is no where near as streaky as it looks in the picture. In person it's quite lovely. I've gotta say it's a lot better than most of the other yellows I have. Especially considering how bright it is. 

There is one drawback to using Abbie. You need to double up on base coat. This yellow leaves an awful stain. Other than that, the formula is great and it's such a pretty color. 

I am 100% happy with all of the polishes that I got in the warehouse sale. Even more so considering the most expensive was $5. What do you think? Are you a fan of Julep? If you want to check them out use my referral link here. Use can also use FREEBOX to receive your first box for FREE! Who can resist free polish?

June Julep Maven Box

Hey everyone

Today I have a post regarding the June Julep Maven Box.

I never seem to have luck with makeup, I am the color of paper so finding foundation and things of that nature that match my skin tone can be hard work. Julep came out with their DD Creme which is supposed to be the newest thing on the market. I was so excited to try this make up out. They had a shade that looked like it would work with my skin tone, so I switched to Modern Beauty and got the Foundation and Concealer combo.

I also added Char from the It Girl Box and Kennedy from the Classic With A Twist Box. 

I got off work and immediately used my makeup when I got home, that's how excited I was. Below is my email that I sent to Julep after using it.

I wanted to send a notice regarding the June Modern Beauty Box. I was very upset. To begin with the containers were only half full. One would assume that with the cost involved (and the fact that the Modern Beauty box says 2 full sized beauty products) they would be full. I put it on my skin and it spread. Not in a good way. It became water-like and left a streaky mess. The final product was my face was caked with makeup and I'd only used maybe 2 dollops the size of my finger tips. The pictures on your website show how it smooths the skin out and completely blends in any facial blemishes. All this did for me was turn my normal complexion yellow and leave my skin dry and itchy once I removed the makeup. Which I did immediately. I haven't used my Julep subscription in almost a year. But the last few polish collections and make up collections gave me hope. This box has all but turned me off. I will not be purchasing a Modern Beauty box if this is the kind of product that comes with it. I was so happy with Char. However, the make up makes me completely regret spending $19.99 on them, when I could have got the other 2 polishes in the It Box instead.

That is a baby wipe I used to clean my face off. Now when I sent this I had no idea of the uproar that was going on everywhere else. I went on Instagram to post a picture of my swatches of the polish (I actually deleted the photo of the DD Creme on my face because it looked awful) and saw that some people were upset. After getting on the Julep Facebok page I saw that I wasn't the only one complaining. In fact most people who received a light box were very upset. Fast forward to June 11th and I got a response from Julep. To make up for everything that were gifting me 2000 Jules so I could purchase a free Julep box in the future. I was completely shocked. I never anticipated getting anything in return. I just wanted to voice my frustrations and let them know that this kind of product was not acceptable. Julep's customer service has completely blown me away. They went above and beyond to make me feel like they valued my opinion. I may have trouble from time to time (more on that later), but they never fail to assist me.

And now we have the swatches! First up is Kennedy.

Kennedy is supposed to be a Khaki color. The swatches on the website show it as a very soft shade. This was very yellow as you can tell. It gave me a major case of lobster hands.

I wasn't really sold on this polish. And after the whole mess with the make up I was not excited for Char. Well, that is until I put a matte topcoat on Kennedy.

It may be a strange yellow color, but when it's matte it has something extra that I can't quite put my finger on. The formula on Kennedy was fantastic. Very smooth and shiny after 2 coats.

Lastly we have Char. This polish. I adore this polish. If I could have gotten a box filled with Char then I would be happy.

It's so rich and shiny. I cannot get over how beautiful this color is.

The formula was amazing. 2 and a half coats later we have this masterpiece. And just wait until you see it with a matte finish.

It's completely to die for. I got so many compliments on this shade. It's beautiful.

Now, I realize this wasn't a completely happy Julep post, however, due to their customer service I would completely recommend Julep to all of my girlfriends. If you would like to sign up for Julep you can use my referral link <HERE>. I hope you enjoyed my swatches!