I was all set to stick with my Classic With a Twist category for my second shipment from Julep’s Maven program this month (which included a polish, a lip gloss and a cosmetic bag), but when the alternate shelf pull e-mail arrived, I found myself lingering longingly over the polishes in the other categories. Fortunately, Julep has added a new category for junkies like me, so I opted to switch to the Polish Lover shipment and received three bottles of nail color.
Yes, this made me very happy.
My shipment arrived earlier this week, packaged with three 2-ml product samples: Age Defying Hand Brightener, SPF 30 Hand Cream, and the Glycolic Hand Scrub I featured in my October favorites. These will be tucked into my carry-on when we go to Las Vegas next month.
And then there were the polishes…
Michelle is a “midnight, inky blue.” In the bottle it looks a bit like China Glaze First Mate or a dustier version of Sephora by OPI Blue Grotto. On the nail, it’s very dark but obviously blue. A great addition to my ever-growing collection of blue polishes. (Funny, I don’t have much blue in my wardrobe other than jeans, but I love blue nail polish and wear it all the time.)
Trina is a “deep aubergine” named for Trina Turk. What the website doesn’t mention about Trina is the very beautiful shimmer that is pronounced in the bottle but, once it’s on the nail, doesn’t shimmer so much as provide a very pretty depth. It reads creme.
If I love blue nail polishes, I looove green nail polishes, so I was very excited about Diane, which is easily my favorite of the three. Julep describes Diane as an “elegant, forest grey-green,” although I might say it’s more of an olive-y forest, a bit reminiscent of OPI Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow. Like Nars Zulu, Diane looks almost black in low light; however, it’s obviously green under bright natural light. It also looks great layered under glitters and flakies, as I learned when I couldn’t resist trying out new bottles of Color Club Covered in Diamonds and China Glaze Snow Globe.
I like the Julep formula, which is 3-free and applies and wears nicely. I wore Diane for three days this week and did get some tip wear, but I blame that on the fact that I used Seche Vite Dry Quick Top Coat, which is awesome for a one-day manicure but doesn’t lend itself well to long wear.
After two shipments, I’m still really enjoying the Julep Maven program and looking forward to seeing what comes next. You can sign up at Julep.com.
(Note: The Julep Maven links in the first and last paragraphs are affiliate links. If you click through and sign up, I receive a credit at Julep.com. I don’t receive any compensation from Julep for these posts and I don’t have any affiliation with the company.)
I love your blog!! Amazing work!I too, live in Alaska and have yet to find someone as passionate about makeup and beauty as me lol. Do you plan on doing any China Glaze swatches in the future?? I would love to see those:)
Thanks! I'm glad you found me! You should check out Polarbelle, too, if you haven't already. She's in Anchorage and I think she has some China Glaze holiday swatches coming this month. I have picked up a few of the CG holiday polishes and I'm planning on posting about them sometime in the next week or so. Thank you for reading!
Thank you soo much!! Yes, i just seen the holiday collection and they are GORGEOUS! I just ordered Snowglobe, Champagne Bubbles, and Blue Years Eve. I couldn't help myself. Early Christmas gift I guess lol. Have spent the day reading all your blogs. Now only if I could figure out how to subscribe to your site lol! Looking forward to more. Happy Holidays:)