Julep Maven

True Blue

July 4, 2013 By Maureen Wood Leave a Comment

Bess, I love you.

I know I have been going crazy with nail polish for the last few months and I apologize for this addiction but honestly I cannot help it. Ok, I can but I don’t want to. Especially after wearing this new color from Julep.

Bright blue nail polish by Julep.

About a week ago I put on two coats of this thick creme nail polish with no top coat — it had such a nice sheen on its own I didn’t bother.

A fresh coat of bright blue nail polish.

I probably could have put on a third coat as my nail tips are still visible but I really don’t mind the look. This robin’s egg blue is called Bess — like a good friend. I know I am obsessed with blue tones but this one is so pretty.

After a few days I was a wee bit bored with myself and changed the look into a make-shift French manicure by putting slate sparkle polish (Jordan) on the tips. I am pretty sure it was two coats. It just looks black in the photo but trust me, it is glitter.

Silver grey glitter manicure with bright blue polish.

I enjoyed it for a few days and was itching to do something else. The polish was still looking hot so I could not justify taking it off. Soooo… I put on another coat of Bess, yes, right over the sparkles and everything. Then I took out my L.A. Colors white nail art lacquer brush and painted diagonal stripes on the tips (left hand first).

Diagonal white stripes on nail tips.

It turned out way better than I could have imagined.

Bright blue nail polish with two thin white stripes on tips.

This last nail art was super easy and I highly recommend trying it. It was fun to do and looks so sharp.

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Topic Links
* Become a Julep Maven or shop at Julep
* My first Maven experience
* My second Maven experience

Filed Under: Accessories, Beauty Products Tagged With: Julep Maven, nail art, nail polish

I Love Some Bunny

June 23, 2013 By Maureen Wood 1 Comment

Ok, I was at a loss for a title to use with last week’s nail polish pick, it happens. The white polish you see before you is called Bunny and it is by Julep.

Bright white nail polish from Julep Maven add on.

This polish is thick and creamy white with a very fine gold fleck you can see in the bottle if you look real close but not really on the nail.

Gold flecks in white creme polish.

I used two coats to get a completely opaque finish. I do not think I particularly like white nail polish in and of itself — perhaps if I had a tan or if the sparkle had shown up it would have been perfect.

Two coats of Julep's Bunny white nail polish.

As it is, it will make a great base for some nail art when I get the nerve to try this water marbling:

I so want to try this but it looks labor intensive so have been putting it off. I had every intention of doing it but then my white chipped three days later and I was ready to try a new color. I know, excuses excuses. But I am definitely going to try it. Problem is, these nail artists make it look so easy that I get discouraged when it is not — I love the simplicity and satisfaction of a straight coat of color.

Have you tried white nail polish, or water marbling?

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Topic Links
* Get your white Bunny nail polish from Julep
* My first Maven experience
* My second Maven experience
* Check out the first marble look nail art I tried!

Filed Under: Beauty Products Tagged With: Julep, Julep Maven, nail polish, nails

Being a Julep Maven: Take Two

April 11, 2013 By Maureen Wood Leave a Comment

In March I mentioned I became a Boho Glam Julep Maven. I am following up with news about my second box. The April Brights box contained two Julep colors, Kaylen (neon orange crème) and Lena (teal with gold shimmer), a tube of Julep’s Mighty Nail and Cuticle Serum, and some blue rock candy on a stick (FYI: if you are going to send candy, make it chocolate).

To back things up a bit. Even though last month was my first box, this month was my first pre-notification that my maven box would soon be on its way. On the March 20th I approved my Maven April Brights box and ordered a few discounted add-ons: the Electric blueberry frost polish and the Freedom Polymer Top Coat both for $4.99. I was told I would have until the 24th to change my mind or my selections. On the 29th I received two separate emails, the first telling me my April Maven box was on its way, and the second telling me my add-ons were on their way (they are always shipped separately from Maven boxes).

I was very excited when my Julep Maven box arrived and tweeted/insta it immediately on opening.

Here is a closer look at the colors. Lena turned out to be greener than I thought it was going to, it looked more turquoise on the site.

I had a plan in my head for my nails before the polished arrived. I wanted to paint my nails all blue except for the ring fingers which would be orange — a popular and simple nail trend at the moment. When I opened up my polishes and started painting I was so excited and before I knew it all my nails were painted teal. I remembered another simple nail art video I had seen where a simple brush stroke of another color is painted down the middle. When the teal dried I did just that. Unfortunately, the orange polish is a bit transparent and turned out to be brown on the nail. I posted it to Instagram and friends said they liked it — one said it reminded her of peacock eyes (this image is from iPod).

But I still felt I needed to “fix” it. I put a white strip down the middle, added another coat of orange, then a few teal dots. Way more busy than I originally intended for the April Brights and to my eye, kind of muddy.

I wore it for a couple days until I finally got what I wanted. I have been tickled orange ever since.

Orange and teal manicure with Julep nail polish.

There is one coat of the teal and two coats of the orange. I probably could have done three. I am happy with the colors this month.

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Topic Links
* Become a Julep Maven

Filed Under: Accessories, Beauty Products Tagged With: Julep Maven, nail art, nail polish

Being a Julep Maven

March 12, 2013 By Maureen Wood 3 Comments

While Living in Canada

One of the things I love about nail polish is that I can feel glamorous without forking out a ton of money for clothes. The color palettes are endless and can be easily changed to my mood. And with the increased popularity of “nail art” it is even more fun.

A few weeks ago a fashionista I follow on Instagram used the hashtag #julepmaven and implied we all new what that meant. I did not. All I knew was that Julep was a brand of nail polish. I did a quick Google search and found out that the company had a monthly mail order program that allowed fans to sign up for $19.99 (free shipping) and get two “new” nail polishes and a beauty product (all worth over $40) once a month.

The process starts off with filling out a mini survey to give them an idea of your fashion and beauty tastes and they put you into a category (the category can be changed at any time if you think your personality suits another one). The three new products are then based on the category. The great thing about this is it is not blind, the week before they send out the product info in an email letting you know what it will be. If you like it you do nothing, if you do not you can say no and receive nothing or pick something else.

I thought, “Cool, bet they don’t ship to Canada or if they do the shipping is ridiculous.” NOT! I was shocked to find out they do ship to Canada and like in the U.S. the shipping is free. Yes, I was and still am shocked. How awesome is that? I could not help myself. I signed up.

According to their survey I fall into the Boho Glam sense of style: “A dynamic free spirit with a creative eye, your effortlessly chic look pairs earthy neutral tones with fun, vibrant colors.” Well ok, then I can live with that.

On February 26, I placed my first Julep Maven order and was told my Boho Glam order, which consisted of one Petra (sparkly purple), and one Lisa (grey) polish, and an essential cuticle oil would be on its way soon. While going through the process I also had the option to purchase additional items at an amazing price. I think there were at least three polish options for $4.99 but I could not pass up the one called, “O Canada”.

I was expecting my first order to take at least three weeks to pass through customs etc. but on March 5th (seven days), my parcel was here. I excitedly opened the 6″ x 6″ black box to find a welcome card, a style card with list of what I get as a style maven: 3 full-size products, monthly treats, a little surprise, 20% off online store products, free shipping on every order. In the center wrapped in pink paper were this month’s products and a little sample of “pedi creme”.

I was so excited, I took a picture for Instagram. Then it hit me. Where’s O Canada? Does it come in a separate parcel? There was no mention of it. That’s weird.

I sent off an email to Julep to let them know that the bottle of O Canada was missing from my shipment. I waited not so patiently for a reply. On March 7, a Maven Customer Service member sent me the following message:

Thank you for reaching out to us. We apologize for the confusion or concern. Add-ons and Maven boxes are typically shipped out separately. We understand that the gap between receiving each items can be frustrating. But we ship these items out separately in order to get some product, if not all out to our Mavens as soon as possible It does take a bit longer to ship to Canada. We sincerely apologize for the delay. All of our packages are shipped via USPS and unfortunately we typically are unable to track packages any further after they have left the US border. We can’t wait for you to get your hands on O Canada!, we think you will find her well worth the wait. We appreciate your patience. If you have any other questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to ask. Until then, have a great day!

As of March 11 I have not received the add-on but it has only been two weeks since my initial order (and one week since my first package arrived) and as I previously mentioned I was expecting at least three weeks for delivery. I will add an update when the add-on arrives and I will also do an update when my second parcel arrives. In the meantime I am going to enjoy a little bit of Petra and Lisa.

Update: March 12 — The O Canada nail polish add-on arrived today. So that was one week for the Julep Maven order to come and two weeks for the add-on order to come — that is some pretty amazing delivery times from Julep. Here’s what O Canada looks like:

It’s so sparkly:

With this polish came a card to join Julep Maven and offering 2 free polishes. Since I am already a maven I am assuming I cannot use it so if you want to sign up you might as well try the code: “introtwo”. Let me know if it works or not (if it doesn’t I will remove it from this post).

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Topic Links
* Become a Julep Maven.
* How the polishes tested.
* See what happened with my second box.

Filed Under: Beauty Products, News Tagged With: Julep Maven, nail polish