Julep Maven

I received my Julep Maven box today!! Woo Hoo! If you are not familiar with the program it is pretty much a beauty of the month club focused around nail care. When you sign up you take a beauty quiz and are assigned a profile, mine is American Beauty. Then each month you will receive a custom box based on your profile. Before the box is sent you receive a preview email showing you what your upcoming box will contain. If you do not like what they are sending you, you can request a new pull, skip the month, send the box to someone as a gift, or cancel all together. All for $19.99! Not a bad deal. Below I will show you what was in my first box.

Inside the box was a Julep bag with a cute little ribbon. 

In the bag was a card describing in detail what was contained in the box.

And a hand signed welcome letter from the CEO/ Founder Jane Park! How sweet!

Everything came individually wrapped. I received Alfre a new unreleased fall '11 color ($14 value), Cameron; a bright pink ($14 value), Julep Nail Therapy ($16 value), and Julep "Facial for Hands" Glycolic Scrub ($32 value). So all in all I received $76 worth or product for $4.99 ( I used a coupon code for $15 off, I am not sure if it still works.. and I can't seem to find it. If I do I will post an update)

Here is Alfre on my sister's nails. It is a purple grey shimmer/ pearlish polish. I really like it for fall. 

Here is Alfre on the left and Cameron on the right. Both nice colors, Cameron is a little too bright pink for me though.

The bottle has a unique design, but I feel that I am going to tip them over when I am doing my nails. I was also a little disappointed in the size of them.  OPI and China Glaze come in .5oz bottles, this was only .27oz pretty much half. So for the price I am not sure that buying the bottles on an individual basis would be for me. The Julep Maven program is great because I can get $40 or more worth of product and you are only charged $20! 

If you want to check it out click here Julep Maven Sign up, and I will get a referral credit! Please leave me a comment or send me an email if you do sign up through the link so I am able to keep track. Also, if you do sign up you will receive a referral link as well. 

Another bonus of the program is you also receive a discount code for 20% off of ALL of your future purchases and you also receive free shipping!!! If you have any questions they also have a FAQ on the website. All in all I think the Julep Maven program is great and since you can skip a month or cancel at anytime there is really no risk involved. 

Here is my preview email for my September box. I am really excited about this box in general, the polish looks so pretty, the cuticle oil (my cuticles are in rough shape), and the hand cream is the next step in their regimen after the Glycolic Hand Scrub. I will post the details of this box once I receive it, hopefully by the end of next week. 

 

Inspired by....

I saw this awesome mani over at Dizzy Nails the other day and just had to try it... and then take it one step further. You should definitely head over to her page to check it out as her pictures are a million times better than mine.

I started with two coats of O.P.I's new Road House Blues (which is amazing BTW) from the Touring America collection. I need to learn to be more patient and take a picture of my base colors before I start adding to them, so no I do not have a picture of it by itself.  I then added a coat of O.P.I. I Lily Love You from this summers Nice Stems collection. So BEA-U-TIFUL!! You can see the amazing pictures on Dizzy Nails.

I then took it one step further and added Essies Matte About you.. Matte flakies? Yes, please!!!

The glossy nails look sooo dark, I really need to figure out a good way to photograph my manis. I am gonna bust out my DSLR and take that for a spin.. I just have to find the memory cards and readers.. I've just been using my iPhone camera, and while its convenient the quality is just not there. 

This picture was a day or two into the mani so there is some definite tip wear. 

This was my first time using the matte top coat and I loved it! I have heard stories of them chipping really bad or not lasting long, but I feel it lasted about as long as my regular manis. However, I usually only wear mine for a day or two at max. 

Thanks for stopping by!!! Until next time. 

New Tab

I am not sure if you have noticed, but I have added a new tab for giveaways. A lot of other bloggers host giveaways and if you post about it on your blog you can get extra entries. However, I don't like to just post a bunch of giveaway posts on my main page.. So I added a giveaway page!! You should go check it out cuz there are currently a few AWESOME ones going on.

Hey Lady....Bug!

I finally got around to using my new dotting tools that have been lying around FOREVER!! I have been wanting to use them but just haven't had the spare time.

The original design was supposed to be black dots over my entire nail with smaller white dots in the center. However, when I tested it out it did not look as I imagined. I figured I would just do the entire nail with black dots and started on my way. On the first nail I did, the way I started doing the dots looked really nice not being on the entire nail just the tip.. Not as over powering as the full finger. And that is how my lady bug mani came to be!

The red base was Zoya Kimmy

See how the nail full of dots was a little too busy? I definitely need to work on my dot placement skills, but for my first time I think it came out pretty good. 

Close up to show details.. 

Dots were Wet N Wild Black Creme

Sorry for the delay.....

Sorry I have been MIA lately. Work has been so crazy with mandatory overtime I have been way to wiped out to even paint my nails let alone take pictures and write posts about them.

I did a really cool tape mani last week with OPI DS Magic and China Glaze Liquid Leather. It reminded me of the picture day back drops from the 80's with the laser beams from elementary school .. However, it seems as if I only got two sub par pictures of it. These pictures do not do it justice.

I am not sure when or how often I will be able to post due to work. But I will try my best. Hope all is well with all of you and talk to you soon.