Julep - March 2014

THE RIVIERA COLLECTION

BOHO GLAM SET

(plus add-ons)

Hellooooooo there! Hope everyone's weekend went awesomely, and who is looking forward to the WEEK?! ::crickets:: Well, you know, another weekend will be here soon, haha. I'd like to give a warm welcome to all my new followers! Thanks so, so much for joining me, I hope you enjoy following along with The Charming Cheshire blog!

Julep has certainly taken a huge turn this month towards some bright, vivid Spring/Summer shades! Have you seen April's Maven colors yet? SO BRIGHT! I'm superdupes excited, though, I'm ready to rock some stunning, eye-catching hues. What about you? What bright colors are you ready to show off on those fingertips?

For this month, I decided not to upgrade, but rather stick to my typical profile, Boho Glam, but I STILL couldn't tear myself away from adding on some of their featured polishes. Here are all the colors and products they featured for March's profiles:

 (click for larger image)

*Lip glosses were customizable

Boho Glam

•  Elisa - soft wisteria shimmer
• Harriet - guava coral creme
• *Lip Gloss in Enchanted - sheer watermelon

Bombshell

• Lilou - lemon chiffon creme
• Monaco - dazzling mariner blue creme
• *Lip Gloss in Awestruck - sheer golden blush shimmer

Classic With a Twist

• Myriam - casino red creme
• Soraphine - classic sheer white creme 
• *Lip Gloss in Graceful - sheer pale pink

It Girl

•  Lizanne - sea green shimmer
• Margaret - light periwinkle creme
• Princess Grace - rich papaya creme

Modern Beauty

• Luxe Lip Conditioning Treatment
• Buff Lip Scrub Pen

Featured Add-On Polishes

• Rae - Pantone 2014 Color of the Year, radiant orchid creme
• Tania - multidimensional mermaid teal glitter

and now on to the review of my selections!......

BOHO GLAM - ELISA & HARRIET

Elisa (left) - soft wisteria shimmer

Harriet (right) - guava coral creme

How PRETTY are those colors? I think they're just gorgeous! What's funny, although I absolutely love lilac/lavenders and corals, I don't have a single dupe for either one of these shades! Yay! 

Excuse my poor short middle finger nail. It just ALWAYS loves to break, I swear! Both shades have two coats each, no top coat, and as you can see the colors are vivid, bright and nicely opaque! They applied evenly and smoothly, with no running, pooling or streaking and they both dried relatively quickly, taking about 15 minutes between coats, then 15-20 after the second coat.

The shimmer in Elisa is very subtle, it almost looks more like a cream. You have to look pretty close to see it, but I think it's stunning, regardless. They both have a very glossy finish, but of course, I always recommend top coat to seal. 

I have not worn Elisa for a long period of time yet, but I did wear Harriet last week and it lasted up to five days before I had any major wear and tear with little to no chipping!

LIP GLOSS

in Enchanted

Enchanted - sheer watermelon

Leave it to me to pick the most colorful of the glosses, haha! Although, I'm really happy they made these customizable so you could choose exactly what color you wanted, however, I was pleased with the option selected for Boho Glam already!

The packaging is fairly standard, a rectangular tube with a doe foot applicator wand on a twist off cap. What you see above is amount that comes off when you pull it out to apply.
    

I'm not a huuuuge fan of lip glosses, but if I wear one, it's usually a coral shade. This color is definitely more of a...well...watermelon. It has an absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS berry scent, too, that just makes me want to eat it up!....Don't worry, I won't, I promise. Besides.....it doesn't taste like berries, anyhow.....shhhhh, hush, don't ask how I know that. Just go with it. As you can see it's nicely pigmented for a gloss, it's buildable enough for a pop of color, but still blendable so you can tone it down to just a tint.

I love this gloss on! It's not too overly glossy and there is no shimmer at all. It doesn't feel heavy or sticky on the lips, even with fairly thick application and the color does last a decent amount of time. After fairly thick application, I had strong color and a glossy finish for almost two hours, then it faded to a light coloring for about another two hours (with eating and drinking). Normally, glosses never last that long on me, so I was happy!

ADD-ON NAIL COLOR

in Monaco

Monaco - Pantone Color of Spring 2014 dazzling mariner blue creme


Ohhhhhhhhhh my goodness. Seriously, I, I, I......I just. Well, LOOK AT IT! How gorgeous is that blue? I die. It's absolutely my new favorite blue polish, no doubt!

I just had too add it on from the Bombshell set, I nearly picked Bombshell instead of Boho Glam this month just because of this color, but the second shade was a yellow and I've seen sooooo many yellows from Julep the past few seasons. 

It glides on like silk during application, no pooling or running. Shown above is two coats without topcoat and as you can see, it's perfectly opaque. It was really nearly a one-coater! There were absolutely no problems with streaking and although the drying time took a bit longer than average, I totally did not mind with that much gorgeousness. As you can see it, too, has a lovely glossy finish. I wore it for four days not too long ago, and I only had very minimal chipping on one nail. Love it!

FEATURED ADD-ONS:

NAIL COLOR

in Rae

Rae - 2014 Pantone Color of the Year radiant orchid creme


Seriously, the knocked it out of the park with their Pantone featured colors. This orchid creme is amaaaaazing. The formula is very similar to Monaco, super smooth and silky upon application, glides on with little to no streaks on the first coat, perfectly opaque upon two (no topcoat above). Rae dried just a teensy bit faster than Monaco, closer to the time I had on Elisa and Harriet. I only had a chance to wear this for two days a few weeks ago, but I had absolutely no chips or wear within that time (with topcoat). My only comment on this shade, is that, to me, it really looks nothing like the color they had featured on their website in swatches. Here is the photo from their blog:

Quite different, isn't it? Now, don't get me wrong, this is NOT a complaint, I actually prefer what I received compared to the swatches now that I've seen what it really looks like in person. Their swatches look like they have much more rosy tones, but it really has more of a purple hue to me. 

NAIL COLOR

in Tania

Tania - multidimensional mermaid teal glitter


Once again, another color that looks different in Julep's swatches, but I love more in person! This polish is very different to anything I have, and I have a strange love and...hmmm...I don't HATE it, but I don't, hmmm....I dunno....it's just....odd. 

    

The base of the polish is a beautiful sea-foam green shimmer, but not very densely packed. There are both small and large hex glitters dispersed throughout that match the base. Shown above is two coats (no topcoat) and I'd say I'd prefer three coats if you were to wear it by itself. It's a bit streaky in the base (you can see it best on the tips of my middle and ring nail). HOWEVER, just because it's a three-coater doesn't mean you can apply one coat easily over a solid color polish. The base is packed with enough shimmer to wear it doesn't drag well to spread. I tried several times to get that fading glitter effect (thick on top or at top of cuticle and dragged up or down till faded out) and it always looked too thick or had too much opalescent shimmer that wouldn't fade out. This polish worked best for me as a single polish by itself with three coats, as a french tip, or applied in a solid design (for example using striping tape to block off). The COLOR is absolutely gorgeous, though, which makes me love it regardless!

I wore this shade for a few days, and I did have a teensy bit of chipping (with topcoat), but my glitters normally chip faster than cremes, shimmers, etc. All in all, I'd still say it held up well, I use my hands a lot for work.

WORTH AND PURCHASE:

1) Nail Polish (8 ml) - $14 ($11.20 for Mavens) x 5 polishes = $70 ($56 for Mavens)

2) Lip Gloss in Enchanted (0.25 fl oz) - $20 ($16 for Mavens)

Total Paid for Box: $29.97*

Total Worth of Box:  $90 ($72 for Mavens)

Super happy with my worth this month! I really liked what I received for the amount of what I paid, I actually feel like I paid for the polishes and received a free lip gloss! *My Maven Boho Glam profile, including Elisa, Harriet and the lip gloss, cost $19.99. Each add-on (three polishes) cost $4.99 each but I used my Julep Jules points to take the price off of a single polish, so I only paid $4.99 each for two polishes. ($19.99 + $4.99 + $4.99 = $29.97). 

FINALE

Even though I didn't choose to upgrade this month, I think the featured add-on polishes totally made this month's box a fabulous one! I'm definitely not disappointed with any one of them, and really am obsessed with Rae and Monaco (Pantone shades!). Julep cremes usually blow me away, and I'm so glad they put in some awesome effort with those Pantone features. I'll be wearing them often and will probably just stare and stare at my nails. Come to think of it, it could be dangerous. ::giggles::

Become a Julep Maven today! Join Julep Maven's program and receive first access to new polish shades and beauty innovations in Julep Maven monthly boxes. Take their style quiz to find out if you're a Classic With a Twist, Boho Glam, Bombshell, Modern Beauty or It Girl and receive products that match your personality! Want it all or want to customize? You can change your profile style at any time, try out something new or add on products to your monthly box (for additional price). Monthly base price is $19.99 for over $40 worth of products. Enjoy free shipping and 20% off at Julep's website once you're a Maven! 

Interested in signing up? Click HERE to use my referral code and become a Maven! Use the code FREEMAVEN to receive your first month's box free with free shipping! (Expires 4/12/14).

Happy Polishing! Much love,