Julep Subscription

Hey everyone :)  I've been MIA lately due to impending move with the sale of our home and a search for a new one.  Cleaning and the early packing stages has wrecked my nails! Seriously, I didn't even want to post these swatches.  My ring finger is screaming, I got a deep paper cut right on the side of my nail by the cuticle and it was killing me as well as my nails are really dry from all the cleaning solutions and cardboard boxes I've been handling lately.  Anyway on to the meat and potatoes!! 

I've been seeing all this Julep hype around and had to try it out.  Julep is a monthly beauty subscription.  Basically you pay $20 a month and you receive a box of polishes and other nail care related items worth $42.  It works along the same lines as the Hautlook or Birchbox subscriptions, where you would take a quiz and would get sent colors or products based on your answers.  The Julep subscription is a bit different in that you can go online and preview your box before it is sent.  If you aren't happy with that months box you can either request another pre-assembled box or opt to skip a month at no charge to you (if you call in time - see link for details).  You can also cancel at any time.  At Sephora and other stores Julep retails for $14 for each polish. 

There are several introductory codes out there for Julep right now.  My particular code was for their sneak peek box - HANDMADEREVIEWS.  I was able to get 3 polishes plus and additional 2 free for $10.  Making each polish just $2.  They also have their 1 cent special - code : PENNY.  And it literally is just 1 penny for 3 nail polishes or 2 polishes and a foot heel cream, depending on the box you choose.  My first box took about 5 days to arrive.  The subscription can also be cancelled at any time before the 27th of the month.  That is when they charge your card for your next box.  

On to the polishes.  Julep has a huge variety of Jellies and cremes.  Beautiful and very opaque! In my selection I received 1 glitter - Chelsea.  And it seemed that in the entire collection there is only a handful of glitters.  I have to say this glitter was not nice to me, I didn't like it at all.  It didn't spread on my nail smoothly or even a tiny bit smooth.  It was extremely chunky as you can see from the pictures I couldn't even get it to cover the top of my nail evenly.  If I had added more, even with a quick dry topcoat the polish would have never dried.  Maybe I got a bad bottle.  It just seemed that the formula was too thick for that type of brush and together it was a bad recipe.  All of the other polishes were wonderful to work and beautiful colors.  They lasted long and covered almost completely opaque with one coat with the exception of the one sheer polish - Emma, that took 3 coats.  Overall I really like Julep.  It's fun getting my monthly box.  Even though I'm paying for it, it feels like I'm getting a present each time my box arrives lol.  Thanks for visiting!!

School Girl Nails

I've been wanting to try doing a plaid pattern on my nail for a while now so when I found my old uniform at my dad's house I took a picture of the skirt.  Free-handing this was harder than I though.  I thought about using tape when I began but that would have doubled the time I already don't have enough of.  I do actually kind of like how the lines aren't too straight.  The only thing that kind of got me was I began with doing a base of green/blue/green/blue lines, but I wound up accidentally washing out the base pattern, so the base appears to be all blue.  I still think it's pretty cool and I'm planning on a cute Christmas colored plaid when that season rolls around.  I used all Sinful Colors polishes with the exception of the black.  Thanks for stopping by!!

NYC Hamptons Radiance Bronzer

I had to take a polish time out to share my other love - makeup! I found this gem at Target the other day for $2.60!!! Target is always having sales on N.Y.C. cosmetics.  This bronzer completely rivals my higher end bronzers.  In fact it gives the same effect as a Chanel highlighting blush - Reflex I bought a few months ago and has the same staying power as well.  This is a truly awesome buy.  Even at $4 which is the non-sale price it is still a great product for the price.  I have nothing negative to say about it.  In fact I've been to 3+ Target's looking for more of these for my sisters and they've been completely sold out for weeks now.  So if you get lucky and run into one of these, PICK IT UP!! You won't be sorry! Thanks for stopping by!!

Labor Day Dots: Youtuber Inspired

SCCastaneda Youtube Beauty Guru

Sinful Colors "Rain Storm"

Sally Hansen "Sun Kissed"

Santee "White"

Here is my labor day weekend manicure.  I was up the other night cleaning and watching my Youtube makeup video subscriptions when I came across SCCastaneda's latest workout clothing video.  I love watching this girl! She Mexican, like me and she's a riot! She actually began the video with her outfit of the day which was a really cute patterned dress.  There is so much nail art inspiration in this dress I just can't take it!! I altered it a little for time's sake, I was starting the manicure at about 11:30 p.m. and super tired.  So instead of the squares in the orange which is toward the bottom of the dress in the picture, I went with orange on blue and polka dots instead of squares.  I like how it came out.  I used 2 pieces of striping tape for each nail and it took really no time at all.  I polished my nails earlier that morning so I was basically just doing the nail art.  Hope you enjoy and thanks for stopping by!!

Faux Water Marbling

I am a huge fan of water marbling only I can't do it myself.  I have tried many, many times and have been unsuccessful each time as well as left with a HUGE mess.  So after perusing the nail art blog world, I found many people utilizing this technique as an easy, clean alternative.  It's basically dabbing 3 or more colors on your nail and using a toothpick to drag through the polish leaving a marbling affect.  You just have to work quickly because as soon as the polish begins to dry it will start to get chunky and difficult to work with.  I like how it turned out for being my first time.  I maybe could have not done so many swirls so it looked more like a water marble but I still really like it.  Thanks for visiting!!