Simple Manicure

My First Julep Maven box & Julep Renee

Have you all heard of Julep? I had never heard of them until just a few months ago when I heard about their Julep Maven boxes. Basically, it’s a subscription service where you receive a box of nail polish (and sometimes other assorted manicure/pedicure items) for $20 per month. You take a style profile quiz to see what type of box you might like and then those are boxes you receive each month. But you can also swap for a different box if desired, or skip a month. It’s very flexible, which is what I like.

Anyhow, I got my very first box just over a week ago (btw, I received the American Beauty box). Inside were two colors, pedicure toe separators, and a pedicure lotion. I had heard that Julep polishes were thicker than other polishes (great for just one coat manicures), so I was curious about the formula.

Enter Julep Renee, a pale lavender polish. I received Rene and another polish, Eva (a bright berry red). I have a few polishes that look very similar to Eva, but none like Renee, so of course I decided to try out Renee first…

As reported by other bloggers, the Julep formula is thicker than I expected. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t overly hard to work with. I could have gotten away with one carefully applied coat of polish, however I did apply a second coat. And the beauty of it was that it self-leveled and evened out. Perfect! It also played with Seche Vite, my all time favorite top coat. Just passing the Seche Vite test gives any polish bonus points with me. :)

All in all, based on this one polish, I’m going to keep my Julep Maven subscription. Julep polishes are now being sold at Sephora for $14 each, so to receive at minimum two polishes + any extras they send for only $20 is a steal in my book. And a no-brainer for any nail polish junkie. :)

EDITED TO ADD: My only complaint about Julep polishes is that they are smaller than the average nail polish bottle. Most polishes are 0.4 oz – 0.5 oz. However, Julep polishes are only 0.27 oz. That’s nearly only half. Not sure what’s up with that. (Butter London is 0.4 oz. and also costs $14 at Sephora).

Here’s another look at Renee before I go…

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Nicole Up & Kim-ing Pink + Kim-pletely in Love

Today I’m wearing three coats of Up & Kim-ing Pink, and one thin coat of Kim-pletely in Love (very sheer pale pink with iridescent shimmer). It’s hard to see Kim-pletely in Love on top since the bottom color is SO pink, but you can see it slightly in the first shot.

I liked this combination. Not love, but just liked. I’ve had it one for a day and it’s a bit too… girly? I guess that’s the best way to describe it. I’m very girly (hello nail blog?), but sometimes bright bubble gum pink is a bit much for even me. :)

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A-England Galahad & Guinevere

I have two cream polishes from A-England to show today. The first is Galahad…

And the second is Guinevere…

The application for both was the usual spectacular A-England application, although these definitely needed two coats. The first coat for both was a bit sheer and streaky, but the second coat evened everything out. Such pretty, soft colors. I love these two, especially for summer. And we all know I love aqua polishes. ;)

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A-England Bridal Veil

Whew! This week is flying by. Sorry for no updates for a few days. I had a chance to swatch all the A-England polishes that I own that I haven’t shown here yet. Oh, they’re so yummy!

So for the next few days I’ll be showing them. The first one up is actually the very last one I swatched yesterday so I kept it on my fingers. It’s what I’m wearing today.

A-England Bridal Veil is a deep black with little itty bitty specks. From far away, it definitely looks just like a black polish. Fun to apply, though! I got away with only one coat! :)

Here’s a close up shot…

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Essie Mojito Madness

I adore this green… So summery…

BTW, I had a marathon cleaning session in my kitchen tonight. I hate cleaning. Boo. Anyway, the only way my nail polish can survive cleaning is to wear rubber gloves. SO attractive, let me tell you. And I hate the way it makes my hands sweat. But on the other hand, at least my manicure comes out unscathed. :)

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Orly Skinny Dip

Loving the bright blue of Orly Skinny Dip. Perfect for summer. Lots of shrinkage on this one with Seche Vite, though. When I wear it again, I’ll have to switch up the topcoat with something else.

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The problem with blogging about nail polish is…

it’s painfully obvious when your nail breaks super short. :(

The nail on my ring finger on my left hand always seems to break once it gets to a sufficient length. Boo. Because I hate having one short nail, I trimmed the rest down to be a similar length. Definitely not as super short as my ring finger, but generally a better length to grow them all out at the same rate…

Today I’m wearing Butter London Pink Ribbon. It’s a very sheer pale pink polish. So sheer that I had to do four thick coats to get it this opaque. It’s a pretty, neutral color. Not sure if I like it on my nails, though. I used the Butter London basecoat and topcoat as well.

I think dark nail polish looks awesome on short nails, so I think I’ll switch this out for a dark polish later today.

On a positive note, with my new shorter nails it’s much easier to type on my iPhone. :)

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