Polish Review - Julep "Leah"

I just received my new Julep box, which means it's time for me to kick myself in the rear end and finish up last month's polishes!

Today for you, my darlings, I have Julep's "Leah", the last of the It-Girl January 2012 Maven polishes. This is the grass green, with a strong lacing of shimmer.

 

Grass green with a hint of shimmer describes this color well. It's surprisingly unique in my collection, and it is going to be a great color for summer. I'm not such a fan of it in winter, but hey, worse things have been worn out of season, right?

The color actually did last pretty nicely. Application was a little difficult; it did not want to dry, and it did not want to go on evenly after two coats, even though it definitely was a three-coater. In spite of this, I was glad that I got it, and it filled a hole in my colors. :)

Polish Review - Julep "Megan"

Wow, a hundred followers! This publicity is going to go to my noggin if you keep spoiling me! XD

I have a crazy busy day, but I wanted to knock out a couple of reviews, so keep an eye on this page today. Also make sure that you are entered for the Essie Color Cube giveaway! I will be ending this giveaway on the 29th, so enter soon! For now, I have Julep's "Megan" to share with you. This came in my January 2012 Maven "It-Girl" box, and was indeed the reason that I selected this box. It's a beauty!

 

Megan is #4, in the middle.

I loved this polish online on the Bombshell Julep Maven box, but I knew I would never wear its counterpart, a light pink. Luckily, Megan was available in It-Girl with two other lovelies. 

However, after I ordered, I started to worry that it would be a dupe for Revlon "Ocean". 

However, you can see Revlon Ocean here (#17) compared with Megan (#4) and you can tell that Ocean leans a little more green/teal, whereas Megan has more blue. You can also see that Megan applies with a lot less brushstrokes.

Megan is, however, definitely a metallic more than a shimmer. It's not quite a frost, but it leans a little in that direction, too.

While I admit that I had some nail carnage prior to wearing Megan, and I couldn't leave my nails alone, I did not think that it wore really well. However, it was really pretty while it did last (for about 2 days).

I love this color. I recommend it to everyone as soon as it comes available!

Polish Review - Julep "Hayden"

Hey guys! I have one of the polishes I chose to receive in my Julep Maven January 2012 "It-Girl" box. This month, "It-Girl" came with three lovely polishes. I was so happy to receive them because my usual style box, "Bombshell", had the Megan color I loved, but I knew I would probably never wear the pale, powder pink that accompanied it.

Julep 'Hayden" is one of their new colors coming out for the summer collection. It is a neon pastel peach creme, with strong orange undertones. It looks electric on my skintone -- I am very pale. I actually got some compliments on this one from some unexpected people (including a friend who's a guy!), so that was a nice bonus. It does definitely make a statement, and much more than you might think at first glance.

These were my only other orange-coral-pink cremes that presented any relationship (plus one random blue that joined the fun on the wheel), and as you can see, I do not have any similar shades. "Hayden" is very unique.

"Hayden" lasted on my nails fairly nicely, actually. I wore it for three days with only a little edgewear, though once it went, it went pretty quickly, with some nasty flaking halfway down my (short) nails.

Application was not too bad for a pastel. It was a little streaky -- this is definitely a three or four coater, depending on how thick your coats are. I let it dry overnight, because I did not space my coats very much. My experience is usually that these kinds of polishes take awhile to dry, so beware the pastel formula in general if you have to polish and go quickly.

Overall, this was my unexpected "like" out of my Julep box for January. :)

Polish Review - Zoya "Holly"

I have a beautiful nail polish to share with everyone today! I have Zoya's "Holly" from their Holiday 2011 "Gems and Jewels" collection. I would have chosen this one myself, but it was sent to me in my November 2011 Birchbox as a half-sized sample. I may have to buy the full-size eventually -- it's beautiful!

 

You can really see the depth and texture of this polish, even in the bottle. I love greens and blues like this -- I think this one honestly looks like a true emerald green. 

Forgive the dent (in #15) -- I think I may have smacked my nail wheel against the desk right after I swatched it.

As you can see, I do not have anything in my collection quite like "Holly."

I wore it as a pedicure color, since I wanted to get a good feel for how long it wore. It lasted fairly nicely, though I admit that I rarely am as much of a stickler for chipping or "mushing" on toes as I am on fingers. It is a fabulous color on, and looks great.

As a caveat, it takes forever to dry. I think I may have given this an overnight between coats, and the second coat still started to gum up a little bit. Definitely not a quick manicure, but so worth it once it is on and where it is supposed to be!

I also bought "Twila" from this collection from Birchbox when it had free shipping. Overall the collection is very original and very, very pretty.

Polish Review - Julep "Trina"

The last polish from the November 2011 "Polish Lovers" Maven box for you guys is Julep "Trina". Trina is a very pretty dark purple with a soft shimmer running through it.

The polish, shown here with a flash, is a very pretty color, though the shimmer is nowhere near as apparent in person. I ended up actually wearing it with a topcoat of Julep Vanessa in person because I wanted something a little bit more sparkly, and judging from the bottle, I was thinking Trina would be very sparkly on its own. No such luck. :( You can see this in the next photo, number 7 below.

 

Application wise, it's a little bit thick and difficult to get to dry.  Because of this and its color, it reminded me a lot of China Glaze "Lofty Ambitions". While they are not dupes, they are definitely cousins.  They are 7 and 10 in the next picture, just for comparison purposes:

It lasted very nicely, especially with the Vanessa as a top coat. There was very little chipping for the first couple days, though I must say that once it went, it was whole-nail flakes coming off!

Very pretty color. I like how Julep takes classic tones and makes them really special.

Polish Review - Julep "Michelle"

Hello, everyone! I have another Julep polish for you guys today. This one is also from the November Maven "Polish Lovers" Box, which was released specially last month as a one-time option. It's a good thing, too! I probably would always pick that option and never try anything new out of Julep's wonderful products.

This is the dark navy blue creme out of the set:

 The Julep is 15, in the middle. This is with a flash, and swatched next to Nina Ultra Pro "Sailor" on its left, which I thought might be more of a dupe than it really is.

Again, Michelle is on the left.

Finally, one without flash. You can see how dark this is! It's a black-at-a-glance for sure.

I lent out my OPI "Russian Navy" to a friend, but when I get it back, I will swatch them next to each other. I don't think they are dupes, but I know it's the only other dark navy in my collection.

This is a nice color to have; I think it's an essential for any woman because it is such a nice, basic color, and goes with so much. It goes on fairly easily, and it's only a two-coater. You could probably get away with one. There was some edgewear after a day or so, but it didn't start seriously chipping until I started picking at it on Day Three.

Polish Review - Julep "Diane"

Hello, guys! Today I have a polish from Julep, from the November "Polish Lovers" Box. I am so glad this month is almost over. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break, but otherwise, I really can't wait to have this semester be in the rearview mirror. You guys will remember "Diane":

That murky and mossy green over at left? That's "Diane". :)

Here are some close-ups of the swatches of this polish. I wore it for about two days, and while it didn't chip too badly, I wish that I could say that the appliucation made me happy. The application was painfully bubbly. It was difficult to get it to dry, so it smudged and fingerprinted. I wasn't too happy with how it looked because of this, so I took it off pretty soon after I started to wear it. I'm not sure if it's just a really thick polish, or if something else is awry with it.

Number 9 is "Diane", followed by 10, "Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow."

Another interesting thing is that it is indeed a dead-on dupe for OPI's "Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow". You do not need both. The application may have been slightly better on the OPI, or I might have just been distracted and given it more time to dry between coats. Both polishes are definite two to three-coaters; one coat is a streaky green mess.

I love the color of the polish. It's chic and autumn and a beauty vampy green. I just wish it weren't such a bitch going on my nails -- it's pretty once it's there properly!

Here is one more odious photo for you guys: I have no idea how that hideous dent happened, and they look awful, but it gives you a better sense of the green and some of the mossy look with the flash:

You also can see that for some reason it was a dust magnet. Ow!

That's all for now -- look for "Diane's" sisters sometime soon!

Polish Review - Julep "Vanessa"

Hello again!

I have another Julep polish for you guys. This one also came in my October 2011 Julep Maven Bombshell box. Today I have "Vanessa" for you.

Vanessa is a really pretty, micro-glittery polish suspended in a clear base. It serves best as a topcoat, but I swatched it on its own below.

I think this picture is about 4-5 coats to get the maximum opacity that I could out of it, but as you can see, the glitter is really too fine for it to stand on its own and have full coverage. This picture does have a clear topcoat to bring out the glitter.

I like this polish a lot. When I wore it I wore it over an old, goopy, "never come off your nails" kind of L'Oreal white because it was the only white that I had. It never dried, but at least it was pretty until I had to take off the whole manicure. It looked like snow that has just melted a little bit, so at night it sparkles -- pretty!

Drying time is very quick on Vanessa itself, like any good glitter. It seemed like it wasn't very chippy, though I didn't get to wear it for very long before the bottom layer of white polish got squishy and started sliding off the nail. Ew.

My biggest problem with it is that it's a very goopy polish. For some reason this doesn't equal an impossible drying time, but it does equal going through a LOT of polish, very quickly! You can see that I've used almost a third of the bottle in the bottle picture above. I swatched it on the nail wheel, and I did a two-coat manicure. Eeps! I hope I don't have to buy another round of Van really soon. :(

Overall this is a pretty polish. I think I like it a little more than Chloe, which came in the same Maven box. This one is definitely easy on the application, and much more versatile.

Polish Review - Julep "Chloe"

   While I get caught up, I have one more polish review for you today. For my October 2011 Julep Maven "Bombshell" box, I received a couple of nail polishes. One of them was "Chloe". Chloe is part of their Holiday 2011 collection, and currently unreleased. I love getting the advance "copies" of the nail polish -- it's the same thing that I do for advanced copies of books and other products. It makes me feel like the ultimate VIP, hehe.

   Chloe is superb-looking in the bottle. It is a gorgeous magenta shimmer/micro-glitter suspended in a black base. It sparkles in the bottle, and the magenta is very apparent. However, and this picture with a flash was the best I could get that showed the shimmer at all, once you get it on the nail (or nail wheel, where it is pictured next to Hard Candy "Beetle", which I thought would be more of a sister color when I only had Chloe to compare to it in its bottle), it loses a lot of the glow that is in the bottle. I added a top coat on my manicure, which zests it up a little than in the above photograph (without the top coat), but it's still nothing like in the bottle.
   I hate to say it, but this had some of the most difficult application I have tried in a long time. The manicure I have with Chloe right now is actually its second attempt. The first time I did my real nails with it (which are admittedly a little short right now after a very stressful couple of weeks), I was so irritated with how it looked that I peeled off every nail. Long story short: when Chloe arrived, it had a consistency somewhere between glue and congealed blood. It got a little better after I shook it up, but I still had the urge to put a drop of thinner into it -- and it's brand new! It goes in in big, chunky coats that are difficult to control, and I had it dripping everywhere on my cuticles. The Polish Paradigm has a good view of what tends to happen with this polish. (I'm glad I found the pic, because now I know I'm not the only one!) The second time I put on Chloe, I spent a lot of time and concentration getting it on in tiny thin coats. I was a little more happy when I did it this way, and then I plopped on a top-coat which brought back a little bit of a shine. I would say that it dried just a bit shinier than a satin -- sort of like if you have a really heavy glitter (except of course, Chloe doesn't appear to have once it's on the nail...).
   Although application is ridiculously difficult to control, it looks very nice once the whole process of getting it on the nail and top-coated is finished. It looks very darkat a glance, but not completely black -- almost a very dark chocolate, which is probably a result of black base+purple shimmer. Once the light hits it, it almost looks like the glitter is deeper than the base color, so it has a little bit of a jelly-like finish, but not a lot.
   On the whole, I like the polish and I am glad that I received it. I think it is a good holiday color, but just plan to take a little time putting it on, and focus!

  

Polish Review - Julep "Stefani"

   Today, as promised, I have for you Julep's "Stefani" nail polish. I received this in my September 2011 Julep Maven "Bombshell" box. It is a gorgeous steel-gunmetal base with gold and olive shimmer coursing through it. It's a lovely color, very trendy, but classic at the same time. It is really keeping with some of the olive tones that have been on the runways and in a lot of the Fall 2011 nail polish collections, but the fact that the olive seems to come more from the shimmer than the base is very different than any of the other polishes I have seen.

   I wore this to a business casual-y event a couple of weekends ago, and it was lovely. The application is pretty smooth, and for being almost-a-frost it wasn't too brushstroke-y. You have to pay attention when you put it on, or else it will be a little bit brush-stroked, but it's not too bad overall. I wore it over the Julep base coat I was sent in August, and it seemed to last very nicely. It did take forever to dry. This one is definitely a "apply before going to bed" or you risk gouging it.

   This is a very nice color, and it seems to last well. Although this is not to suggest that it is in any way dupe-y, I spent a lot of time staring at this polish and trying to figure out why it seemed so familiar. For some reason -- and I think it's the dull-gunmetal-turns-greenish-in-some-light aspect, it reminds me a lot of Chanel Black Pearl. Black Pearl is much greener and much darker, but this one is a nice, shimmery sister shade in some ways. It also reminds me of some of the "dud" photos of OPI "Not Like the Movies". The TraceFace Philes has a beautiful set of swatches and macros of the bottle.

  Did you get "Stefani"? Did you get another shade and wish you had "Stefani"? Share!

Polish Review - Julep "Zoe"

Today I have a really pretty polish to share with all of you. It was one of my introductory Julep Maven box polishes for "Bombshell". I think I like it a little more than the other, since I'm not much of a pink girl, but I did need a good pink, so I'm not complaining! Julep Zoe is a really bright copper, like a brand-new penny. I wore it with the new basecoat that I also received as a Maven.

I adore the bright metallic colors, especially copper (maybe because my hair has copper highlights all through it). It reminded me at a glance of Revlon's "Copper Penny", but once I looked at the bottles (and I compared them in swatches) I realized that "Zoe" is much, much more metallic and brighter, whereas "Copper Penny" has more of a silver shimmer and is a more muted color overall.

The other nice thing about this color, besides the application (which is only the slightest bit brushstroke-y, is that is lasted pretty well, especially with the basecoat. In reference to brushstrokes, though, I should say that while I think it looks a lot more metallic, they market it as a frost.

I love this color and I think that even if I hadn't received it from Julep, it would have been on my to-buy list. It's a great copper, and very eye-catching. Squared Nails has a great swatch up with a couple of other Julep polishes. Just lovely!

Polish Review - OPI "Suzy Says Feng Shui"

Today I have one of my all-time favorite nail polishes to share with you. It's the medium blue-teal, gorgeous, stunning creme...

... Suzy Says Feng Shui, a stunningly beautiful polish with an incredibly rich depth and a beautiful, smooth application. I would wear this polish forever if I didn't get bored with everything after a day or two. :-P

It appears light blue in a lot of swatches, but it is definitely a deeper color -- it may be medium in tone, but the color looks a mile deep, and that is with only two coats! I adore this color. It has just enough of a hint of green to push it to a teal in some lighting (squee!), but not enough to be a full-out teal color.

This polish was part of the "Hong Kong" collection, which I am sure I raved about on one of my other "Hong Kong" reviews. It also is the one responsible for hooking me into nail polish and OPI.

This is a must-have polish. It looks fantastic, wears well, and packs a punch without being too bold; it's an elegant blue.

For swatches, Nikki's Nails has a nice view of the "blue" look for the polish, and All Lacquered Up catches a little of the teal.