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!

Julep Maven -November 2011 "Polish Lover"

Hello, everyone! I have a package to share with all of you today.

Earlier this week, I received my Julep Maven box for November, 2011. Normally I'm a Bombshell, and while I liked the lipgloss and makeup bag combinations that they had offered, and I did like my nail polish color, but I didn't have the option of changing the color of the lipgloss, which I doubt would have gone very well with my skintone. Soo, I asked for a new shelf pull, and one of the new options they had was a special one-time "Polish Lover" option. In spite of liking the bag, I knew I had to go for that option!

This was a new style of packaging for Julep. Isn't it adorable? I love the little black fillings around the packaging case.

Here I included the special "Polish Lover" card that came with it. I'm always impressed with their presentation and their design team. So professional!

It came with three polishes. From left to right: Diane, Trina, and Michelle. It also came with three little samples of their glycolic hand scrub, SPF 30 hand cream, and the age-defying hand brightener. Since I already received the full sizes of all of these, I will be passing these along to my mother. :)

Swatches and reviews to come! I've already tried out Michelle, and I have a dupe in my collection for Diane, so keep your eyes out for my next posts!