Product Review: Joan by Julep

Last week, while looking around the internet for various nail art / manicure blogs, I kept hearing about some brand called Julep. After visiting their website and signing up for the mailing list, I was offered a free trial box (for which I only had to pay the shipping, which was $3.99). How could I pass this up?! I went for it. And yesterday, my package arrived. Hurrah!

Yay!

Let me explain in more detail how the Maven program works. After ordering my free trial box, I decided that I would sign up to be a Maven. Basically you take a quiz to determine your style profile (of which there are 4). After that you're taken to a preview of past boxes in all the style categories, just to give you an idea of what they offer. On the 20th of each month, you're sent a preview of the box they plan on sending you. If you hate the contents, you're allowed to switch boxes entirely, or you can opt to send your box to a friend for that month, OR you can opt out of the box for that month completely. The option to change my mind was a big plus for me, since I am the most indecisive person ever (I took the style quiz three times and switched it up when I signed up). The boxes are shipped on the 27th, the same day you're charged on your credit card.

When you sign up for the Maven program, boxes are $19.99 per month with free shipping. You can pick any add-ons upon checkout starting at around $5, which isn't bad. With every box you receive, you earn points called Jules which you can redeem for free stuff. The box above is a sample box for the It Girl style profile. It contains, from the top: a silvery shimmer polish called Rebel, a teal shimmer called Marion, and a dark burgundy red with gold shimmer called Joan. All their nail polishes are "3-free" which means they're free of the three most horrible chemicals found in nearly all of the nail polishes out there, which is a huge plus. It also came with a little packet of pedicure cream, which Julep calls the best ever. I'll have to review that one later. That reminds me: not only do they offer nail products, but beauty products as well--nail conditioners, hand cream, and the like.

Here's what Joan looks like on my nails, through my phone's camera:

Pretty, no?

In real life, the colour is a bit less purple and leans more towards the dark red / burgundy part of the spectrum. Wearing it feels like it's a better and more fancy version of a dark red that you would wear if you were a classic 50s beauty, like my grandmother. The gold sparkles really give it a kick. I just love it. The polish itself goes on smoothly, and if you were really in a rush you could probably get away with a single coat. I always do two just to make sure it looks even. They are high quality polishes that really deliver on their promise of fantastic colours, and without the big 3 chemicals to boot.

All this adds up to a pretty sweet deal! I get a ton of new pretty polishes to try, for a reasonable price, which is probably equal to or less than I would spend on nail polish each month (no lie, I'm a nail polish addict these days). I highly recommend the Julep Maven program!

(If anyone reading this wants to try the Julep program, feel free to click on this referral link: http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/117750/ and you can enter the unique invitation code 9066750.)

Product Review: Sally Hansen Salon Manicure in "Midnight in NY"

Right! So here we go with another product review. Hopefully it will be the first of many. I say hopefully because I have a huge list of products that I want to review (probably over 25 at this point) but whether or not they all get reviewed is completely dependent on how lazy I am in the next few months. Ideally spring would come early and we would all get super-energized with all the sunshine and melting snow and longer days and whatnot. OFF TRACK. Anyways! If you're interested, here's what I think about this brand and colour of nail polish.

"Midnight in NY" ... sounds fancy.

 At first glance I was thrilled at this colour. I, like many girls (ie the weird girls) had had my own stint with black nail polish in late grade school/early high school. And so the thought of a black that was different, and a wee bit fancier, than the regular old black excited me. It had sparkles! And little tiny ones at that! So it seemed a bit more grown-up, refined, and just... better.

SPARKLESSSSSSSSSS

And so I was so excited to try it... until I tried it. It went on super sheer, so in order to make it an opaque black I literally had to apply about 4 coats. Annoying! (Though this seems to be a common trait throughout much of the Complete Salon Manicure line. Why?!) Not to mention it chipped and flaked only 2 days after I had applied it. And once it's on your nail, you barely see the sparkles. They should have been made a TOUCH bigger.

I've had better luck with other colours from this same line (Plum Luck is a favourite of mine; only 2 coats to awesome solid colour!) but this one just did not do it for me. And it hurts a little, because I wanted to love this colour so much. I guess I'll just have to start with a regular black base coat, and apply this over top for a bit of sparkle. 

Would I buy it again? Probably not. Would I recommend it to a friend? Yes, if she wanted something a bit fun for a night out. Otherwise a no-go. Sorry Sally.

xo B.