First 'mail-order' polish

It is a very important step in a mani-ac's life when you bridge the gap between store-bought nail polish and mail-order nail polish.  The first time you actually order a polish, whether it be from a rare polish distributor like Llarowe and Harlow & co, or its from a beauty box like Julep, you feel like you are officially initiated into the Nail Snob academy.

You start using phrases like "Well you can't just find this in your average drug store" and "Its out of your price range" and "NO YOU CAN'T BORROW IT! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THAT IS?!"

And you know what, I don't hate it.

My first step into the Nail Snob Academy was with a Julep Maven box.

The Julep Maven box fills all of my needs.  It picks out items for me, based on a short style quiz. If I don't like what was picked out I can browse other styles and items I want to order.  It comes to my door looking cute and its like an Easter basket when you open the box.  I was so happy to open mine and find my nail polishes, mascara and SURPRISE! a nail file and polish-remover pad!

2 coats of Petra, 1 coat of Yumi,
Topped with Seche Vite

My two favorite parts of the beauty box are the price and the fact that I don't have to go to the store to get it.  For the price of $19.99 every month (first box is FREE!), I get two high quality polishes as well as some extra beauty swagger and I don't have to deal with anyone other than the mailman! I'm sold!

My style profile for the month of May was a Bombshell.  To be honest I've taken the quiz a few times and I end up in different profiles depending on my mood, but I think Bombshell was the right choice because the polishes were incredible.  
To the right you'll find a swatch of Petra (Cranberry magenta with silver shimmer) with a glitter gradient using Yumi (Pink, silver and holographic glitter). I truly loved both of these colors.  Petra fits my skin-tone very well, and is quickly becoming a go-to polish.  Yumi is SO full of color.  To the left is a shot that is slightly blurred to attempt to show how much it really shines (doesn't do it any justice though). It's listed as a full-coverage glitter, and I agree that it could fill up a nail pretty quickly.  It is very dense and would be opaque after two coats.

My Maven box also included an 'American Beauty Volumizing Mascara'.  The cool thing about the mascara was that it has lash-growth ingredients AND extra lash fibers in it, giving the appearance of longer and thicker lashes and making them longer over time.  At first I was pretty skeptical about it.  I've seen some blog posts about microfiber lengthening mascaras and I haven't been too impressed, however over time I've fallen in love with this mascara.  It's hard to show the reults of the mascara, however below you'll find 2 pictures of it in use.  My only real 'beef' that I have with it is that I prefer a big, fat brush for applying my mascara because usually it gets better coverage.  With Julep's, I felt like I spent at least 2 minutes per eye coating the lashes with mascara.  I think that this could have been helped with a fatter brush, but hey, it still works fantastically.

So that's my Maven box review session.  Stay tuned for next month's box coming in a few weeks, and more postings of fabulous nail polishes!

Time to confess...

I will admit that the statements of this blog are true, and that these confessions are from me, Courtney Jenne, the mani-ac.

I paint my nails all the time, much more than most.  Even when I've finished painting my nails sometimes I want to take it off and paint them again!  And if I'm not painting my nails, I'm thinking about the polishes that I need in my life.  It's an obsession, I can admit to that. 

It all started when I was very young.  I collected nail polish in a makeup bag but it was never enough.  I started mixing nail polishes to come up with more new and exciting colors.  I numbered all of my polishes and swatched them, but it was never enough.

It will never be enough.

Signed...