Julep Cameron Swatches & Review

Hello readers! Today I have my favorite polish from the Julep February Dramatic Collection to show you. I love textrues polishes that incorporate shimmer with a little glitter so I had to give these new Stardust Finish polishes a try.

Cameron is an icy lavender textured polish that is very shimmery with a sprinkling of small lavender hex glitter.  I loved the formula on this one.  It applied so easily and went opaque in two coats.  Despite not using a top coat for the first day I didn't experience any chipping issues.  The finish is very dimensional without feeling too rough to the touch.  Photos show two coats of Cameron with no top coat in natural lighting.

After wearing this polish for a day I wanted to see what it looked like when smoothed out.  It took two coats of a thicker top coat to get a smooth glossy finish. The results is a polish that still looks dimensional but is smooth to the tough. Photos show two coats of Cameron with two coats of Seche Vite in natural lighting.

I think out of the two finishes I prefer the matte textured version. The one thing to be careful of with this polish is that even though it feels dry to the touch very soon after applying it, it is still easily smudge-able/dent-able (as I discovered the hard way).  Do yourself a favor and wait an extra 5 minutes before doing anything with your hands.  On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this polish was to take off. I was expecting to fight with it like I would a normal glitter polish but this one came off much more easily. I only went through one cotton pad per hand. If you'd like to become a Julep maven you can sign up here.  Use the code 'FREEBOX' to get your intro box for free.  I'm really happy with this polish and I look forward to trying out the other textured polish that I got, Glam Roc.

Happy polishing,

- Michelle

February 2014 Julep Maven Review - It Girl

Hello readers!  Today I have my February Julep box to share with you.  I've been a maven for a little under a year now.  For the most part, I've skipped the monthly boxes because I have a hard time spending $20 on three small polishes.  This month however, I was really drawn to the textured polishes and the bonus polish made it more cost efficient.

This month collection was The Dramatic Collection.  The usual assortment of polishes plus some newly introduced eye sheens and a gel liner.  I really liked the colours of the eye sheens but I haven't had good luck with creamy shadows in the past.  No matter what primer I use they end up creasing almost instantly.  For this reason I went with the It Girl box.

 My box features three polishes plus the bonus polish free to all mavens who got a box this month.  I also added on the textured polish Cameron because I love a good shimmery texture.

• Roc Solid (a vintage military creme)
• Glam Roc (midnight purple and gold stardust matte glitter)
• Diamond Therapy (full-coverage multidimensional copper glitter)

My favorite out of these three is Glam Roc.  Diamond Therapy is quite pretty but is very similar to Julep Jane, which I already own.  Jane is a bit more coppery and Diamond Therapy is a bit more brassy but I don't really think you need both.  I'll probably end up swapping/selling Roc Solid.  Greens just aren't really my colour.

• Love (gold, pearl and fuchsia microglitter)
•  Cameron (silver lilac stardust matte glitter)

Love ended up being more gold in person than I expected.  In the original pictures it looked more pearly.  While I love it in the bottle I think the gold might clash with my skin tone.  I'll have to swatch it and make a final decision.  Cameron, my add on, is my favorite of the whole box.  It's so shimmery with the occasional pop of glitter.  I've actually already tried this one and really loved the formula too. (Look for the review in the next post).

Overall I'm pretty happy with this box.  I've got 4/5 polishes that I like and I'm sure I'll be able to find a good home for the army green one.  The bonus polish is what really made this worth it for me though.  If you'd like to become a Julep maven you can sign up here.  Use the code 'FREEBOX' to get your intro box for free.  I'm off to take swatch pictures of Cameron to show you in the next post.  Until then,

Happy polishing!

- Michelle

Zoya Chloe Swatches & Review

Hello readers! I have some exciting news to share with you... I finally completed my Zoya flakie trio! I got back into polish after these were released and were already somewhat hard to find. I browsed many a swap board until stumbling upon Chloe, the last one I needed. Usually I'm not even a pink polish person but I knew this one would make a great layering polish.

Chloe features a sheer pink jelly base packed with iridescent flakies that shift from orange to gold to green. The formula was great and all of the flakies lay perfectly flat against the nail. Photos show the base colour (Morgan Taylor Truth Or Dare) alone and then with one coat of Chloe in natural lighting. CND Super Shiney was used as a top coat.

Before Chloe...

After Chloe!

I love colour shifting flakies.  There's really nothing more for me to say.  The only thing I would maybe change next time is to use a brighter purple as a base colour. The dark vampy purple gets kind of washed out by the flakies.  Until next time,

Happy polishing!

- Michelle

Morgan Taylor Truth Or Dare Swatches & Review

Hello readers! Today I have a polish from a new (to me) brand, Morgan Taylor. I came across this brand when browsing amazon. There were a few shades that caught my eye so I added them to my wishlist on a whim. This is the first shade that I received in person, Truth Or Dare.

Truth Or Dare is a dark vampy shimmery purple.  Totally up my alley.  It does look a little more shimmery in the bottle than it does on the nails, but the shimmer still makes it through.  The formula was... average.  Not fantastic, not horrible.  It was streaky for the first two coats but finally evened out on the third.  Photos show three coats of Truth Or Dare with one coat of Seche Vite in natural lighting.

Do I like the colour? Yes.  Do I love the formula? Not really.  I feel like I could get a comparable polish from Zoya who's formulas I love and trust.  Will I try another polish from this brand? Probably.  Every brand has a polish with a not so great formula.  I don't want to write off potentially fabulous polishes because of one bad egg.  On another note though, I really love the bottle shape of this one.  The flared brush handle made it very easy to hold on to.  Are you willing to look past a mediocre formula if it's a colour you love?

Happy polishing,

- Michelle

Products I Finished This Month - January 2014!

Hello readers. For this post I thought I'd try something that I've seen on other blogs and really liked. I'm going to quickly go through the somewhat beauty related products that I finished over the course of the last month and give you my thoughts. Sound like fun? Let's get started!

January's Empties!

Julep Pomegranate Body Scrub: I got this scrub for $2 during the julep warehouse sale last summer and let me tell you... it is not worth even that.  Pros: This scrub is nice and gritty which is what I look for in a scrub.  Cons: This scrub leaves a nice greasy residue layer where ever you use it.  I ended up having to use it before my normal body wash and then wash of the greasy residue.  I've had other scrubs that contained fruit oils and left a residue as well however after about half an hour it has all soaked in and my skin was nice and soft.  With this scrub I waited for over four hours and my legs still felt greasy and gross.  Would not purchase again.

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion: This is my go to facial moisturizer.  I use it every morning.  I love that it does its job without causing breakouts like some other moisturizers I have tried in the past.  Would definitely buy again (and already have!).

Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus: I picked this up at The Bay last month when they were giving away two week samples for free.  I've also received a few in Clinique bonuses in the past.  I don't have wrinkles yet but I've been using this stuff as a preventative measure to treat those tiny ones that I can't quite see with the naked eye yet.  No negative effects that I've noticed and my skin does look a bit brighter.  Would consider buying... although I have several of these mini bottles to work through first.

Small Army Of Mini Moisturizers: I somehow horded a bunch of these and vowed to actually start using them instead of my usual go to body butter.  My favorites of the bunch was Olay Quench Therapy though they all helped battle the alligator skin syndrome that comes with Canadian winters.

Happy polishing!

- Michelle

Koi Pond Nail Art

Hello readers! I have a quick post for you today. Remember when in my Arcane Lacquer Busy Body review I mentioned that it reminded me of a shimmering lagoon? I went with that though as inspiration for my next nail art and decided to try a koi pond. I used a combination of China Glaze Gossip Over Gimlets and Sally Hansen Kinetic Copper to make the metallic bodies of the fish. I then used China Glaze liquid leather and my tiniest finest nail art brush to trace out the scales and outlines.  Finally, I sealed everything up with a coat of CND Super Shiney top coat.  I'm really happy with how this turned out.  I love fish! :)

Happy polishing!

- Michelle

Arcane Lacquer Busy Body Swatches & Review

Hello readers! Today we have another installment of 'My Camera Does Not Want To Take Pictures Of Teal Polishes!'. Arcane Lacquer Busy Body is such a pretty polish though that I battled with the camera and finally got a combo of white balance and lighting that it and I agreed on.

Busy Body is a teal jelly filled with black, purple and turquoise hexes as well as small indigo shreds.  Normally I am not a fan of shred glitter.  It just doesn't lay flat on the nail and is a pain to apply.  These little ones I actually don't mind though because a) they were small enough that their edges didn't poke up and b) they were only lightly scattered throughout the polish along with other glitter.  I had no issues with the formula.  It took me three coats to become opaque and dried quite smoothly.  Photos show three coats of Busy Body with one coat of Seche Vite under a mix of fluorescent and incandescent lighting.

This polish makes me think of a shimmering lagoon (which actually inspired my next nail art design that you'll see in my next post).  I love how the glitters just look like they're floating in the base.  You can find Arcane Lacquer at:

Facebook

Etsy
Instagram

Llarowe

Harlow&Co

Happy Polishing!

- Michelle