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Megan Williams (A Polish Problem). Powered by Blogger.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Julep Polishes
You wouldn't think so, as I am someone that has an undisclosed amount of polishes (read TONS), but more times that not, I have a tendency to get in a rut and find myself only using certain brands. As such, I absolutely love when I discover a new-to-me brand. One of these brands, Julep, I recently had the opportunity to try.
UPDATE... Here's a better picture of Charlotte:
Charlotte - Dusty, plummy purple creme. This color is absolutely beautiful. It's a dusty purple creme, with enough red in the base, to not be a dead-on dupe for RBL Purple Haze. That said, as RBL Purple Haze is currently discontinued (though I think it is coming back for a limited edition redux), Charlotte may just fufill and "dusty, mid-tone purple" lemmings you may have. And since I know you are asking, here's a comparison...
Charlotte is on middle and pinky, Purple Haze is on ring finger.
As much as I love Purple Haze, and I do love it as it's one of the few RBLs I've actually kept, I think I may love Charlotte more. First off, the formula on Charlotte was EXCEPTIONAL. Both swatches of Charlotte above are one coat. ONE. That's it. Y'all know how I love my one-coaters. :P Purple Haze is a 2-coater for me. Also, the color just seemed to work so much better on my skin-tone. If you have super pale pink hands like me, then you may find that mid-toned purples have a tendency to give you dead-hands. Because of the plummy/red base in this, I didn't get that with Charlotte.
Emmanuelle - Pale, soft baby pink creme. While I call this one a creme in my descriptor, it actually seemed more like a jelly to me, or at least jelly-esque. It really reminded me of the soft shades from OPI Femme de Cirque. However, this formula, again, was so much easier to work with. I had zero drag with Emmanuelle, and I didn't even have to wait between coats (something I normally have to do with paler shades). It's a super pale pink, so of course, it's a little on the sheerer side, but it is buildable. The above picture is 3 coats, and I was able to reach opacity. However, I bet if you used a sticky base coat, you may actually be able to reach opacity with 2 coats.
Natasha - Bright red-orange creme. Ahhhh. Natasha. I swear, I have been craving this exact shade of red/orange, so when I opened my box from Julep and saw this little beauty in there... I admit it... I squealed. This one, like Emmanuelle, did have a bit of a jelly quality to the finish. It almost looks like hard candies. I was able to reach opacity in 2 coats, however, so it's not a true jelly. And, I know I sound like broken record, but again, the formula on this one was great.
All in all, I really like all 3 Julep polishes that I had the opportunity to try. As it was a brand I was unfamiliar with, during my review, I happened to check out their website, and I was happy to see they had around 70 colors (I'm currently eyeing Stella). They also have something called "Julep Maven" which is a monthly shipment program. For $19.99, each month, you get $40 worth of nail polish and treatments (and extra goodies like free shipping). I haven't joined it yet, but I must say... I am EXTREMELY tempted. Also, $1 of each bottle purchased goes to Julep's "Powered by Girlfriends" program. Plus, and this is a HUGE plus, the formula on all of these was fantastic. It makes me tempted to try more. :)
Julep polishes are available for sale on their website (and if you are in the Seattle, WA area, I'm guessing they are for sale in-store). Price is $14/ bottle.
these were sent to me for review
UPDATE... Here's a better picture of Charlotte:
Charlotte - Dusty, plummy purple creme. This color is absolutely beautiful. It's a dusty purple creme, with enough red in the base, to not be a dead-on dupe for RBL Purple Haze. That said, as RBL Purple Haze is currently discontinued (though I think it is coming back for a limited edition redux), Charlotte may just fufill and "dusty, mid-tone purple" lemmings you may have. And since I know you are asking, here's a comparison...
Charlotte is on middle and pinky, Purple Haze is on ring finger.
As much as I love Purple Haze, and I do love it as it's one of the few RBLs I've actually kept, I think I may love Charlotte more. First off, the formula on Charlotte was EXCEPTIONAL. Both swatches of Charlotte above are one coat. ONE. That's it. Y'all know how I love my one-coaters. :P Purple Haze is a 2-coater for me. Also, the color just seemed to work so much better on my skin-tone. If you have super pale pink hands like me, then you may find that mid-toned purples have a tendency to give you dead-hands. Because of the plummy/red base in this, I didn't get that with Charlotte.
Emmanuelle - Pale, soft baby pink creme. While I call this one a creme in my descriptor, it actually seemed more like a jelly to me, or at least jelly-esque. It really reminded me of the soft shades from OPI Femme de Cirque. However, this formula, again, was so much easier to work with. I had zero drag with Emmanuelle, and I didn't even have to wait between coats (something I normally have to do with paler shades). It's a super pale pink, so of course, it's a little on the sheerer side, but it is buildable. The above picture is 3 coats, and I was able to reach opacity. However, I bet if you used a sticky base coat, you may actually be able to reach opacity with 2 coats.
Natasha - Bright red-orange creme. Ahhhh. Natasha. I swear, I have been craving this exact shade of red/orange, so when I opened my box from Julep and saw this little beauty in there... I admit it... I squealed. This one, like Emmanuelle, did have a bit of a jelly quality to the finish. It almost looks like hard candies. I was able to reach opacity in 2 coats, however, so it's not a true jelly. And, I know I sound like broken record, but again, the formula on this one was great.
All in all, I really like all 3 Julep polishes that I had the opportunity to try. As it was a brand I was unfamiliar with, during my review, I happened to check out their website, and I was happy to see they had around 70 colors (I'm currently eyeing Stella). They also have something called "Julep Maven" which is a monthly shipment program. For $19.99, each month, you get $40 worth of nail polish and treatments (and extra goodies like free shipping). I haven't joined it yet, but I must say... I am EXTREMELY tempted. Also, $1 of each bottle purchased goes to Julep's "Powered by Girlfriends" program. Plus, and this is a HUGE plus, the formula on all of these was fantastic. It makes me tempted to try more. :)
Julep polishes are available for sale on their website (and if you are in the Seattle, WA area, I'm guessing they are for sale in-store). Price is $14/ bottle.
these were sent to me for review
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4 comments:
Wow 20$ for 40$ worth of polishes and treatments that's awesome so so
Tempting but I don't think my hubby would go for it :-(
I'm not a big fan of the colors I have to admit )=
Wonderful! Awesome!
After days of being unable to log in their website, getting the run around on the phone, not getting a promised callback, and not getting the correct answer to my question. I canceled my Julep subscription. I do not think they are ready to handle a subscription service startup, and fear they will be a flash in the pan. This is not a company I want to give my credit card number or $20 per month to. It seems like NewBeauty, backed by a history of success with their magazine has a proper business plan.
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