November 2014: Julep "Friendsgiving"

Man, I can't even begin to tell you how much trouble I went through this month to get my Julep box. The box was supposed to be here on the 7th, it never got here. I checked the shipping status, and got that same error message I had gotten before about no such address existing. I called Julep and told them how whatever shipping company they use truncates my address, so the last digit in my apartment number is missing. They said I wasn't the first person to have that issue this month... SO YOU'D THINK THEY'D DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

They reordered my box for me, and changed my address, so it no longer said "Apt" just a # sign... But the box didn't even send till a week after they said they'd reorder it, and I just got it Wednesday. I really hope I don't have this issue with December's box.

 Eventually it did get to me... in two shipments?

In the pink box was just the mascara that came with my "classic with a twist" beauty profile this month. Nothing else... Just mascara. 

Ignore my marker stained hands- that's what happens when you teach special ed.

It's mascara, I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I feel like the more mascara I have the better, so I'm eager to give it a try and see if it can help me fake the fact that I have no lashes.

This was the second box.

I kept my classic with a twist box, and just added one color. From l to r: Shari, Devon, and Kiki.

I wasn't really wowed with the color selection this month, so I kept my box and  just added Kiki to the order, although I did go add-on heavy with eyeliner :x

Speaking of which, I just realized that I never got a "bonus gift" for filling out all my add-0n spots. 

I don't really care, but it's sort of false advertising to claim you're going to do something and then not follow through with that claim.  It's totally not worth calling them about either... If I did, it would just take another two weeks to send me whatever the bonus product was and who knows if I'd even like it.

Anyhow....

Shari is a very light white pink color. I don't know if I'll ever wear it. But it isn't hideous.

Devon is pretty nifty, it's a gray color with a pink sheen:

[That was the best pic I could get that you can sort of see the pink sheen]

Kiki is a light blue glitter. It's nothing special, but I do like cooler colors like greens, blues, purples, etc as opposed to other colors.

This is every single gel eyeliner color minus the black one, which I own already.

I actually really like their gel eyeliner. It goes on smooth. I barely need primer. And it has amazing staying power, it's definitely up there as one of my preferred eyeliner choices, and it goes on the waterline quite smoothly.

Graphite Shimmer is a really dark gray color that looks more black than gray, and it's pretty awesome. I dig anything that is either black or gray.

Smokey Plum is a black purple. It's more black than purple, but it does have a hint of violet, it's a good color for when black is boring and I want something with a little more color but still dark. 

Bronze Shimmer is a nice neutral dark brown. I lack neutral colors for eyeliner aside from basic blacks, so it's an every day color that I can wear to school.

Regal Teal Shimmer is blue-green and bright. It's a nice wild color.

Smokey Taupe is a pale golden color, it has a nice sparkle, and it's also nice for every day neutral wear.

So as usual I spent far too much money on my monthly Julep box, but I would say I'm satisfied with the products I got, once they eventually got me.

Here's hoping December has far less shipping difficulties. 

Julep: August 2014, The Wanderlust Collection.

I've been gone for a week. I went to New Jersey, to do tons of wedding stuff... like say yes to a dress... picking out flowers for the centerpieces. Picking out bridesmaid dresses... And while I was gone, my fiance apparently never checked the mail, so I'm not sure how long this was sitting in my apartment complex's office,.

My August Julep box.

Julep is a makeup subscription box. They send nailpolish and beauty products to you on a monthly basis. They also have also sorts of mystery boxes and warehouse sales, and sometimes you can score stuff for dirt cheap. There are two subscription options, My Maven, which is $19.99 with a three month subscription and allows you to customize a box full of products and Maven Luxe, which is $40.00 a month, and allows you to customize an even bigger box. 

As for me, I'm still grandfathered into the old subscription, which is where you pick a style profile, and you get whatever products are in that without customization except for say an eyeliner or lip gloss color.

This month was the Wanderlust Collection. I really loved a lot of the colors in this month's collection. I didn't love all of them enough that I wanted the ultimate upgrade or anything, but I loved them enough that I added on three other colors.

This was the inside of the box.

This was the extra. A cell phone screen cleaning thing. I got something similar from Birchbox once, and never used that one either. 

This was what was under all the wrapping. 

Since I had three add-ons, I got a bonus beauty gift. They send me an eye makeup primer. As extras go, that's really not a bad one. I do wear a lot of eye makeup and I do use primer, sometimes, so I don't mind having an extra primer lying around. It's a lot more useful to me than say something like lipstick or foundation. 

Anyhow, I actually kept my usual classic with a twist box this month.

The beauty product this month was a gel eyeliner pencil.

Classic with a Twist came with the black one, and I saw no reason to switch that to another color. The other choices were a brown color, a purple color, and a taupe color. The pencil went on my hand well, it had a nice point, and it's really waterproof. I took a shower after testing it on my hand and I still have hints of the color on my hand. 

I'm actually very excited about this product, I find Julep really does make excellent eye liner pencils. I love their Kajal eyeliner and I also bought some mini eye liner pencils back during their Christmas sale, and those go on great too.

from l to r: Avni and Katie.

Avni is a bright purple color with a hint of pink shimmer. I really like the color a lot. I also don't have many purple polishes, oddly enough, so I'm very happy to add a purple to my nailpolish collection.

Katie is a mulberry pink color with a purple shimmer. It's sort of the opposite of Avni. It's a really nice shade of pink. I don't think I have many pink colors similar to it.

from l to r: India, Waleska, and Neha.

India is a bright blue color with a green shimmer that you can't really see in my picture. It reminds me a lot of Caribbean Ocean water with the contrast of the blue and green, and I really like it a lot.

Waleska is gorgeous. It's a turquoise color with gold glitter. My picture doesn't do it justice.

Neha is actually not as red as it looks in my picture. It's a dark cranberry with a neon pink shimmer. It's more pink than red. It's also a gorgeous color.

I was very pleased with  Julep this month. The color selection was great. I'm excited to see what September brings from them. They totally made up for the July box that I hated.

So check them out, if you're so inclined. 

AND OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE SCHOOL STARTS ON MONDAY.

I don't know if I'm ready for another year yet!

Julep: May 2014

I actually had a dream about nailpolish, last night. 

I was in a hotel room, with my co-worker, and I don't remember what we were doing, but I was painting my nails with this candy scented nail-polish... WHICH BY THE WAY WOULD BE AN AMAZING IDEA... And I was using the JULEP PLIÉ WAND™ to paint my nails. Except I kept on getting annoyed because the nailpolish I was using wouldn't stay on my nails. It wouldn't dry. Like the second I finished painting a nail and went onto another nail [because I was totally painting them rainbow colors] the color would vanish from the nail I had just painted. My brain is strange.

Anyways Julep is primarily a nail-polish subscription service. They make other makeup and products, as well, and a lot of their makeup is decent, but they're mainly known for their nailpolish.

They've recently changed around their subscription service. I've been a member since March or April 2013, so I'm grandfathered into their old subscription, which was pay $20.00, you get two nailpolish colors [or three if you're an IT girl] and a beauty product. 

Now there's My Maven, which is $24.99 per month or $19.99 with a paid three-month pre-paid subscription and you can completely customize everything in your box, and you get $40.00 worth of product.

Then there's Maven Luxe, which is $39.99 per month or $34.99 with a three-month pre-paid subscription. It is also completely customizable, and comes with $60.00 worth of product. 

In Julep,you can skip a box with no penalties every six months, if you're a new member.. If you've already been a member, there is no change to your skip options. 

I'm just sticking to what I have, for now. My Maven sounds interesting, but I don't know if I'll make the change, I sort of like how it is. 

I was actually surprised with how big the box was this month. I didn't upgrade and get any add-ons, so I was confused. Usually the monthly boxes are so small that they fit into my apartment mailbox. My fiance had to pick this up from the office.

Ajani would not let me have a good first look at the box, we fought for control of it.

Julep is the second subscription, alongside Ipsy that I chose to keep, when I was ending subscriptions due to money issues with me being on FMLA. Julep was literally THE FIRST subscription box I ever subscribed to, and I love nail polish, so it was a definite keeper.

This is the Julep Plié Wand that was the BIG PRODUCT for all mavens this month. They started a kick-starter campaign for it back in like November to raise money to produce it. 

This is what Julep says about it:

What it is:

An ergonomic nail polishing tool designed to solve common polishing pain points and give you better results. Imagine if you’d spent your whole life writing with a pen cap and then someone finally handed you a full-size pen. That’s what it feels like to polish with the Plié Wand.

What it does:

Long, balanced design improves leverage, comfort, and control

Flexible handle twists and bends so you can get a better grip

Plié overcap fits on any Julep nail polish and attaches to Plié Wand

Precision brush lets you polish closer to your nail

I haven't tried it. I guess I don't care enough about my nails to try it. I mean I like painting my nails and nail polish, but it's not really a work of art to me like it is to some people, especially when I'm a pre-k teacher, and constantly working hands-on with kids, and I'm lucky if my manicure lasts a day as it is.

I'm also lazy, and don't want to clean the nailpolish brush after I finish using it, which also turns me off from using the  Plié Wand.

I'm not saying I'll never try it, I just haven't yet. Maybe, when the right occasion pops up, and I need super pretty nails, I try it, but I don't know when that will be. However, I do think it is a cool product.

from l to r: Maddy & Ramona

I went with my usual classic with a twist profile this month. I didn't upgrade and none of the other colors really appealed to me, and the big May product was the Plié Wand, so perhaps that's why the May color profiles didn't appeal to me.

Maddy is a bright pink color with a sparkly pink sheen. It's a pretty pink, but I also think it's a lot like some of the other pink polishes I have, just a different color shimmer. It doesn't strike me as a unique pink like some of the others have been.

Ramona is a very pale lavender pastel color. You can't quite see the purple that well in the picture, but trust me, it's a pastel purple color.

Does anyone remember Hard Candy Nail Polish? Or am I the only 90's baby left?

They were like the COOLEST things when I was a junior and senior in high school and I spent all my babysitting money on their nailpolishes, which came with a matching plastic ring, which went great with jelly platforms, which were also COOL back then.

[see my nailpolish addiction started early on.]

Anyways Ramona reminds me of the color on the right, minus the sparkle, but it's the same sort of shade of purple.

Man, now if only hair mascara would come back.

Anyways, so if you're a nailpolish freak like me, feel free to check out Julep.

I don't know much about their new subscription programs, but I can totally vouch for their products :)

Julep: The Vivid Collection. April 2014

It's that time of the month again... NO NOT THAT TIME, Julep time.

For those of you, who wandered over here by accident, via a google search, or because you're stalking me [hey, I've seen stranger things], let me explain: Julep is a subscription box service. It's primarily a nailpolish service, and I think nailpolish is what they're best at, but they also make hair/skin/makeup products.

For $20.00 a month, they send you a box based on your answers on a quiz of your ideal beauty profile [mine is classic with a twist], which is filled with just nailpolish [IT GIRL], just makeup [MODERN AMERICAN], or a mixture of all of the above [every other profile].

On the 20th of each month, you can preview your box, and customize is somewhat [like pick an eyeshadow color] or just switch to another box all together, for that month.

Shipping is speedy, and you usually get your box either on the first of the month or before the month even starts.

I've been a member of Julep for a year now, and my nailpolish collection is amazing. It's also great, when you teach PreK, and your students get really excited about your nailpolish color that week because of the selection of colors I have.

This month was called The Vivid Collection, and I did a full nailpolish upgrade. The makeup product was blush, which I don't wear, and then I couldn't decide what colors I wanted... so I got them all.

Here are all the colors in The Vivid Collection. Aren't they pretty?

from l to r: Flora, Bailey, Maren.

Flora is a bright purple with a bright blue glitter that you can't really see in my picture. I love it because it's bright purple, and purple is one of my favorite colors. 

Bailey is a bright neon blue. 

Maren is a bubblegum pink with a faint purple shimmer that you also can't see in my photo. I love it because it's the color of bubblegum. 

Those were the three IT GIRL colors.

from l to r: Mariska, Tatum, & Caitlin.

Mariska[classic with a twist] is a neon orange color. I'm not really a fan of orange polish, per se, I have bad associations with the color orange [an evil ex boyfriend, who ONLY wore an orange old navy performance fleece, and my mother wanting to make orange one of my wedding colors, ugh] but it'll be a good color for Halloween, especially if I pair it with a black or glitter polish.

Tatum [bombshell] is a shimmering neon green that reminds me of a watermelon rind.

Caitlin [classic with a twist] is a neon pink shimmer that matches perfectly with Tatum. 

 

They're both perfect summer colors.

from l to r: Kayla, Sunny, Phoebe.

Kayla [bombshell] is a cross between a light blue and a periwinkle color. It has a dark purple shimmer in it that you also can't see with my picture. It's a very pretty color.

Sunny [Boho Glam] is shimmering molten yellow color. It's also the ONLY yellow polish that I own. Yellow is also a color I'm meh about, but at least I own a yellow nailpolish now.

 

I think if I mixed Sunny and Mariska, it'd be the perfectly colors for a flareon themed manicure.

Phoebe [Boho Glam] is a beautiful shimmering teal color.

I really loved this months selection of colors. 

So anyhow, check out Julep if you're addicted to nailpolish and color like me. 

It's been a year and they haven't disappointed me yet.

Julep: January 2014, the boudoir collection

Julep's speedy shipping always astounds me. Technically, this was the LAST box of 2013 because it arrived on New Year's Eve, but the apartment office was closed, so I couldn't pick it up till today. But I always get their boxes early, like before the month they're meant to be for starts.

Anyways, HAPPY 2014, I hope everyone has an awesome 2014, and it brings everyone lots of happiness and good things. As for me, I'm just hoping 2014 is better than 2013 was. 2013 wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best year for me either,  so hopefully 2014 can kick it's ass.

2014 also means about one year till my wedding!!!


I'm sad that break is almost over. I'm not sure I'm ready to go back to school. My first graders matured a lot after Christmas break, last year, which was great, here's hoping that Pre-K students do the same.

Mostly over break, I've done this:

Caught 9 different Eevees, so I can have every single Eeveelotion in my current Pokemon X game, which I just got on NYE, and I think I've already played it for 50 hours straight!

 

I will be very sad, when my video-game time is cut in half once the school year starts. 

But anyhow, onto the box:

This month, I didn't really do any upgrade. I wasn't impressed with any of the polish colors, really, and I was just like "meh" but didn't want to skip a month because I want my joules.

For those of you, who are new to Julep: It's a nailpolish subscription site, where for about 20 dollars a month, they send you a variety of nailpolish and makeup/beauty products. There are different profiles, your profile gets picked based on a quiz you take, but you're not stuck being that profile forever, at any month, you can change to any of the other boxes [or upgrade to the full collection] of you like what they get better.

 

I'm "classic with a twist", which means I get two nailpolish colors and one beauty product every single month. I've been a member of Julep since March 2013. 

 

As a Julep Maven, you do get some pretty awesome sales, and they have some pretty nifty mystery boxes, and they do have a variety of nailpolish colors and makeup products to choose from that are usually highly discounted during their sales, which are usually monthly sales. There's usually one mystery box sale per month, as well. 

 

If you're interested, you can click my referral link here

 

This is the inside of the box, and let's hope Julep is right and 2014 will be my year.

 

January is the "boudoir collection," which promises fancy finishes & top drawer products.

In the box I found the following:

Orange Sponges, which I assume are this month's extra. Not sure what I'm going to do with them, but hey, they were free.

This is Julep's TADA! Quick Dry Drops. The directions state to wait one minute after your final coat of polish, then apply 1-2 drops per nail. The liquid smells good, sort of lemony and flowery. I'm interested to these drops. I always look for speedy ways to dry my nails, and I usually opt for sticking my hands in the freezer for two minutes, this seems slightly easier, and less colder, although the freezer method does work extremely well for me. I shall try these next time I paint my nails.

My two monthly colors: Mona & Abigale. 

Mona is a dark bluish gray color. It reminds me of cumulonimbus clouds on a stormy day/night.

Abigale promises a silky finish. I shall let you know what that means after I try it. It's a light pearly pink color with a nice shimmer. 

Overall, I like these two colors. They will get worn eventually. I don't think they're my overall favorite colors ever, but they are nice, and they won't just collect dust, in a corner. 

The other day, I painted my nails with Nellie, which was an It Girl color that I received in my Naughty & Nice mystery box that I ordered back in December. It's very much a neon fuchsia color, in my opinion. It goes on very nicely. This is only one coat of polish. I very much like how it looks, and it's barely chipped, and I've had it on my nails for about three days, already.

I've also been playing with Naked 3 by Urban Decay. This is a look I did the other day. The eyeliner was sort of a dark turquoise color, it was Zeppelin, which is a 24/7 eyeliner crayon from Urban Decay. I used the white shimmer eyeshadow that I got from my Ipsy Pop Beauty Smokey Trio bag back in December, and I used the colors: Mugshot and Darkside from the Naked 3 palette, and it gave my eyes a nice silvery gray sheen. And the Golden Rose Sexy Black Mascara that I got from my December Wantable box is amazing. It makes me look like I have eyelashes, and it's really easy to apply on my bottom lashes, which up until I got that makeup had always been a challenge for me. 

My birchbox has recently been sent in the mail, so I'm sure that will be arriving soon, as it arrives pretty early in the month. Upcoming boxes are Ipsy, Wantable, some eyeshadow I ordered from Shiro Cosmetics, and Nerd Block, which I just started ordering this month. 

Anyhow back to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

 

Julep: December's Glitterati

There's nothing better than coming home from a day with crazy four year olds [although they've been much better since Thanksgiving break, I think it was good for both of us] and finding out I got a package, especially when I'm not really expecting anything aside from Christmas Cards of my cats from snapfish.com since it's early early December.

So I was thrilled to find this in my apartment office:

I opened the box to see this:

I especially liked the glitter. It was a nice touch.

This is the first month, I've upgraded for the entire nailpolish collection. I just couldn't help myself, I mean seriously, IT'S NAME WAS GLITTERATI AND I LOVE GLITTER.

Hello, my name is Lyssa and I am a sparkle-a-holic.

I didn't even pay that much for the upgrade because even though I think my Montrose neighbors stole my September and October boxes since I forgot to change my address on the website, I still got the Julep bucks, so I used them to upgrade, and didn't have to pay much extra. Yay me.

This is the inside of the box.

This is the neutral pallet for eyes. My camera doesn't really do the colors justice, so from l to r: a very peachy color, a spray tan color, a light brown color, a darker brown color, and then a pretty dark brown color. I'm excited to try the neutral colors. I don't really wear much eye makeup, unless I try to rock the smoky eyes look, but then I suck so bad at it that I just look like a reject goth girl with too much black.  So I think neutral eye-shadow colors may give me eyes a pretty decent pop... as long as I pair it with black or dark eye liner.

BTW, I LOVE JULEPS EYELINER PENCILS!!! They're seriously almost as awesome as my Urban Decay 24/7 pencils and the colors are waterproof, and they're easy to apply because the tips are thicker like crayon or marker, and they're awesome. They get a 10/10 from me.

I also got this:

silver and purple hair-toes. They may be Christmas presents for my kitty, who is OBSESSED with hair ties and literally steals them from the bathroom to play with. They were a freebie.

Onto nailpolish:

from L to R: Mia, Jillian, and Cara.

Mia is a shiny thick silver color. I like thick silver colors because they tend to go on in one coat. It's not a thin silver like some of the other silver polishes I have that take like 3-4 coats to show.

Jillian is more red than my picture shows, sort of like this:

That's my attempt at a better angle. It's a very dark reddish black color. [And the color on my thumb is Karmen, which I've gotten a lot of compliments on. I have an extra and I'm giving it to one of my co-workers, who loves the color.]. It's shimmery and dark. I haven't decided if it's too dark for me yet. But it's a much prettier color than my camera gives justice too.

Cara is hot red. It reminds me of a "sleep with me" color that you would wear out to the bar looking for a one-night stand. I have nothing against it, I'm just not really one for most red polish colors, but I have friends, who are... HELLO STOCKING STUFFERS!

From l to r: Misti, Audrea, and Joelle.

I'd also like to add, if I ever have future children, who are daughters, and I can't think of a name for them, I'm totally going to look at my Julep nailpolish bottle colors.

Misti is a dark pastel icy blue color. I actually like it. My mother keeps insisting I need to have pastel colors in my March 2015 wedding, and I keep on telling her I hate pastels and I want shimmery blue and silver.... but if we had a color like Misti, I may not be so opposed to pastel blue.

Audrea is holographic gold glitter. It reminds me of gold dust. I like it.

Joelle is holographic silver glitter, that reminds me of the electromagnetic spectrum because it's silver... but then you see ROY G BIV. It's very much a sparkly winter color.

 from l to r: Evelyn, Celia, & Shoshanna.

Evelyn is one of my future children's names. I want to name a girl Evelyn, so I can call her EeVee like the pokemon!!! No lie. Anyhow, it's a magenta color. A nice dark magenta. I'd wear it.

Celia is a teal shimmer color. It's very pretty. It reminds me of what the ocean looks like in all those fantasy paintings of the ocean containing mermaids and rainbow seahorses that people post all over facebook. I dig it.

Shoshanna is a very Jewish name, however it's not a very Jewish color. It's a lime-green glitter with a hint of gold. I like it. It sparkles.

Next up... I spent way too much money on the Julep Cyber Monday sale, so much, that my fiance probably should've dragged me away from the computer. So that's coming.

I get my first Ipsy bag!

And Birchbox.

Now off to address my photocards  and decorate them with pretty stickers.

Julep: November Box

According to Julep, my style profile is "Classic with a Twist", while I'm not sure I agree with that because I tend to like big and bold colors, which really isn't "classic with a twist", I've been pretty satisfied with what I've gotten, so I haven't bothered to change it.

In my November box was the following:

From L to R: Glowing lip gloss, Zora, Cynthia, and Sheila.

Let's preface this by saying, I am not a makeup person. My makeup routine consists of eyeliner and lots of mascara, I scarcely ever wear lip gloss, and I hate lip stick. Therefore, I was like meh when I got the lip gloss.

However, I figured I'd give it a try, my fiance and I went to a rock concert in the Woodlands, and I put on the lip gloss. I was very happy with it. Glowing isn't pink at all, which is good because I hate pink. It's basically neutral and it just made my lips glow, hence it's title. It tasted like toasted marshmallow, which is a definite plus, and it lasted awhile. I didn't need to reapply it, at all, so I recommend it.

Zora is the color of pearls and it's shimmery, it sort of reminds me of snow with a hint of pink. I haven't worn it yet, but I wouldn't say that I wouldn't wear it.

I wore Cynthia last week. My pre-k students like it. It's a golden glitter, it reminds me of sand on the beach. The glitter isn't overwhelming like HOLY BLING, but it's glittery enough to make this glitter freak happy. It goes on nicely, and it has a nice texture. It does chip easily though, but I'm a pre-k teacher and I'm a klutz, so that may be no fault of the nailpolish, it just might be me.

Sheila is bright bright red. It reminds me of bright red lipstick. It also reminds me of a fire hydrant. It would be the perfect shade of red to illustrate what red is to pre-k students. However, it's too red and too bright for me and will probably be shoved in a drawer somewhere, or given to a friend, who can appreciate it's redness. Nothing against it personally, it's just not my personal style.

So overall, I was happy with my November box. I truly enjoyed 50% of the products in it, am indifferent about 25% of them, and meh about the remaining 25%, but that's pretty much 75% satisfaction.

Looking forward to my December box and all the random December stuff I bought off of the December holiday sale, so I should hopefully have more  reviews for you then.