Maven

Okay, so the Julep stuff I talked about came last Wednesday!

The Welcome Box itself came with two colors and a base coat; I added on the Plié Wand art system (which attaches to any polish bottle brush to give it a paintbrush handle, and comes with some specialty brushes and a dotting tool), a few of the "Savvy Deals" (aka clearance items) and qualified for a free "Newport" gift set with two more colors and a bracelet.

So I have a total of five colors of polish:  From left to right, there is Beverly and Sera from the welcome kit along with the base coat, then there is Something Blue and Harley from the Newport set, and the last is a special "crackle finish" silver called Glenda.

I also got a couple of lip glosses, a liquid eye shadow, and a mascara, all of which seem to work really well.  I especially like the eye sheen much more than I thought I would; it doesn't take much at all to cover well and it lasted all day even without a base coat or anything.

Naturally, I had to try out my new products as soon as they showed up, so Wednesday afternoon I tried out the Newport set and the crackle silver to do some blue nails with silver tips and a crackle-silver accent nail:

It didn't come out perfect, but I thought it was fine for a first effort.  I wore that for a few days, and then when the weekend hit I decided to try the other colors:

I did this one on Saturday, and it's still looking great with no chips and not much edge wear even this evening.  I'm impressed at how good they still look.

I've actually made a couple more orders already, which probably marks me as an addict.  The "Secret Store" thing happened over the weekend, and I got a good deal on a manicure tool set and a carrying case to put all this stuff in.  Then tonight, I gave in to the "100° OF MYSTERY BOX", so I have another round of surprise products coming after that.  I'm going to see if the Bombshell Dots manicure lasts long enough for some fresh colors to show up. ;)

If you, too, would like to become addicted to fabulous nail polishes that get sent to you every month, you can use my referral link, which will get you a free Welcome Box (and will get me a $15 credit to feed my new addiction with).

Pretty Princess

I firmly believe that all women deserve to feel beautiful.  Makeup, perfume, nail polish, and all those other beauty products aren't for other people--even though the other people are the ones who will be seeing it most of the day--make no mistake, these things are for you, for the feeling you get when you see yourself in the mirror, or smell your own perfume, or look at your hands and smile at your cute nails, and in that moment you feel pretty.

One of my first memories with makeup was with nail polish; my mom would put nail polish on me and I thought my hands looked so pretty that way.  It seems like in the past year I've started to neglect my beauty routine, and especially my nails, though... it seems like it's just too easy to get too busy and let the polish get all chipped up, and then once I take it off but don't have time to re-do it, then I just go around with unpainted nails for a few weeks.

But no more--My sweetie got me inspired by getting me started on Julep!  They have a 'regular' online store, but their primary offering is their "Maven" beauty subscription:  It's $20 a month if you pay 3 months at a time, and each month you get new nail colors and other beauty products shipped to you, default selections are based on your "Style Profile" but are customizable on the site each month.  I am a 'Bombshell', according to their quiz, and I got the little blog badge to prove it. :D

I haven't received anything just yet; after looking for a day or two, I finally splurged yesterday on the $60 3-month sub along with about $60 more in add-ons and sale stuff (you know, to get things kick-started).  I will be getting a "Welcome Box" along with the other stuff I ordered, but I'm going to have to wait until the end of August to do my first customizable "Maven Box."  They're threatening to send me a "Secret Sale" at the first of the month though, which will be hard to resist in my current mindframe.

I am excited!  It's a lovely feeling to feel pretty.  I haven't been having that often enough recently, but I think that is going to change now.