Hesitant, Hopeful

Something you may not know about me is that I'm a huge nail color junkie. Okay, that sounds pretty strange, actually, but that doesn't make it less true. Sometime in the last few years I started picking up polishes at Walmart whenever I found one I liked, mostly Pure Ice polishes, until I realized I was accruing a heck of a lot of colors. Mostly, I just used them to pain my toe nails because, for a long time, I had acrylic nails. Well, that and I have a pretty hard time making polish keep on my fingernails. It usually just chips away in a matter of hours, so the hassle of painting them and waiting for them to dry, became not at all worth it.

But... I've finally found a polish that will keep on my fingernails! I discovered Julep by accident, when my friend Jennifer had posted about them on Facebook. I took the Julep Maven quiz to find out which style I was and signed up, getting my first box for free (I paid only $3.99 for shipping) since Julep sent me a coupon. Since their polish retails for $14.99 per bottle and their beauty products are often $20+, to get two bottles of polish and one beauty product for the cost of shipping was a deal. It took forever for my box to arrive, something like two weeks, but the colors inside were absolutely gorgeous. My style is "Bombshell" and in the starter box I got an orange polish, a gold glitter, and the 4 oz. Mint Condition Pedi Creme.

This was my first box. I say first because, after I realized how much I love their polish and products, I ordered the Mystery Box mid-month with $9.99 worth of mystery add-ons--I think the total price for those was about $50 (then I ordered two other polishes, which raised the cost). Check this out...

There's something like 12 polishes in there, a box of facial stuff you can't actually see, a hand & cuticle stick, and the rock star hand scrub & cream. This stuff is an addiction, I'm telling you. This month, I'm getting the October "Bombshell box" with a polish called "Casper," which is a glow in the dark polish. I can't wait for them to come.

But, since I've been getting these boxes, which are $20 per month, I've been doing some experimenting with my nails. Unfortunately, I don't have pretty nails, in general. They're a weird almost square shape and won't grow worth a darn. When they do grow, they just break and peel. It's irritating, but I'm coping. So far, I've tried a few styles, but the one I did today is my favorite. It's a silver polish called "Amity," made by Julep, with a Pure Ice color called "Tame Me Now." I think it came out pretty good for a first attempt at ombre...

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What do you think? I shake a little bit, so pardon the slight blurriness. In addition to the above mentioned colors, I use Revlon #005 base coat, Julep Freedom top coat, and Essie apricot cuticle oil. This is my first fall look. I chose the silver polish for the base color because the orange glitter has silver flecks. This picture doesn't much do it justice. I'm very happy with it. I think glitter in a clear base is the easiest to ombre. I once tried ombre with solid colors and it did not come out well--I only did one nail before I gave up on that attempt. Fortunately, I have lots of different glitters, so I'll probably be doing this look more often.

Another look I attempted, using two Julep polishes, "Karmen" and "Tatiana," is this one...

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Man, my hands look crazy dry in that picture. Anyway, the colors are so complementary, it could only be seen in direct natural light. So, it was pretty subtle, but it took a really long time. I used scotch tape to make the lines, but in order to do that I had to make sure the base coat was really, really dry. I actually pained them one color one day, then the other color the next day. It was okay, I think, but not my favorite. As we've established, the orange ombre is my favorite!

Still, I thought it was pretty and the scotch tape thing is a trick I'll definitely be trying again sometime soon. Maybe to tape off the tops of my nails, sort of the way the ringer finger is, so I can paint the tips a different color. Not for a while though, I'm thinking the orange & silver ombre look will keep for a while as one of the beauties of glitter polish is that it it doesn't come off easily. Amen for that!

Anyway, if you're interested in joining the Julep Maven program, it's $20 per month for two bottles of polish and a random beauty product. Mavens also receive a 20% discount on products on their site, which is pretty cool. It makes everything just a smidge more affordable. You can follow the "I'm a Bombshell" link below to take the quiz. If you do, make sure you come back and tell me which profile you are!


** Please note: This is not a sponsored post. I just really, really like their products. However, by way of full disclosure, I get incentives--in the form of free boxes--if I sign people up.