Showing posts with label julep maven. Show all posts
Showing posts with label julep maven. Show all posts
Thursday, June 7, 2012
And for my next trick
I'm going back in time to elementary school today! I tried reluctantly to do what the instructions said to do with my last and VERY bright Julep Maven box. It said take the two colors and a toothpick and play with different shapes on your nails! Now I feel like I should bedazzle something!! I let my two year old help as a project since we have been up since 5:30 AM I needed something we could do till the fog could burn off. Take a look at our work:
Sunday, May 20, 2012
DIY - French with a twist
As you know I totally love gel nail polish because it doesn't hurt my real nails but it lasts long, it drys fast, and it reinforces the strength of your nails so they are stronger! I just tried an experiment with my at home gel polish system which I find to be as good as going to the salon! Talk about an automatic $45+ savings each time after the first time you use it!!!
Anyway, I used the Sensationails brand of gel polish do it at home starter kit. As you can see by the photo below it comes with the light to cure the polish, gel polish color, clear base/top coat, cleaning solution, Emory board, cuticle pusher, wipes, and primer. I think I paid $40 at Walmart for it and I've already used it at lease 5 times and I still have a lot left so lots of money savings!!!
My experiment was to apply a regular nail polish as a French tip and only use the primer and base/top clear coat to see how long it would last. Here are the steps I used:
1. Clean nails with cleaner
2. Apply primer
3. Apply thin layer of base/top clear coat and cure that under light for 30 second beep on the light
4. Wiped with cleaner to shine
5. Applied regular clear tape to top of nails
6. Used Julep nail polish in a pale pink to paint above tape to create a French tip
7. Allowed polish to dry and removed tape (cleaned up any hard edges with a q-tip doused in acetone)
8. Applied another layer of the clear base/top coat and cured for 60 seconds
9. Wiped off with cleaner to shine
So far after a week only one nail had a problem where the regular polish French tip was. I think it was because I didn't cap that nail good enough and that is so important because all the others still look great!!! Next I am going to use my 2am me time for some pedicure nail art!! :)
Anyway, I used the Sensationails brand of gel polish do it at home starter kit. As you can see by the photo below it comes with the light to cure the polish, gel polish color, clear base/top coat, cleaning solution, Emory board, cuticle pusher, wipes, and primer. I think I paid $40 at Walmart for it and I've already used it at lease 5 times and I still have a lot left so lots of money savings!!!
My experiment was to apply a regular nail polish as a French tip and only use the primer and base/top clear coat to see how long it would last. Here are the steps I used:
1. Clean nails with cleaner
2. Apply primer
3. Apply thin layer of base/top clear coat and cure that under light for 30 second beep on the light
4. Wiped with cleaner to shine
5. Applied regular clear tape to top of nails
6. Used Julep nail polish in a pale pink to paint above tape to create a French tip
7. Allowed polish to dry and removed tape (cleaned up any hard edges with a q-tip doused in acetone)
8. Applied another layer of the clear base/top coat and cured for 60 seconds
9. Wiped off with cleaner to shine
So far after a week only one nail had a problem where the regular polish French tip was. I think it was because I didn't cap that nail good enough and that is so important because all the others still look great!!! Next I am going to use my 2am me time for some pedicure nail art!! :)
Saturday, May 19, 2012
BEAUTY PRODUCT JUNKIE-NESS
I enjoy testing tons of different beauty related products. Because a lot of family/friends know this about me they always ask how I can get things cheap to try. In answering I tell them that most of the time I just get samples for free or wait till something I want to try goes on sale. Recently I've had some people ask me about beauty product subscriptions. Since I am a penny pincher I normally wouldn't dream of joining a monthly subscription for ANY reason but for my birthday I did join several that are cancel anytime subscriptions just to try them out.
Here are my conclusions from them:
1. Julep Maven - Nail colors, hand care products, pedi products, and such along those lines.
WEBSITE:Julep Maven
REVIEW: I was happy with the quiz selection for me because I got two beautiful and quality nail colors (each retails $14), an Eco friendly bag, and a hand scrub all for $19.99/month. Like I said before you can cancel anytime (which is true), you can mail a box to a family member or friend, you can skip a month anytime, and what I like is that it all is without additional charge or hassle! I really did love the products and I got a LOT more than I thought I would for the money! I would recommend this to anyone who needs a different nail color monthly because you would be saving money for sure by doing this.
2. Birch box which is my personal FAVORITE because this subscription is right up my alley! It has a wide variety of skincare, nail care, hair products, and lots more.
WEBSITE: Birchbox
REVIEW: They select several name brand tried and true new plus some old goodies and send them to you with great descriptions on use. Really loved my first box even though I did think the samples were too small because I loved each one of them. In my first box I got a nail color, face cream, body lotion tinted, hair band, perfume, and a sample note card. This subscription costs $10/month and it is TOTALLY worth it because I'm thinking now about purchasing the full size of at least two products. Again it is cancel anytime, send your monthly box to a friend, skip a month, plus other great perks as well! Thinking about keeping this one because it is something just for me that isn't going to break the family budget.
3. Little Black Bag - handbags, home decor, jewelry, ect.
WEBSITE: Little Black Bag
REVIEW: First, this one is pricey so I would only go this route if you are an extreme shopper and you need to shop but get $100 worth of products for $49.95/month. Again you can do this just one month to send you or a family member or friend a little black bag and it is really neat stuff on occasion from a few good designers. The way this one works is you pick one item you like then the designers select two more items they think you would like. If you do not like the two items they selected before you checkout you do have an option to trade someone that might want one of your products which is pretty neat. I am going to cancel this because it is more for handbags not beauty products but it was a fun one time deal plus I might use this site for good fun friend/family gifts too in the future!
4. Test Tube is a new one that I want to try but I haven't because I went a little hog wild on my birthday and spent my limit on the ones above but I'll possibly try this one another month. It is $29.95 per month plus shipping so it should be awesome but like I said I didn't try that one yet.
WEBSITE: Test Tube by New Beaty
Hope you enjoyed my reviews of my birthday testing experiment of these subscription. I am going to note that I am canceling all of these except birch box because it was my favorite plus the cheapest too!! If you want to have a subscription let me know because they do have a great referral program where we both get goodies if you use my link!!! :)
Here are my conclusions from them:
1. Julep Maven - Nail colors, hand care products, pedi products, and such along those lines.
WEBSITE:Julep Maven
REVIEW: I was happy with the quiz selection for me because I got two beautiful and quality nail colors (each retails $14), an Eco friendly bag, and a hand scrub all for $19.99/month. Like I said before you can cancel anytime (which is true), you can mail a box to a family member or friend, you can skip a month anytime, and what I like is that it all is without additional charge or hassle! I really did love the products and I got a LOT more than I thought I would for the money! I would recommend this to anyone who needs a different nail color monthly because you would be saving money for sure by doing this.
2. Birch box which is my personal FAVORITE because this subscription is right up my alley! It has a wide variety of skincare, nail care, hair products, and lots more.
WEBSITE: Birchbox
REVIEW: They select several name brand tried and true new plus some old goodies and send them to you with great descriptions on use. Really loved my first box even though I did think the samples were too small because I loved each one of them. In my first box I got a nail color, face cream, body lotion tinted, hair band, perfume, and a sample note card. This subscription costs $10/month and it is TOTALLY worth it because I'm thinking now about purchasing the full size of at least two products. Again it is cancel anytime, send your monthly box to a friend, skip a month, plus other great perks as well! Thinking about keeping this one because it is something just for me that isn't going to break the family budget.
3. Little Black Bag - handbags, home decor, jewelry, ect.
WEBSITE: Little Black Bag
REVIEW: First, this one is pricey so I would only go this route if you are an extreme shopper and you need to shop but get $100 worth of products for $49.95/month. Again you can do this just one month to send you or a family member or friend a little black bag and it is really neat stuff on occasion from a few good designers. The way this one works is you pick one item you like then the designers select two more items they think you would like. If you do not like the two items they selected before you checkout you do have an option to trade someone that might want one of your products which is pretty neat. I am going to cancel this because it is more for handbags not beauty products but it was a fun one time deal plus I might use this site for good fun friend/family gifts too in the future!
4. Test Tube is a new one that I want to try but I haven't because I went a little hog wild on my birthday and spent my limit on the ones above but I'll possibly try this one another month. It is $29.95 per month plus shipping so it should be awesome but like I said I didn't try that one yet.
WEBSITE: Test Tube by New Beaty
Hope you enjoyed my reviews of my birthday testing experiment of these subscription. I am going to note that I am canceling all of these except birch box because it was my favorite plus the cheapest too!! If you want to have a subscription let me know because they do have a great referral program where we both get goodies if you use my link!!! :)
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