I’ve got three swatches from the January 2015 Julep Maven box today. I was pleasantly surprised with all of them, though a couple had some minor issues. Above is two coats of Julep – Shelly a palest robin-egg blue that hates being photographed. I did some colour editing on this, and got the nails as close as I could, but it’s still a bit inaccurate. It’s more blue-green and less grey than the photos suggest. More photos and swatches after the break.
Another problem I had with Shelly is minor bubbling. the formula was a little thick, but it went on well and opaquely, and I noticed these two little bubbles on my ring finger. It wasn’t until I was looking at the pictures on my computer that I noticed the bubbling on the middle finger as well (look very closely, there are about 3 or 4). This might have been a simple issue of not letting the latex base coat dry enough before I started adding polish, or it might be an issue with the polish. Either way, the bubbles were subtle enough that I don’t have an issue with recommending the polish. I was highly pleased with the coverage, but it does need a careful hand. It is not self-leveling as you can see in the macro, so patience is required.
My favorite from the three I bought is Julep – Casey. This polish photographed way more blue than it really was, but I was able to edit it pretty close to what I saw on my nails. This is two easy coats, and it was incredibly shiny even before adding top coat. Casey does like to hang around, and she stains skin easily, so be careful with your application and do your cleanup quickly.
This was the last swatch I painted while I was doing this post, and I actually went out to dinner with only four nails painted because I didn’t want to take it off, and I didn’t have time to paint all my other nails. I’m going to be using this again, I am sure.
Finally, we have Julep – Margit which is an interesting mushroom taupe with bronze shimmer. I felt very lady like wearing this colour, and I don’t think I would normally like this colour except for the shimmer in it. It’s not an in your face shimmer, but I don’t think it’s really hidden either. I quite like it. This was two easy coats. It had a little bit of that self-leveling problem, but not as badly as Shelly did. This might make a nice base for nail art, and definitely for stamping sometime.
This is really not my sort of colour, so I’m glad that I like it as much as I do. I don’t know that I’ll reach for it frequently, but stranger things have happened.
Which is your favorite from the lot? Are these the same colours you would have chosen? Let me know what you think in the comments.
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