Swatched: Julep Haul

I just joined Julep Maven last month, and received my first monthly box (Mommy’s Little Monster) and add-on haul last week. I don’t see enough Julep swatches out there, so I did mine for you! More to come, since I took full advantage of the coupon that came with the first freebie box too. I’ve got lots to show you, so take a look after the break!

 

 

First up we have Catrina which Julep describes as a marigold yellow creme. Sure why not. I’d call it “bright yellow creme” but that’s pretty close, and fancier to boot. This is three coats with no top coat. If I was even the tiniest bit more careful, I could have shown you just two. I’m kind of in love with this yellow, ’cause it looks so smooth and shiny and happy.

 

 

Dahlia is described as a goldenrod microglitter, and it’s the first polish from the themed Mommy’s Little Monster box. I swatched this a lot of different ways. First I threw one coat on over Catrina, and this is probably how I’ll wear it in the future. I like the bright shimmery look over the opaque base.

 

 

Then I used Dahlia by itself, three coats over natural nails on my middle, ring and pinkie fingers, and three coats over white on my index finger. Still lots of VNL over the natural nails.

 

 

Finally I used one coat over black on my thumb, which I think also looks quite fetching. No top coat on any of these.

 

 

 

Oh, hello Tatiana, you’re awfully pretty. This one was also part of the Mommy’s Little Monster box, and Julep calls it a golden burnt orange microglitter. I adore this one. My notes from swatching are incoherent with love for it. I’m showing you two coats here. The formula is a little thin, and it’s very eager to get into your sidewalls and cuticles, but it is so gorgeous that I don’t even care. You can see a little VNL on my pinky, but I always seem to have problems with VNL on that one finger for some reason, so I’m calling that user error. I was sad to take this one off.

 

 

Building up my orange collection is the lovely Brielle, a stunning deep autumn orange creme. Almost a one coater, with smooth and creamy application. It dries a shade darker than the bottle, but it looks less milky on the nail, and I prefer it that way. This didn’t stain, but I had to work a little bit to get my errors out of the sidewalls.

 

 

Karmen was a lovely surprise for me, which was added because I have no self-control and got enough add-on items that they gave me some freebies. Julep calls it a golden crimson microglitter, and while I think crimson is a bit strong of a word for the deep pink tone in this, the polish does lean quite a bit more red on the nail than in the bottle. The gold microglitter sticks to the walls of the bottle and makes the bottle lean much more orange than what you get, but there is certainly enough in there to show up as glittery goodness on the nail. This is two lovely coats with no top coat, and I feel like this could take you from autumn to Christmas if you wanted to extend the season a little.

 

 

This lovely one is Marla, and I had to work a little to get it into my add-on list, and I’m so glad I gave it one more try. Julep says Marla is a burgundy velvet with silver shimmer. This self-leveling formula was thick and creamy to apply and felt luxurious to work with, rather than difficult. It stains a little on removal, so double up on that base coat.

 

 

Tia is a blackened brown jelly with glitter, but Julep calls it a straight up black jelly with copper and gold glitter. I found some green glitters in there too, and I tried out one coat over Marla in this picture. It hides the shimmer from Marla, but it’s definitely an option if you don’t want to do three to four coats for opacity by itself.

 

 

This is Tia with three coats, and I could see a little VNL at some angles, but it looked pretty good like this.

 

 

 

Ledi is one of my favorites, which surprised me. It’s a black pearl shimmer, and the shimmer is quite hidden, but it definitely adds a little something elegant to your nails. The formula on this was quite thick, but easily workable, and it is a beautifully glossy colour without any top coat.

 

 

 

Katerina was the last polish in the Mommy’s Little Monster box, and is described as a pixie multidimensional iridescent top coat. Okay then, I called it a pink iridescent flakie top coat in my notes, but close enough. Shown here is a glitter gradient on the index finger, one coat on the middle finger, and two coats on the ring finger with no top coat. It has pretty good coverage with one coat, but I think my favorite is the gradient. I expect I’ll be wearing this as a full manicure before the month is out.

 

I had two more to show you, but the photos didn’t turn out, and I had to take the cat to vet instead of reswatching them for you (the cat’ll be fine). I’ll get them up as soon as I can. I’m pretty sure some of these colours snuck in from my previous haul, but the oranges all looked so seasonally appropriate together that I couldn’t resist. Which is your favorite? Anything you’re going to pass? Tell me in the comments!