I’ve been a Julep Maven for three months now, and each month has tempted me to upgrade my box so I get the whole set. But each time, there has been something holding me back: May was my first box and I could only get it free if I didn’t upgrade, June had the DD cream (which I totally didn’t want). But July’s California Coast box finally did the trick: ten beachy polishes, sea salt spray for hair, and beach oil tonic for skin. Yup, sold.
Click for a bigger image; image courtesy of Julep
Such an appropriate theme for this week! And while that wasn’t our thought when we planned this challenge (rainbow is one of the themes from the 31-day challenged Becca and I used as a template), this little bit of serendipity makes me smile. Hooray for another step for equality! If only the Voter Protection Act decision had been equally on target. *sigh*
Okay, back to nails.
Julep and I are having a sort of love-hate relationship right now. I keep getting suckered into buying mystery boxes with the promise of beautiful polishes and goodies, and I keep getting disappointed. But they seem to take much more care with their Maven boxes; I’ve gotten two so far and absolutely loved them. So clearly I need to stop buying boxes if I don’t know what’s in them.
Julep Nan: Nantucket red crème
I still have a few more days of school, but summer is officially here in New England; it’s 60% humidity right now. Someone once joked that New England has four seasons: nearly winter, winter, still winter, and construction. So true.
My first video game console was an Atari, and my cousins used to play the Smurfs game on it all the time. My one cousin lived with us for a few years when I was in grade school, and after we were supposed to be in bed, he would sneak into my room to play Ninja Gaiden on my Nintendo. My ex-boyfriend put Final Fantasy VII on my computer when he was rebuilding it before I went to college, and I got hooked. Another ex-boyfriend let me essentially crash in his dorm so I could play FFVIII on his PlayStation. Becca and I met through our love of Final Fantasy XII. And in tutoring a student on Brave New World this week, I explained that the Cyprus Experiment was an example of “we do what we must because we can” (the kid totally appreciated the reference).
I’m not a huge gamer, but I love the ones I’ve played. One of my favorites is Nintendo’s flagship RPG, The Legend of Zelda.
Episode 9 of each Game of Thrones season is the most powerful one, and this week was no exception. As book readers, Becca and I knew what was coming, so we coordinated our manicures to match.
I love floral nail art, so I found it pretty difficult to narrow down what I wanted to do, but I finally ended up with this simple, pretty manicure that’s perfect for spring.
The Great Gatsby-inspired boxes for May finally convinced me to sign up for Julep, a mail-order monthly subscription box of nail and skin care. If you’re interested after viewing the post — and hey, why wouldn’t you be? — I’d appreciate if you clicked the blue box here on my sidebar to sign up through my referral, as it grants me reward points.
Julep costs about $20 a box. You take a beauty quiz to get a profile, from which Julep recommends a curated box each month, but you can chose a box from any profile or opt out of a month. You pay when you choose your box, and if you do nothing, you get charged and sent the box according to your profile. Boxes are shipped at the end of each month. Becoming a member, or maven, gives you an automatic 20% discount on individual products in the shop and gift sets, but not curated boxes. Julep has more than nail polish and skin creams; with the Gatsby sets they’ve put out lipsticks and lip scrub, and they had members take a new beauty bio quiz that implies they’re broadening into other makeup and skin care products.
The May Julep box. The tissue is sparkly and has a pretty floral design.
“That’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” -Daisy Buchanan
So Pintrest and YouTube and Instagram are full of ideas for Easter nails, but I wanted to keep things pretty simple. I love the look of polka-dot nails, so I went with a skittles mani in spring colors and simple dots. It didn’t take too long, since the dots weren’t fussy, and I like how it came out. I only photographed the one hand, but my right hand has the same base colors in a different order, and different colored dots, so they’re not exactly mirror images.
formul8edphrase 