Julep Maven for August: Boho Glam box

I haven't really posted much about Julep. It's a nail polish subscription. You're either into it or you're really not. For me, I'm into artistic endeavors and nail painting is something I've been trying to branch out into as a creative outlet. Nothing terribly fancy and certainly not for a side business. Just for my own amusement, I suppose.

I will talk more about how this sub box works, but first, to the box.

This months tissue paper and worms are pretty. *shrug*

From the left: India, Waleska, Avni

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Avni was an add-on polish that I paid for with Jules (it's like their point system currency). I had enough to cover an additional polish and Avni was such a lovely purple, how could I resist?

There was also an eye liner in Smoky Plum, but I have already given it to my mother who has needed a purple liner for some length of time. I'll throw up a stock image

That was my box for the month. It costs 25 a month. You usually get your first box free. (They tell you what the code is when you sign up.) I like this box but I will more than likely quit fairly soon. You really only NEED so much polish. I am starting to reach ridiculous amounts and I've only been a member for three months. 

The deal with this sub is you take their little beauty quiz and they will decide what category best fits you based on how you answered. I got Boho Glam.

You can customize your box on the 20th of every month when the Maven window opens. You can see what they have on offer and if you don't like what is in your box you can switch to any of the other ones that have polishes/products that you DO like, so it's not set in stone.


If you like what you see and you feel like you want to give this a shot, please feel free to use my  Maven referral code. I'm pretty sure the code to get your first box free is FREEBOX, but don't quote me on that. You will have to pay 2.99 for shipping, so keep that in mind if you order.

I won a contest!

I'm a member of a polish swap group on facebook and got randomly selected to win a China Glaze polish. The girl giving it away decided to throw in all these other things as a surprise. China Glaze "Don't Be A Flake", Sally Hansen Triple Shine "Sparks Fly" and the yellow one is L.A. Colors Color Craze. There is no name for it. Then a concealer brush for nail cleanup, cuticle pen, and little nail doo-dads. Fun. =D Lucky me! 

Ellagee: So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!

I made a small purchase from indie polish designer, ellagee. This is a black jelly base with holo dolphin glitter and tiny glitters. After two coats it looks like dolphins in space, hence the name. For those of you NOT nerdy enough to know, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish is a Douglas Adams reference. When I happened upon her Storenvy I couldn't help myself. I had to have this polish. She also sent along a roll of smarties and wrapped it nicely in bubble wrap and a cute purple bag. 

Be sure to check out her online store!! She has a ton of really cute polishes.

One very thin first coat. It's a black jelly with dolphin holo-glitter

Rainbow Honey for July

This month, I ended up buying a bunch of stuff from Rainbow Honey. I ordered the large mystery bag, a polish, a top coat, a perfume, and a scented oil. Because my total went over a certain amount, I qualified to get the mini mystery bag for free as well as a free full size version of Neon Blossom. 

I have learned that there is no difference between the mini and the large mystery bags aside from the size of the polishes and one or two of the other products they throw in. So save yourself some cash and order just one or the other.  Come along and see what I got. Well, this is only PART of my order. The other items are still on back order. Waaaaaiting!

The contents of the mini bag.

The mini gel

The mini perfume

Cuticle balm in the melon Midori scent

From L-R: Neon Blossom, Deep Heart Sea, Viridis, and Chemical Plant

Same order as above. Better look at the colors?

The large roller of Midori scent and an aloe-based cooling gel for sunburns also in Midori

I enjoy Rainbow Honey, but I feel they are very glitter-centered and while it IS cute it is also a massive pain in the ass to remove. I think I will be taking a break from nail polish for a while now.

Cult Cosmetics Blackbox

Recently I caught wind that Cult Cosmetics had a promotion to pick up one of their Blackboxes for a penny (not including the five bucks for shipping...), so I decided to jump on it for the cute holo-glitter "Hollywood Forever". Spring Fling is the name of the box, in case you were interested and I am pretty sure the code penny522 still works at this time.

They do have other boxes that offer other polishes and products so be certain to browse and see if it might be something you're interested in picking up. I've recently found myself on a sort of polish bender (that's a thing, right?) because my nails are growing great for the first time in years. It's a fun little project I kind of stick under the topic of art. It's color. It's paint. Nail are a medium, too, ya know?

Anyhow, here is what came in the box. For $5.01, it wasn't a bad deal. I decided not to stick with the monthly box because frankly 20 bucks a month of polish is best redirected at 20 bucks a month on horror. I have priorities, people.

Feel free to use the code for free ship if you don't use the penny promo

It smells like stinky vinyl.

Pretty nice quality for free brushes.

Hollywood Forever on the left and Belmont Shore on the right.

A shadow crayon. Pretty, too.

Normally wouldn't swatch so large but I accidentally broke the tip off when I opened it. D'oh!

A decal.

It was a nice box for five bucks. I will purchase from them again in the future. I'm actually sort of really interested in Coachella, but it shall wait for another day.

Rainbow Honey Mystery Mini Bag for June

So I ordered another mini mystery bag from Rainbow Honey for the month of June and they sent me three mini polishes.

Rose Macaron which is defined as: Another sweet treat waiting to coat your nails in pink and glitter.

Pikake: Take your nails to a tropical paradise with this glitter topper

Ichigo: This bright fuchsia jelly glows with blue and purple iridescent flakes

I haven't tried any of them out yet, but I can already tell you that Ichigo is my favorite. I'm going to paint my nails with it a little later today.

They also sent a sample roller perfume in "Nucifera" It claims it's reminiscent of the tropics and sitting on the beach but I am not a fan. To me it smells like rum and old pineapple. Meh.

There was another cuticle balm in the scent Tea Biscuit. I am going to pass this to my mother because I don't need another balm at the moment. It smells ok. They also gave an exfoliating sugar scrub soap in the same scent. I will try it out and report what I think at a later time.

There were also more nail doodads and a handful of orange sticks (cuticle pushers).

I really do this just for the polishes. Everything else is just a nice bonus. For ten bucks, I have no complaints. I love this company!

Not a girly-girl but girly-girl curious?

I haven't really been much into nail polish, or really anything girly in my entire life. I mean I know how to apply basic makeup. I know how to paint my fingers and remove polish. I have NEVER in my life had a mani or pedi (GASP! I know, I know). I don't always go to a salon to get my hair cut or dyed or styled.

I've always been a little to no-makeup, roll out of bed and fall into whatever clothes are on the floor, wash your hair and air dry kind of chick.

This blog is partly about my foray into this mysterious (to me) world. I will discover new things and new techniques and you get to be my little audience into this awkward place. Of course, it's not ALL about the girl stuff. It will also be about what a nerd/geek/horror fan I am. It's basically the part of me I decide to allow the public to see and know.

Back to the whole polish talk... here are is my first real attempt at doing my own nails. It wasn't more than painting them with two different polishes. One solid and one glitter and making sure the large pieces of "glitter" got to each nail. I have been getting a lot of compliments, which frankly surprises me because I really didn't think I did such a great job but one of the nurses at the hospital the other day asked where I got it done and I told her I did it and she looked surprised, leaving ME surprised. *shrug* I wouldn't quit my day job. Ha ha.

Julep Maven: Boho Glam for May!

So Julep has been after me for a bit by tempting me with a free first box, so I decided "What the hell". I only had to pay shipping on it, which was 2.99

I ordered it a couple days ago and it is already in my mailbox! Now that's quick shipping! I already knew what I was getting, of course. That is probably a mixed upside/downside sort of thing, I guess. I love being surprised but by picking which box I want, I have more control so I don't end up with something I hate or having to go through the bs that comes with returns or exchanges.

I chose the Boho Glam box this month, which also happens to be my Maven quiz result so I am trying out my own jam, so to speak.

This month I received the Mighty nail and cuticle pen. I can't figure out how to get the pen juice to the little brushy thing at the tip, but I will mess with it later. It seems pretty neat though. I can definitely get a lot of use out of this product. My hands and nails need some TLC after this long, rough winter.

The polish I got was Lena (they name all their polishes after powerful, inspiration women... they claim), which is a bright teal color with a lovely golden shimmer throughout it. I am in love with it immediately. The other is Elisa, which is what they call a wisteria shimmer. I am not sure how I feel about that one yet. I will have to actually apply it and play around before I make a solid decision. I would actually like to try and do a chevron pattern on my fingers with the two of them. That could be fun, but two entire hands of chevron might either be overwhelming to do or to look at. I will find out for sure as I play. I will take pics if I ever get around to that project. I digress. They also included two tiny little sponge things I can only assume are used to clean around your nails after a polish application. I am a beauty n00b, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

If you'd like to give Julep's Maven box a try, just follow this link. They will give you a promo code for a free box and you can basically try them out for 2.99 You really can't beat it for the price.

Enough of my chatter! Now on to the pictures of the un-boxing! Enjoy and live vicariously through my fun!

Rainbow Honey!

So I did some looking around and discovered that Rainbow Honey, an indie nail polish company, now offers subscriptions bags. You have your choice between a ten dollar mini sampler pack or their twenty-five dollar pack. These are also available as a stand-alone one time purchase if you don't feel you can commit to a monthly thing. 

I decided to test the waters and ordered their April and May mini packs since I had a lovely 25% off coupon code from Ipsy. I've never been much of a nail person but I've been really bored and feeling a LOT more girlish than I normally do and decided to turn over a new leaf and start playing around with make-ups and polishes and things of that nature. Why not?

I got my order late last week and took photos to share and everything! I even have some opinions on most of the things they sent. How exciting, right? Let's get to the fun part! The photos:

The adorable wrappings!