Julep Maven July Box Review

Don't forget to enter my Blush Beauty Mystery Box giveaway while you're here!! :)


Oh, Julep.... Just when I think I can't POSSIBLY use more nail polishes, you put out a box like this one and I can't give you up.... 

Julep Maven July subscription box, first looks:

How pretty is this whole presentation?? I LOVE the California Coast theme and the sandy California vibe of the tissue paper and packaging. It captures Cali perfectly!! The little square card is a quote from Isak Dinesen: "The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea."

I opted to receive the box for my Boho Glam profile this month for a couple of reasons: the muted polishes looked so fresh and fun and I am SO excited to try the body oil!! Here's a breakdown of what was included:

Beach Tonic Dry Body Oil ($23): this is a blend of "lightweight yet nourishing" oils that is misted on post-shower. If you read my June Empties post, you know that I have a bit of a lotion obsession, so this is something I was so excited to get my hands on!! :) The smell is really beachy, fresh and clean and the texture it leaves has a little gleam without feeling too oily or greasy! Anxious to work through the bottle and see if I LOVE it!! 

Green Tea Blotting Papers ($5?): these are a bonus item and not available on the website! I'll throw these in my bag to use once my Tatcha papers from the April PopSugar box are gone!

And the polishes! 

Julep Karen ($14): Peach bellini frost, a gorgeous seashell color that is a fresh addition to our massive polish collection!

Julep Faye ($14): Liquid bronze shimmer, looks like dark wet sand! Will be so pretty with a tan! :)

Julep Fireworks ($14): Sparkle top coat, added on to box for $5. A massive hit! It's our current nails of the week!


So altogether, the July box had a value of $56 and cost $25 with my monthly subscription. I didn't include Fireworks in the calculations since I opted to add it on to the regular box (it was a $5 charge). I'm super excited about the products this month!! 

If you would like to try Julep, please use my referral links in this post and use code FREEBOX or FREEMAVEN to get your first box for only $4 then cancel anytime! It's been super fun!! :D

Nails of the week! USA! USA!

** Cue the patriotic music!! ** Nails of the week are 4th of July themed!! WHooooHOooo!! :D

The girls and I went for red, white and blue this week! 

That's a lot of supplies! LOL!

My nails have been needing some TLC, so I've been starting with a coat of old school Sally Hansen Hard as Nails. For polish I used China Glaze in Ruby Pumps, Julep Bunny and a blue from Mary Kay. Then we used the super fab Fireworks top coat from Julep - red, blue and silver glitter and a quick coat of Out the Door! Loves it!! 

They turned out soooo cute!! 

Are you going patriotic with your nails this week?? Hope everyone has super fun plans for Thursday to celebrate the birthday of the greatest country on Earth!! 


** post contains referral link for Julep, ducky. If you want to sign up for Julep you can use code FREEBOX or FREEMAVEN to get first box for $4 and cancel anytime. I don't love everything they send out, but I'm CRAZY about this top coat!! :)

Ipsy June Glam Bag Review, "On the Wild Side"

I've seen mixed reviews on this month's Ipsy bag but, I gotta say, I love it again! And I LOVE Ipsy in general. If you are looking for a way to dip a toe into the world of subscription boxes, I suggest you start here! It's only $10/month and always delivers great value for your money!! 

This month's theme is "On the Wild Side" and I love, love, love the animal print/neon bag. I've seen it compared to Snooki and... um... not even gonna try to act like I haven't rocked a Snooki-sized bump more than once (as in yesterday)! Hahaha!! 

Here's first looks!

And the breakdown:

Cailyn eyeliner ($21): With this the value is already twice the price of the bag! Nice! I received the brown one of these in my Blush Mystery Beauty Box last month, so I'm glad to have a different color! I had a hard time last weekend with the traditional liquid eyeliner I've been trying to use up, so it's time to give these a GO!! We used this for face art for nerd night at the cheer gym and, as for lasting power, I can confirm that it lasted flawlessly in mustache form through a 2 hour intense and sweaty cheerleading practice! LOL!

J.Cat Sparkling cream palette ($5): It recommends not using this chunky glitter on eyes, which I would also recommend. Have you ever used chunky glitter on your eyes?? It can quickly turn into NOT FUN! This can be used anywhere else on body, etc., and my girls are ALL about it! I've already seen it on lips multiple times! Haha!

NYX cream blush ($7): Um... something in my profile must make Ipsy think I'm super tan (I'm not)? This blush is much darker brown than it looks in my picture. But, you know, maybe they know something I don't know! I'm thinking it's for more of a bronzer effect and I'm going to give it a shot! 

Chella ivory lace Face Highlighter ($18): I'm so excited about this one!! The fact that it is sold on blissworld.com, one of my favorite higher end cosmetic/body product sites, gets me even more excited! It's supposed to brighten, open and lift eyes when used under brows or can be used lightly to fade dark circles, blemishes, etc. This is totally something I would have bought on my own! 

Starlooks Lip Pencil ($12): Eh, don't use lip liner. This will be going into a future giveaway!

Bauble Bar bracelet ($12): Bonus item for referrals last month! Thanks ladies!! :)

There's always coupon codes included to buy more of these great products online and all of the fun info on the Ipsy website to learn about the products. And how fun is it that these items are all FULL-SIZED??? My bag (without the bonus item) was worth a total of $63 for only $10! I love it!! It was worth $10 for the fun the girls had with the glitter and eyeliner alone!! Haha!

If you'd like to try Ipsy - and really, who wouldn't?? - please please use my referral link! It's good karma! Haha! Thank you! 

Nails of the Week! Julep Esmerelda glitter experiment!

This week's polish is Esmerelda, a green glitter polish, the 2013 Color of the Year from Julep. I received this polish in my Miami Mystery Box last week and I was anxious to try it! We've used lots of glitters from OPI, etc., but this was my first Julep glitter! 

I put on a first coat over bare nails and it was really pretty and interesting! The glitter is really varied, some tiny flecks, some big sparkly chunks. Would be super pretty over another polish as a top coat!

A second coat started providing a little fuller coverage.

A third coat? Sure, why not. Let's see what happens! LOL! Pretty solid glitter coverage, but it took strategically moving some chunks around before it dried. A coat of Out the Door and the result is super sparkly and fun! Love! 

I'm trying to figure out where I want to go for my birthday weekend next month and this would be a perfect polish for a Vegas pool party, don't you think? ;)

Julep boxes are typically $24.99/month but you can try your first month for only $4 with this link and code FREEBOX or FREEMAVEN. Then cancel if you aren't wowed! 

Any fun plans for your nails this week?? And any great recommendations for a fun three day weekend getaway?? ;)

Nails of the week: Me + the 7 year old!

Pepper decided to join me for nails of the week this week! So glad she did! Love that kid!

She was very excited to see some new polishes in our tub since the last time she dug around in there! She went right for the Sally Hansen Back to the Fuchsia Complete Manicure that I picked a couple of weeks ago! She also added Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear glitter in Supernova and some stickers with Xtreme Wear clear coat on her big toes and thumbs. :) So cute, yeah? 

My nails are looking kind of beat up and sad this week :(, so I needed to use a go-to rehab polish, which for me is either Mary Kay or MAC. I opted for Mary Kay nail lacquer in Coral Stone with Out the Door on top. Pep also talked me into a few little pearls as an accent, so my nails don't look TOO boring this week! Haha! 

 We love these little packs of nail stickers and have picked them up all over the place. The sets we used today came from Rite Aid. 

At this point I'm just so happy to have the Modicure nail wraps off my fingers! LOL!

What are you doing with your nails this week?? 

Website Review: Dancewear Solutions

Over the years I have bought LOTS of dance, cheer and gymnastics clothes, and that doesn't look to change in the near future! I find the options in local stores a little bit limited. You can go the ULTRA basic and inexpensive route and buy (boring) pieces from major chains like Wal-Mart, Target and Meijer. Don't get me wrong, my dancer thinks the Danskin Basics at Wal-Mart are super soft and comfy, but personally I get tired of looking at them! LOL!

The other main choice in Louisville and surrounding areas is Kinney Dancewear. They have super cute things, and a weak rewards program where you get a little certificate after you spend $250, but BOY are they expensive. Gymnastics leotards can easily run close to $50. It's a great place to pick up a "treat" piece every once in a while, but I try to avoid it most of the time because we can't seem to get out of there without spending $100+!

Last year I took a chance on online retailer Dancewear Solutions and have been really happy with it! The products have been the great quality and the prices are definitely more reasonable. And I love that it gives me an opportunity to buy my girls something to wear that nobody else has! SO much more to choose from!

We recently ordered a few things, including this leotard/dress for a voice recital performance:

So, so soft and pretty and she loves it! It was $35 before discount and is actually something she can wear over and over again for regular classes!

Here are a few of the other things we've bought recently:

It's all so cute! And neither of those are my kid, BTW. Haha!

If you spend $100, shipping is free. And coupon code DWSBB4 will save you 10% through the end of May!

What do you think?? Is there some magical land of dance and gymnastics clothes around Louisville that we've been missing out on??