Julep Maven Monthly Subscription Box

So I just signed up for the Julep Maven intro box for 1 cent last week and they just sent the email letting everyone know what will be in their upcoming box and I'm hooked already! I thought I would just sign up for the intro and get the box for one cent and then cancel afterwards. Wasn't I naive! I did the quiz they give you for your style profile and was given the Boho Glam box- which is what my intro will be. But afterwards I saw that if you get the "It Girl' box you get 3 polishes instead of 2 plus foot lotion (Boho Glam and all other styles). So with Julep Maven you get to preview each upcoming box and switch for a month if you like so that's exactly what I did for my July box. I will just give you a little preview here of what's in each.

Also this month (from what I understand) depending on if you live in Canada or the States you get a free Canada Day or July 4th Polish! Loving my Canadian option- let's get festive! :)

PLUS, you also get a voucher for a free polish (yet to figure out if that'll be for the next box or a seperate online order) and you can add extra's for $4.99- regular $14.99! You can add any of the polishes and glosses from all the boxes this month.

The glosses are new to Julep and they call them Lip Vernis. As I said above I got the It Girl box for July (which includes no gloss) but added the Lip Vernis in Poppy from the Boho Glam box. Uh, what have I gotten myself into with this! Julep is really great though and I think I will be sticking with them until my nail polish collection gets out of hand (is there such a thing?!)

If you wanna check them out and sign up for an intro box for 1 cent follow this link and use the code COLOR2012 in the discount section of the checkout page.

What are your thoughts on Julep Maven boxes? 

Matte Finish Nail Polish

So I recently heard from a friend about OPI's Matte Finish top coat and was really excited about it. But I also heard it's pretty hard to get a hold of right now, so here's an alternative: NYX Matte Me Crazy. What's amazing about this polish line is that it's regular $1.99 but right now it's on sale at Walmart in Canada for 2 for $3.00! You can't beat that. I bought another colour with it but I haven't tried that out to see what the consistency is like. As far as the Matte Finish goes though, it's great. Goes on smooth and not goopy for how inexpensive it is. It also doesn't make your nails look hazy like you might think from the look of the bottle.
I also picked up Sally Hansens Smooth and Perfect in Sorbet and tried that with the Matte Finish. It's a very neutral peachy-pastel colour but I love it. This polish is definitely buildable and you may have to apply 3 or 4 coats if you want it to look more like it does in the bottle. I just applied 2 though because I didn't want to spent all night worrying about smudging it. I found it hard to capture the matte finish in a photo but have a look and see what you think!

So, there it is. Final verdict- I really like the matte finish and will definitely be trying it with lots of other colours.

Have you tried a matte finish top coat? What do you think?

Makeup Dupe List

I just found this makeup dupe list and I am SO excited about it. There is so many products that I want that sometimes aren't within my budget but with this list I can at least hopefully find something similar. Once I find similar products I normally Google it with the product I want to compare it to (say "Milani Luminous- Nars Orgasm" for example) and look for blog reviews comparing the two. Trust me if you want to find a review comparing beauty products I can almost guarantee someone has done it. I'll also look for MakeupAlley reviews. Anyway, that's all, just a quick post sharing what I've found!
http://www.temptalia.com/makeup-dupe-list

xx

Sunshine Award & The Versatile Award!

Recently TiffanyNicole from Happily Everandom nominated me for the Sunshine Award and a few weeks back ObviouslyFeminine nominated me for the Versatile Award :) Thanks girls!

So first, here are the rules for the Versatile Award

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers whose blogs I enjoy reading the most

2. Let them know I nominated them

3. Share 7 random facts about myself

4. Thank the blogger that nominated me

5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to my blog post

O.K. 15 bloggers who's blogs I enjoy reading: (no specific order)

http://schoee.blogspot.ca/

http://sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.ca/

http://fleurdeforce.blogspot.ca/

http://www.labellavitaonline.com/

http://sunjunkiex.blogspot.co.uk/

http://happilyeverandom.blogspot.ca/

http://birdle.blogspot.ca/

http://obviouslyfeminine.blogspot.co.uk/

http://adayinthelifeofems.blogspot.ca/

http://x-couturegirl-x.blogspot.ca/

http://www.theblackpearlblog.com/

http://lipslikesugaredkisses.blogspot.ca/

http://www.thebeautycorner.co.uk/

http://julianneinjune.blogspot.ca/

http://nikkidesuasido.blogspot.ca/

Now, seven random facts:

1. I'm terrified of thunder storms.

2. Raw 'Rainbow Bits' cupcake batter is a weakness for me. ;)

3. I wear 00 plugs.

4. Dream pet: Tiger

5. I bite my nails unless they're painted.

6. I'm so excited for True Blood to start. (June 10th!)

7. I have 2 tattoos.

So now onto the Sunshine Award!

Ten things that make me happy:

1. My dog, Harley.

2. Enjoying a lazy weekend at home.

3. Shopping

4. Going out with friends and family.

5. Going to the store for something you need only to find out it's on sale.

6. Drinking a Mojito on a hot day.

7. Playing with my niece.

8. Laughing at stupid stuff with my sister.

9. Going to the movies.

10. Tackling DIY projects for my house.

Now, I pass the Sunshine Award on to:

http://www.dumbblondediaries.com/

http://styleconfessional.blogspot.ca/

http://blogtillyoudropox.blogspot.ca/

http://andreainglisxx.blogspot.ca/

http://smileasbigasyoudream.blogspot.ca/

Wow, lots of sharing and lots of blog love! :)

Thanks guys!

Hunter Boots Dilemma

So I've got a bit of a dilemma. My boyfriend is going to get me some Hunter Boots for my birthday which is coming up in a few weeks and I really don't know what colour I want! For the most part I think it's between the Original Black, Original Green, and Gloss Black. And if I was to go with a colour maybe 'Very Berry'. Any thoughts?

Of course, she makes the green look better than they would on me ;).

Black is very plain but I love the socks you can get to go with the boots.

Here are the Black Gloss ones (I love that style with these boots)

Lasty here is the Very Berry colour that I've been thinking about- in a Gloss.

So what do you think?? Uh, it's so tough! I could solve the issue by letting my boyfriend get me a pair for my birthday and then just buy the other pair myself! :) haha but there is really no need for me to have two pairs (for now) so a decision must be made, hopefully with your help!

GLOSSYBOX

Let me just start off my saying..GLOSSYBOX kicked LuxeBox's ass! I wasn't overly impressed when I received my LuxeBox but now that I got my GLOSSYBOX it has really made LuxeBox look bad, no offence. I could tell as soon as I held the packaging in my hands, the GLOSSYBOX was so much heavier. Also, the box construction itself was much nicer, it was a solid hard box as opposed to a soft cardboard box. Once I opened it I realised that I would use everything that was in this box.

Here's what was in it:

Sebastian Professional Volupt Shampoo- in full size. This smells amazing. If you use Olay Quench body lotion, it smells exactly like that. I haven't tried it yet but it retails for $15.78.

Curel Foot Therapy Soothing Cream- full size again. This is a drug store which might disappoint some people but I could use it so you won't hear me complaining. It's a very thick cream, fast absorbing and it smells great. This one retails for $3.99

Simple Eye Makeup Remover- sample size.

Simple Facial Wash Gel- sample size. Again these are drugstore samples, but I'm interesting in trying these because Simple is said to be the UK's #1 facial skincare range. It's a bit irritating  though how these two samples count as two separate products because the point of these boxes is to discover new products. These each retail at $9.99.

And lastly Pandora's Makeup Box Lipstick in Cute- full-size. At first glance I didn't really think this was a colour I would wear but I did give it a try and it's not too bad. It's a bit of a dark coral-y colour once on. It's also quite moisturising and smells divine. The packaging is really cute too. This retails for $16.00.

So all in all- I thought this was a great Box. I will be giving LuxeBox 1 more month and then if I'm not satisfied I will probably cancel and just stick with GLOSSYBOX.

Luxe Box Arrival

My Luxe Box has arrived!

I placed my order for my Luxe Box April 20th and my first (May) box arrived May 28th. Not too bad. I must say I was a bit surprised by how small the box was (about 7" x 7" for anyone who cares). I guess I just thought it would be bigger from pictures and videos I had seen, but none the less I'm still pleased to be holding it in my hands!

I was also very pleased to have recieved two boxes, the regular Luxe Box and a bonus Bath & Body Box (white). In the Bath & Body box I received the Venus & Olay razor , as well as Olay Regenerist Wrinkle Revolution Complex. I am quite happy with the razor, as that alone is probably almost the price of the box so I feel we're off to a good start. :)

Inside my actual Luxe Box I received:

'Kerastase - Masque Chroma Riche' - Here's a little blurb about the product I found on LookFantastic- "Introducing the first deep emollient light refracting hair care for damaged, coloured, highlighted or sensitised hair. Kérastase Reflection Masque Chroma Riche is a luminous softening treatment mask that delivers mirror-like radiance to your hair."

It has also recieved great reviews on MakeupAlley so I am looking forward to trying this out. The full retail size value is $57 so I'm kind of hoping I don't fall in love with it.

I also got 3 perfume samples- CK Shock for Her (full-size $40) , Calvin Klein Sheer Beauty (full-size $78), & Marc Jacobs Oh Lola (full-size $78). I am looking forward to trying Oh Lola because I've heard really great things about it.

Next thing I pulled out of my Luxe Box was the Cargo Glitter Top Coat for your eyes. Now I'm really not thrilled about this one. I'm not much of a glitter girl but I will give it a shot. The nice thing about this one though is that it`s full size- not sample. It`s retail price is $18.

Here is what Cargo says about the product on their site: " Let your eyes steal the spotlight! The ultimate transformer, CARGO’s Glitter Top Coat takes your daytime eye makeup straight into the evening with one sweep of the brush. Infused with colored iridescent glitter in a transparent base, Glitter Top Coat can be worn alone or on top of any waterproof eyeliner or eye shadow. The super long-wear formula is both waterproof and smudge-proof, and the magic tip applicator allows for perfect results!"

Lastly I recieved another sample of the Olay Regenerist Wrinkle Revolution Complex. I will use this product to see what it's like but, I'm only 21 so I really don't think I need this yet. I will probably give one of the samples to my mom. The full size version retails for $60.

And that's it people! Overall I would say I`m satisfied but I thought it would be a little better. I guess I will wait and see how next months turns out. I also am waiting for my GlossyBox to arrive so after a few months of each I will see what one I like better and cancel the other.

What are your thoughts on Luxe Box?