Julep Kylie

2 coats of Kylie with 1 coat of Essie's Good to Go topcoat

Showing off the magnet that comes with the nail varnish.

Oh and I'll include this section for those of you like me with no prior experience with magnetic polishes ahaha;;;

How-to: applying a magnetic polish like Kylie!

0. To prep your nails, apply a base coat (optional)

1. Apply one (1) coat of Kylie and let dry

2. Apply second coat of Kylie to ONE NAIL ONLY!

3. Immediately after, hold the magnet as close as possible to your nail without touching the nail

4. Keep holding for 10-15 seconds....

4.5. Admire your pretty nail for a while :)

5. Repeat steps 2-4 for your other nails

6. Allow your nails to dry fully

7. Apply a top coat (optional) and you're finished!

Color - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ - Kylie is a nice, slightly muted and almost berryish color. I like it and it goes well with my skintone!

Formula - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ - The formula is thick and looks good even with one coat! But, for the magnetic effect, you do need that 2nd coat.

Smoothness - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ - You can probably tell from the photos but it's SO SMOOTH! I loves it. 

Price - ♥ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ - At $14 full price, I wouldn't buy it. But again, definitely worth one penny, or the $4.99 I paid to get it as an add-on to my May box!

Overall - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ - I really like this polish! I just wish I didn't get a janky brush with this one and that the magnetic stripes would come out straighter than wavy like how it is...

I was really amused, because I got this as an add-on to my May Julep Maven box, but it arrived a day before my actual box did! It even shipped out later...

The brush that came with this polish was really weird... It was all flared out and just looked bad. :( I heard that almost everyone's May box had at least one polish with a messed up brush. Bummer! But, I also heard that we can contact customer service and be sent some replacement brushes, so I am glad for that. The formula for Kylie was good enough that I could still apply the polish without the brush affecting the end result too much though. :)

[[[Update!!!!]]] --------------

I emailed Julep customer service about the brush issue and got an email reply (same day!!) saying they would be sending me replacement brushes soon, and will be giving me a tracking number when that happens. Seems like it happened to almost everyone for the May boxes. Julep really has the best customer service!

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More about the May box later when I do a proper post for it! I'm waiting to film another video before I try everything fully~

Remember, you can still take advantage of the penny deal for your intro box to Julep Maven if you haven't already! 

Just use the codes:

PENNY

or

COLORS4ONE
or
SHAREONMAY

Let me know if you decide to try out Julep Maven! :]

Julep Blake

2 coats of Blake

I'm not sure this color goes too well with my skin tone, haha.. but the formula is excellent! 

Color - ♥ ♥ ♡ ♡ ♡ - I think the color is nice, just not on me.

Formula - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ - The formula is quite thick, but probably needs 2 coats to look even. Or maybe if the first coat is thickly applied. Otherwise, it's nice and feels pretty scratch/chip resistant.

Smoothness - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ ♡ - It's easy to tell where I didn't properly cover up the first coat with the second... 

Price - ♥ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ - At $14 full price, not worth it. But definitely worth my one penny. ;)

Overall - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ ♡ - I didn't like the polish as much as I thought I would, especially because I loved the grey one. 

Gonna go back and do the same rating for Meryl now! 

Julep replacement package!!!

Cutest packaging ever.

Free Julep emery board that will definitely come in handy.

My Julep polishes!!! In Meryl (grey) and Blake (pastel yellow).

Glycolic hand scrub that will apparently make my hands appear younger haha.

A swatch of Meryl (2 coats). I quite like it!

Color - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ - I am in love with this color. My new favorite neutral.

Formula - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ - The formula is needs 2+ coats to look even, but after it's fully dried, it's incredibly chip-resistant. Went for about 3-4 days without any chipping, even at the tips.

Smoothness - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ - Very smooth and shiny, but still not completely opaque throughout in places.

Price - ♥ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ - At $14 full price, not worth it. But definitely worth my one penny. ;)

Overall - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ - Love this polish so much. 

I emailed Julep about my lost package and they were kind enough to mail me a replacement intro box at no additional charge! I am so appreciative of that. Best customer service! I haven't tried Blake or the scrub yet, but I'll do a proper review/swatch for those when I do. I still cannot believe this was just one penny. Take advantage while you can!

Dr. Jart Silver Label BB Cream

I decided to do a review of the Dr. Jart Silver Label BB Cream I have for my friend instead of just describing to her in short what I thought about the BB cream. This way I can share with everyone too. :)

Details:

- SPF 35 / PA ++

- Whitening (will eventually whiten your skin if you wear it daily/often enough)

The tube is a pretty good size. It's 50 ml, but you only need just a pea-sized amount or less each time for good coverage, so it seems like it will last for a long time.

There is no overwhelming smell. The smell is very light, and very bearable. It is unnoticeable unless you really are looking for the smell of the BB cream from the tube or on your hands when applying. In my opinion, the smell is even lighter than most skincare products! It's nice.

The coverage is very good. I only spread a light layer of the BB cream over my face and it already gave me the results I wanted. If I wanted a complete full coverage, I could have used more BB cream, but it would also likely take longer to oxidize. (I learned the hard way that BB creams need time to oxidize. If you don't give the BB cream some time to oxidize, it will not match your skin tone at all and will be usually too light for your skin!) With this coverage, the BB cream still doesn't really cover up my dark panda eye circles, but that's okay... I have really dark eye circles from lack of sleep, haha. The BB cream did, however, cover up almost everything else.

Before and after applying the Dr. Jart BB cream. Before is on the left, with all my noticeable blemishes and red spots circled. That was taken immediately after washing my face with cleanser and applying a moisturizer with SPF. After is on the right, where almost everything is covered up, yay! You can even see that my beauty marks or whatever are also slightly faded thanks to the BB cream.

Just a pic to show just how nice and even the BB cream made my skin! I don't even mind showing the full size pic because everything is so well covered. :) I even look healthier in this pic, haha!

Overall - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ - Easy to dispense from the tube, no scent, good coverage, feels light, doesn't take long or need tools to apply (I just used my fingers), not oily, only complaint is that it takes 1-2 times to get used to how much product to dispense and learn how long it takes for the BB cream to oxidize properly -> wasted product!

I will definitely be using this BB cream more as well in the future!

Thanks for reading! ♥

Orgasmmm!

Day 10. Glasses today...

NARS ORGASM POLISH ARRIVED TODAYY and of course I had to try it on/swatch immediately. I fangasm'd. Little did I know, it's sooo difficult to photograph! But, looooooove! 2 coats with $OPI Strengthener as a base. Maybe I would have better luck with 3 coats? I can't imagine using that much nail polish all the time though, haha. I only recently started using 2 rather than just 1! My apologies for the small preview :( Please click on the image for a better view!

Color - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ - Not as pink/peachy as I had expected from looking at online swatches, but still SO GORGEOUS.

Formula - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ - Thin enough to apply easily and quickly, but not too quick-drying. It's been over an hour and I still feel like I could possibly create dents if I'm not careful.

Smoothness - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ - Veryyy smooth.

Price - ♥ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ -Ugh. I paid $13 for a nail polish...I paid $13 for a nail polish.........

Overall - ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ - Love this polish, love this color. Just look at the gorgeous gold specks down there!!! Would totally be 5 hearts if it weren't for the price.

Mmmm gold specks~~~

XXI Love & Beauty Nail Polish Swatch - Gold

I went to Hollywood/Highland today and, even though I walked in with the intention of buying some form of clothing, I walked out of Forever 21 with a bottle of nail polish and a nail jewels set to bling out my nails. I thought I would swatch the nail polish. :) It's a very nice orange color that doesn't stand out too much because the actual color is so light. I was most attracted to the sparkles in the polish. This is 2 coats with no base or top coat.

To rate this color... (kind of making this up..maybe I'll have a better scale for the future if I decide to swatch more varnishes)

Color - 3/5 - Soft and pretty, but not as vibrant as it looks in the bottle even with 2 coats. Maybe 3-4 would do the trick.

Formula - 2/5 - Thin enough to apply easily and quickly, but not thick enough for a good color.

Smoothness - 1/5 - I can feel every bump from the glitter. They will probably chip off easily.

Price - 5/5 - Can't go wrong for price with a fairly large/average size bottle for $2.80!

Overall - 3/5 - It's a nice color, but not one that I love and would wear all the time. Bumpiness is weird for me since I prefer very smooth polishes.

I'll post my recent Sephora hauls soon too~ Look forward to 3 hauls coming up, haha! Just today I bought $40 worth of purely O.P.I. Oh me oh my.

What is your favorite Love & Beauty varnish color?

E.L.F. Brushes

First review! I might as well while my brushes are still here and next to me drying after I've used Sephora's Daily Makeup Brush Cleaner on them. I got the 2 oz. Daily Cleaner To Go sometime last year for $6 and it's been great! I don't use my brushes too often, so the "daily" is kind of a lie for me, but so far after over half a year, I've only used up half of the spray bottle. It's super convenient too because it's a spray.

On to brushes!

Almost all my brushes are the ones from the E.L.F. Studio 11-piece brush set. To the left is what they look like in their pouch/case.

I love the Studio line brushes because they're cheap but soft and sturdy. They don't shed at all, unlike the E.L.F. Professional line total face brush that I have. They are also really gentle on the skin, unlike the E.L.F. Professional line concealer brush that I've tried. The $2 extra for Studio line makes a huge difference.

As much as I love how handy and cool this set is though, I really only use about half of the brushes in it (bolded). The set comes with a

• complexion brush
• fan brush
• concealer brush
• small smudge brush
• angled foundation brush
• powder brush
• small precision brush
• small angled brush
• eyeshadow "c" brush
• blush brush
• and contour brush.

In my opinion, the 5 that I use are really the only ones I need for cosplay.

• I use the complexion brush for pressed powder for lightly finishing off my look (because this drugstore princess is too cheap for HD finishing powder, haha), and the rest of the brushes for their name-implied use.
• I find that the eyeshadow "c" brush is good for everything eyeshadow-related for me; I don't need the other eyeshadow brushes.
• I use the blush brush both for blush for female characters and for contouring using a darker shadow for crossplaying male characters.
• Although, I suppose the small angled brush would be good for cream/gel liners and as a lip brush. Personally, I don't use cream/gel liners or have a need for a lip brush, so I hardly get to use that brush.
• As for powder foundation, I actually prefer the design of the E.L.F. Professional line total face brush to the Studio powder brush.
• So if you don't cosplay and are going for exclusively Studio line, you could probably switch out the blush brush for the powder brush.

Studio on the left, Professional on the right.

Overall, I would say to wait until E.L.F. has one of their many 50% off Studio sales, and nab this set for $15! It's such a great deal. If you really can't wait, the original price of $30 is pretty worth it too, considering how much other brands cost. Each brush on its own is $3, so with the set you are getting an extra brush and the pouch/case for free.

If you just want one brush out of the entire E.L.F. Studio line, I would say the eyeshadow "c" brush is a must-get! It really works for everything for applying and blending eyeshadow so you definitely won't regret shelling out the $3!

tl;dr Studio brushes are pretty awesome, especially the eyeshadow "c" brush. Just sayin'.