Julep Piper

Tonight is another add-on to my August Maven box -- Julep Piper! Piper is described as a "mint-teal metallic chrome" and that's a decent description. I don't really get the mint part-- to me this is a light teal, but that what the 'mint' descriptor is for. My photos definitely bring out the more teal aspect of Piper. This color makes me think of a mermaid's tail-- it has a very aquatic feeling it, especially in direct light.

Piper is just like Dakota and Felicity in terms of formula and I used three thin coats here to build up the color. The first coat was pretty sheer, but actually two coats was almost good enough. Similarly to the other metallic polishes you need to be careful about how much polish you get on your brush and not to take too many strokes when applying it. Like the others, Piper dried quickly. As I look at my pictures I actually think my technique for applying these is improving! I didn't wear a top coat in these pictures and that might help reduce the appearance of brushstrokes. They still show some flaws (a few bumps here and there) but this is loads better than the first time I applied this polish.

Artificial light with flash:

Artificial light:

Natural light - shade:

Natural light - sun:

Personally, Piper was probably my least favorite of all the polishes I got last month. Though it looks pretty good in the photos, I was a little disappointed in the color payoff-- it seems more washed out in person compared to the bottle and I didn't love it on my nails when I wore it was a full manicure. To me, Piper is gorgeous in the bottle but just kind of ok when I actually wear it and I have the  feeling that this probably won't be a polish I return to frequently, though I'm not necessarily ready to give up on it yet.