Julep Mindy

Tonight I have the first polish from my January Maven box-- Mindy. The theme of the box was "nudes and neons" and Mindy is the nude polish. Julep describes Mindy as a "porcelain pink sheer." It is sheer, though it seems you can make it opaque if you use enough coats.

Here I have used three coats of Mindy. This was actually the second time I swatched this, because I wanted to get it right! Since this is marketed as a sheer, I wanted to use thinner coats to keep it more on the sheer side. You can still see a hint of visible nail line, but Mindy looks pretty opaque with three coats. My main issue with this polish is not that it's a sheer, is that it's so darn streaky! If it wasn't streaky, I would love this. But it doesn't go on evenly and you can see on my nails where it's a bit patchy. It could be worse, definitely, but it's not perfect.

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It's a lovely pink! And I do like it-- I guess I need to play around with applying it so see if I can get it right.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Sheer Red

Tonight's polish is an interesting one-- Sheer Red from Rescue Beauty Lounge. I'll let Ji describe it: "There are times when an opaque red seems as appealing as a winter coat in the middle of July. Yet you still want a
defined color. Try this sheer cherry red stain, which leaves your nails a rosy deep pink. Or layer it over Underwear for a glowing neon bright pink. Both elegant and playful."

To be perfectly clear: Sheer Red is sheer! It's meant to be sheer and used as a stain on the nail or for layering. You will never get this to be opaque on its own! Personally, I don't think I would ever wear Sheer Red alone, because I'm not big into wearing sheer polishes or stains, so I think I will probably only use this for layering. It's also not quite as red as the bottle would make you believe-- it comes out pink on the nail.

Here I have layered two coats of Sheer Red over Lulu, since I had just swatched it. One thing I would say about Sheer Red-- you can get denser areas of color if you aren't careful. You can see this on my ring finger, where I have a streak of darker pink. The formula is very jelly in consistency and goes on easily. I really like how this looks. It's comes out bright and colorful over the lighter pink base and is very cheerful and springy (or summery). It does give your nails a nice pop of color!

Gah, so I realized as I cropped these photos that there was a dog hair stuck to my index finger. ARGH. How did I miss that?! It's a hazard in my house, but it's so annoying. Sorry!

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Well, aside from being really unhappy with my pictures I like this and it has a lot of possibilities for layering. I can't ever see myself wearing Sheer Red by itself but I look forward to playing with it!

Sheer Red is available for $18 on the Rescue Beauty website, but is running low according to Ji. So if you want it, get it before it's gone as it is limited edition and won't be coming back when it sells out.

Julep Ellie

I know you're probably rolling your eyes-- another Julep polish? I know, I know! But it's almost the end of May and I still haven't even profiled my May Maven box. I also have come up with a new way I'm going to go this: first, show you the polishes and the have a post that rates the whole box. So I'm starting off tonight with Julep Ellie.

Ellie is an "opalescent seashell pink with holographic shimmer". What isn't mentioned is that Ellie is a sheer polish-- I used three coats in my pictures below and there is still visible nail line. Also, Ellie most definitely does not have holographic shimmer. It does have a bit of a duochrome thing going on-- the edges shift slightly green. But holographic it is not. For the most part the formula is ok-- due to the finish it can get a little brushstrokey, as you can see in some of the photos. I did get a few bumps/bubbles on my middle finger; I think if I had used a top coat it wouldn't be a big deal.

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I am... not sure how I feel about this polish. On the one hand, I hate it. It's sheer and pink and has brushstrokes. On the other... it's pretty? I mean, it is pretty. It's just not my style at all, even though I have grown to appreciate sheer polishes more. I might try this layered over something (maybe a white or a pink) to see if I like it more, otherwise this might be going in my "give away" pile. I can't see myself ever wearing this for any reason.