Julep August American Beauty Box Round-Up

And now, even though it's not actually August anymore, I finally have the round up for my August American Beauty Maven Box. August was the one year anniversary of the Maven program! The theme of this month's box was Metallics and Chromes.

In my box I got a really sweet hand-written note from Jane Park, the founder of Julep, as well as a key chain (I won't lie here, it was kind of cheap) and a cool re-useable bag.

Dakota, a rose gold metallic chrome:

Stefani, a gold-flecked grey metallic:

This month we were also allowed to choose up to three add-ons, so I added three polishes!

Felicity, a yellow gold metallic chrome:

Piper, a mint-teal metallic chrome:

Melanie, a pastel indigo metallic chrome:

In general, I found these polishes more difficult to work with, but I got better at applying them as I went through and swatched them. The formulas are generally decently pigmented, but a little on the thin side, so they go on a little sheer in the first coat and it's easy to overload your brush with polish. Overall, Stefani was probably the most interesting of all the polishes, while Melanie was my favorite polish in terms of color and formula.

Julep also included a bottle of their own non-acetone nail polish remover-- I haven't had the time to do an in-depth review. So far I think it seems to be excellent at removing polish and while it is scented, it's not a chemical scent like most other removers. It's in a pump bottle, which I love. The nail polish labelled as "conditioning" and I have noticed that it isn't as drying as most polish removers are. 

So, even though I'm not necessarily totally in love with all the polishes, this was still a decent box.

Julep Stefani

And here's my last polish from my August Maven box-- Julep Stefani. This was a polish that came with the box and not an add-on. Julep describes Stefani as a "gold-flecked grey metallic." This to me was probably the most interesting polish out of the five I got. It's a gunmetal grey with flecks of gold scattered throughout the polish. The gold flecks are pretty subtle, but that's the point. You can see them, but they do not dominant the polish. In some lights this seems to take on a slightly olive green hue, but is definitely grey.

Stefani was very nicely pigmented and almost covers in one coat, but there's definitely some sheerness there. In my pictures I used 2 coats and no top coat. You still have to careful about applying this-- I found it exceedingly easy to get too much polish on my brush and consequently end up with too much on my nails. But this did dry quickly and I found it probably the easiest to use of all these metallic polishes.

Artificial light with flash:

Artificial light:

Natural light - shade:

Sorry for the flash of yellow in some of these pics-- that was my t-shirt! 

Natural light - sun:

I'm not thrilled with these pictures, but I hope they give you a good idea of what Stefani looks like! The artificial light pictures are best if you want to see the gold flecks. 

Apparently there was another Julep polish named Stefani, but it's more of an olive green color. In any case, it's not available on Julep's website anymore so I would assume it's been discontinued in favor of this new one.  Additionally, this looks like SpaRitual Sacred Ground, though I don't have the polish to compare.

Julep Melanie

And another add-on! Tonight I have Julep Melanie to show you-- this polish was one of the ones I was immediately interested in when Julep released the previews of this months boxes. Julep describes Melanie as a "pastel indigo metallic chrome." I want call this cornflower blue, though maybe it's too pale for that. This also sort of a demin feel to it, in spite of the shine.

Melanie is, of course, just like the others in terms of formula and you need to be careful when applying it. But I found Melanie to be pretty easy to work with, compared to some of the others. Here I used three thin coats and they went on nicely and dried quickly. It's well pigmented and I probably could have gotten away with two coats, but I like having three to really let the color shine.
Artificial light with flash:

Artificial light:

Natural light - shade:

Natural light - sun:

I love this color-- it's absolutely gorgeous and does not disappoint. This was one of my favorites!

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.

Julep Felicity

Tonight I have Julep Felicity, which is a polish I added on to my August Maven box. Felicity is described as a "yellow gold metallic chrome" and is a gorgeous warm toned yellow gold color which is perfect . Don't be surprised if this polish makes another appearance in a Football Friday post sometime this season!

Felicity is pretty easy to use and I felt that I didn't have too many problems. I used three thin coats and tried to go slowly. I felt like the brushstrokes weren't too bad with this polish, hooray! It's a little sheer, but builds up nicely and dries quickly. Felicity definitely has a liquid metal feel to it-- it looks very rich and luxurious.

Artificial light with flash:

Artificial light:

Natural light - shade:

Natural light - sun:

Felicity is another color that works well for fall-- or basically, any time of the year! I love the warmth of this polish and think it looks pretty nice on me, for a yellow gold! Now I just need to think of some nail art ideas for this!