Maven Madness Boho Glam Box + Nan Add-On June 2013

Hi Everyone!

A new month means a new Julep Maven box, and this month is all about preppy-chic summer style.
This time around I went with the Boho Glam option with an It-Girl add-on.


The Box

Julep Maven boxes are delivered right to your door every month for $19.99 and usually include two polishes, a beauty item, and one or two random extra gifts.

For a more details on all aspects of the Julep Maven program, read my in-depth review here.

The Colors

The Boho Glam box included two shades in "Dianna" and "Lexi."

Dianna is a light, seafoam green creme.

Childhood on my nails.
When I was younger, my mother had my walls painted this exact color with all white wicker furniture.
Oh the 90's southern cottage style.

Not only am I partial to this shade from a nostalgic perspective, but it's just gorgeous.

It's rich  and creamy and the formula is great.
It's thicker than the other two, but just thick enough to apply smooth and opaque in just one coat.

This is a true seafoam green without being muted or leaning towards a more minty hue. Love it!

Lexi is a bright yellow creme.

I think we have a winner for best true yellow ever, at least in my collection thus far.

Let me make my broken record statement in saying that all bright yellows have a streaky formula to some extent.

However, this one had the least amount of streaks, and what streaks it had evened themselves out during the drying process. 

Just to make sure  it was completely even, I used two coats.

It's super bright without being super  pastel or super green.
This is seriously the yellow you need.

The Beauty Item

This month Julep debuted their first face makeup product, the DD Creme.

The DD Creme is available for the retail price of $28.80 and is available in four tones:

Light
Medium
Medium-Dark
Dark

Being the Casper face that I am, I received mine in "light."

The product is advertised to be "dynamic do-all" solution to help prime, perfect and protect the face with a lightweight formula with buildable coverage.

Ugh.

There's been a huge amount of drama revolving around this product since it's release.
Julep has been flooded with criticism by the majority of Mavens.

Not in the know? Let me sum up:

1. There is little to no product in the package.
2. The "light" version is way too dark and way too orange.

Some Mavens even resorted to cutting open the tube at the top to prove how empty the package was.
I didn't go that far, but the shot below hopefully conveys how much the bottle had to be squeezed to release the product upon my second "use."

Yup, it's almost gone.

But is it as dark and orange as other Mavens claim?
Let take a look.

Below shows the product swatched on the under side of my arm, the area that most closely resembles the lightness of my face.

(Pasty skin for the win...not)

Looking at that photo alone will turn people away.

So what happened when I blended it?

 I mean, the amount of orange is tame compared to any cast member of the Jersey Shore,

but it's definitely too dark and too wrong.

The color is actually not my main concern. 

Even mismatched face products can be minimized with the right powder, highlighter, etc.

My dismay for the product lies is how awfully oily it was.

So much so, that I could not bare to have it on my face long enough to take a  full face picture for you all.

In all fairness I have combination skin but GURLPLZ, this was ridiculous.

Had I left it on any longer I would have surely broken out, and that is far from "perfect" as the product was advertised.

The debate continues on, as customers with darker skin tones seemed to have been more satisfied than us lighter skinned ladies who apparently are SOL (excuse my rude abbreviation).

In the end, the mass of Mavens are displeased with the miscommunication and possibly misleading advertising about this creme. Although Julep clearly marked the tube to contain 1oz of product, for the price point it either needed more product  or a second thought on the package design.

I am not in a completely state of disappointment because I never fell victim to the hype of CC, BB, or any other alphabet creme.

Apply sunscreen, apply foundation lightly, and save your money. It's the same thing.

The Extra

To fit in with the beachy theme, this month's little extra was a few bits of Salt Water Taffy.

(All consumables included in Maven boxes are accompanied with an ingredient list and allergen warning.)

 They look sweet, but I'm not a taffy person myself.

My roommate on the other hand is a sucker for salted candy anything, so I was happy to pass them along.

His review? "The strawberry is where it's at." Haha, men.

The Add-On

Interesting enough, this was the color I was most excited about.
The rest of It Girl option wasn't calling my name, but I just couldn't pass up the chance to add-on "Nan."

Nan is described as a "Nantucket red."
Basically, it's a shade of red that looks faded, almost to a dusty rose.

If you're rocking shorties, you could probably get away with one coat, but in most cases the nail line will peek through. 

I recommend two layers as shown in the photo.

I am simply smitten over this color and is possibly one of my favorites Julep has released this year!

Overall

When it comes down to it, the colors popped and the DD creme flopped.

I applaud Julep for trying something new, and in their favor their hand cremes and other beauty items are fabulous. Unfortunately the DD Creme just couldn't live up to the hype.

Matters aside, I'm in it for the polish as most of us Mavens are.
The colors I received were great quality and complimented the theme well.
The yellow is astounding, the seafoam is dreamy and the red is unique.

If you're still on the fence about joining the Julep Maven program, don't let the DD debacle deter you from becoming a member. 

I've been a Maven for over a year and it's been worth ever penny.

What was your favorite shade from this month's box?
What  are you thoughts on the coveted cremes of the alphabet?

Let me know in the comments below or give me a shout on Facebook or Twitter.

If you're not currently a Maven, now is the time!
The selection window for this month opens in 11 days, so join now with my referral link below and get your first box free!

 I think you have to pay shipping now, but it's still worth it!

http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/45305/

If the link has not already filled it in for you, enter my referral ID# 3488485 and then enter promo code "FREEBOX" at checkout. It's that easy!

---

Speaking of free, I'm having a GIVEAWAY!

Once I get to 500 likes on Facebook, I'll be giving out prizes to a couple of lucky readers.

More details to come closer to when the goal is reached.

You don't want to miss out, so if you're not already, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Bloglovin' for all the happenings here at The Manicured Amateur.

Thanks for reading!

-Melody

Indie Spotlight Teaser and Life Update

Hi everyone!

I have a different type of post for you today.

I have a single photo teaser of tomorrow's review of an up and coming indie brand. I finally lifted my no-buy and have many new Etsy goodies to share with you all.

The polish will remain a secret for today, so make sure you're following me on Facebook, Twitter, and Bloglovin' so you don't miss out!

If you follow me on Instagram, you may already have a clue. :)

But why a teaser? 

As many of you know, it's been an extremely rough couple of weeks. First there was the terrible dog fight that inspired the nail art look below.

You can read the full post of how I created my furbaby inspired mani and more details of the incident here.

Then on Tuesday, just as Odie began to recover...this happened.

Yes, that is a tree and what used to be my front porch...and my roof.

This is in no relation to the recent tornadoes. I live in Georgia and the weather was perfectly clear. 

My boyfriend, other roommate and I were aware of the dead trees scaling over our house, but our landlord neglected to act on our warnings.

The wind wasn't even blowing. 

My boyfriend and I were actually standing outside when he started to hear and see the tree fall. I was talking to him, not realizing what was happening.
He grabbed my arm and drug me inside to the far end of the house as the breaking and crashing sounds followed behind us.
We just held each other for a moment hoping it wouldn't reach us, and then the sound stopped.

After confirming it was over, we realized we left poor crippled Odie behind.
We raced out of the guest room to find him safe and to see the living room and kitchen still in tact.
Our bedroom was what we were afraid of, knowing it would be the first thing the tree would hit.
Worse, my poor cats were locked inside.

The cats naturally panic at any large sound, and safely retreated under our sleigh bed.
It took me 15 minutes to fish them out from under there to get them in their carrier.

The bedroom scene was much better than we expected.
The side wall is cracked from end to end, which has worsened since and the entire wall is now bowed in.
The window shattered, but remained in tact due to an AC unit.
(Yeah, landlord never fixed our central air either.)

Overall the damage could have been much worse.

It's true everything on the wall fell and broke, and a cup of coffee sitting on my desk spilled over everything.

But by some miracle, out of the 500 bottles of nail polish I had displayed on shelves on the outer wall, only one Julep polish parished in the chaos. Although the spill did take out a few articles of clothing located in the hamper it fell in.

I was amazed.
On the desk was also my laptop, tablet, and my DSLR camera... but out of all the things that fell on them, the only thing destroyed was my computer mouse.

So what happened outside?

We opened the door, only to discover there was nowhere to go.

Turns out, the tree hit and stripped the roof and rolled to the ground, crushing our front porch into two pieces.

Everything was destroyed at the front end of the house.
Our ceilings remained in tact, but the roof was gone.

  

Yup, that's a cast-iron outdoor heater that was passed down to my boyfriend...now broken in two.
Look at how the deck is angled. It literally snapped in half.

So where are we at now?

Three days later the house has revealed a bit more damage, as other walls have begun to crack.
Insurance adjusters have not finalized whether or not this will be covered.
If they confirm it was caused my landlord's maintenance neglect, we're SOL.

It was a close call for us, and a wake up call to my landlord...hopefully.
We can only hope he has realized things have gone too far.
Our house is not safe.
There are more dead trees ready to fall, the wooden siding is rotting and the foundation is crumbling from moisture from his refusal to put gutters on the house.
We have no central heating/air, no smoke alarms, and half of our doors are broken.
One more storm and this house can be destroyed.

We have been easy on him because he's an old man, and the father of an old friend.
But had we not run for lives, someone could have been seriously injured, or killed.



In the end we are all grateful the house is still standing and we are too.
The situation is not great, and we are exhausted and overwhelmed.

You have all been amazing and patient, and I love you all.
I have received so many good thoughts and well wishes in the past few days and I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me.

The Manicured Amateur will continue as normal.

There's not much more I can do for the house at this point but wait, and try to keep positive.
And one way I do that is sharing my nail polish adventures with all of you.
No matter how bad things get, I'm reaching up my happy polished hands in prayer that things will work out.

I have so many exciting new brands and goodies to share with you,

and to kick things off, starting tomorrow I will begin another indie spotlight weekend featuring a couple of up-and-coming brands I've already received from my recent Etsy haul. 

There's much more on the way, and I hope you'll stick around.

From my heart to yours, thank you for reading and all of your support!

-Melody