SWATCH: Julep - O Canada!

Today I have a swatch of Julep's O Canada! polish, which I added on to my Julep Maven box this month.  It is a glitter polish, with mostly small round opalescent glitter and sparse red hexagon glitter in a clear base.  You definitely need a base color for this polish, I think. For these swatches, I used Julep Kate as my base.  I started with 4 coats of that and then applied 2 coats of O Canada!  

in the shade

in the sun

in the sun, a better view of the glitter

in the shade

in the sun

I'm not in love with it...I think layering it over white doesn't really do the opalescent glitter justice, since you can't really see it.  Also, the white polish doesn't look so great on my nails, to begin with.  I'll have to try it with other base colors and see if it grows on me...As far as application goes, I think it's pretty hard to mess up glitter polish.  It's very forgiving in application, and I've never had a problem with applying a glitter polish.  This is no exception!  It applied really well, so no problems there.

IN THE RING: Julep Daphne vs. Julep Miranda

As I mentioned in my last post, I've already found a dupe for Julep Daphne!  It just so happens that I had Julep Miranda, from my introductory Julep Maven box from August of last year.  These two polishes are almost identical!

julep miranda vs julep daphne

You can already tell just by looking at the bottles that these two polishes are very similar.  I think Miranda, on the left, is just a tad bit greener, but maybe that's just me.

Sometimes polishes may look differently when applied, even though they look similar in the bottle, so I decided to swatch them side by side:

pinky+middle = miranda & ring+index = daphne

You can see there is a slight difference in this photo.  Miranda is slightly lighter, and still looks a tad more green to me here.

index+ring = daphne & middle+pinky = miranda

pinky+middle = miranda & ring+index = daphne

But as seen in the last two pictures, the difference is really hardly noticeable.  It's definitely not a big enough difference to need both these polishes in your collection.  I'm kind of disappointed, since these are both Julep polishes and they are SO alike.  It's almost like they took Miranda and slapped another name on it, and then called it a new polish.  So if you have one, skip the other!

SWATCH: Julep Daphne

Ok, let's start swatching my July Julep Maven polishes! :)  First up is Julep Daphne which is a pretty dusty teal color with a creme finish, but it's not very unique.  I've already found a dupe for it in my collection, and it's a polish from Julep too!  Post on that coming soon~  But for now, here's is Daphne:

This applied very well!  It took two coats to reach this opacity, and the formula was neither too thick or too thin.  I like it, but it's not a must have for me, especially because I already have a polish like it.

Julep Maven: July 2012

Hello there!  It's been a while hasn't it?  I got caught up in school and my internship and just let this little ol' blog go.  Basically, I got lazy.  All I pretty much wanted to do was bum, when I wasn't at school or my internship, lol.  But I'm back!!  Summer is here, and I've got quite a bit of time to swatch and take pictures.  Yayy!

To start off, here's my Julep Maven box for July!

I usually get Boho Glam, but this time I decided to go for It Girl.  I didn't want the lip gloss the other boxes came with, but I wanted the America polish, so it kinda seemed like my only option, haha.  I wasn't thrilled with the polish colors, since I'm not a big fan of white polish (usually streaky) and I already have several colors like the dusty teal that Daphne is, but I could live with them.

l-r: Daphne, Kate, Mila, America

If you notice, America looks like it's not filled to the top.  It seems like the polish settled, but I think it's like that because it's a very thick polish.  It doesn't move at all when I shake the bottle!  And when I opened the bottle, it was goopy and you can hardly tell there are any stars in it.  I was quite disappointed by this, since this was the polish I was most looking forward to.  Also, I was hoping to wear it for 4th of July, but it arrived this past Friday, the 6th of July.  Bummer.  I've contacted Julep about it, to see if it's truly supposed to be like this.  We'll see what they say!  Maybe when I swatch it I'll like it better.  But for now, I'm sure there are better star glitter polishes out there...

add ons: O Canada! and Chelsea

I decided to add on O Canada! and Chelsea because I really liked the look of them.  I liked all the glitters this month, so it was tough to choose which ones to add on.  This was my best solution. xD  I'll just have to get Yumi some other time, I guess!

Swatches coming soon.  And lots of other things I want to post about, like my IMATS haul!  I'm going to try posting at least twice a week, starting now!  Stay tuned~! :]

Swatch: China Glaze - Riveting (Colours from the Capitol)

Drumroll, please!

THE GIRL ON FIRE!

Haha, that's what this polish reminds me of.  The girl on fire.  This is another China Glaze polish from the Colours from the Capitol collection, and it was the one I was most looking forward to when I first saw that this collection was coming out.  I'm not disappointed with in the least...in fact, I love it!

Riveting is meant to represent District 3, whose main output is Technology.  It is a bright red-orange jelly with tiny golden shimmery glass flecks, creating a gorgeous polish.  This is perfect for summer!  The formula was a bit runny, allowing you to apply thin coats easily, and it applied wonderfully.  I used 3 coats to achieve this opacity.

And then I tried it with Luxe and Lush layered on top!

This is 1coat of Luxe and Lush over 3 coats of Riveting.  I love this layered look!  Though I thought my previous layering was nice, this one is so much better.  The flakies look like they're glowing!  So pretty!

So far, Riveting is my favorite from this collection.  But we'll see!  I still have 2 more polishes left to swatch...see you tomorrow for the next one! :]

Swatch: China Glaze - Dress Me Up & Luxe and Lush (Colours from the Capitol)

Tonight (well technically tomorrow morning) is the premiere of The Hunger Games movie.  Who's excited?  I am!  Unfortunately, I am not going to be a part of the midnight screening.  I have class tomorrow, bright and early.  BOO!  But hopefully I'll get to watch it soon...maybe even this opening weekend?  Who knows...I didn't buy my ticket early, so I'm not even sure if there's any left for this weekend, lol.

Anyway, to celebrate, I have swatches of 2 of the polishes from China Glaze's Colours from the Capitol (or Capitol Colors)!  Here are Dress Me Up and Luxe and Lush.

please excuse the boo-boo on my ring finger

Dress Me Up is a dusty brownish rose creme polish.  I hadn't originally thought to get this one.  But after seeing swatches, I thought it looked pretty.  Though nothing too special, it's still a nice nude color and perfect for work!  This color is meant to represent District 8 from The Hunger Games, which specializes in textiles.  The formula was great on this one, and it applied really well!  This is two coats.

And then I decided to try adding Luxe and Lush, to try and jazz it up!

Luxe and Lush, as you can see, is a flakie.  White iridescent flakes that flashes orange, green, blue, pink, you name it...the color depends on the polish underneath.  This was one of the ones I was excited about when I first heard that a Hunger Games collection was coming out.  But when I saw swatches, I was underwhelmed.  I decided to get it anyway, after seeing a pretty good swatch somewhere (can't remember now).  Though I love flakies, I'm not as much in love with this one.  I still like it, but it's more work.  This is one coat, but I had to maneuver the flakies to get a good scattering of them.  I think it looks nice with Dress Me Up, though.  This polish is supposed to represent District 1, which specializes in Luxury.

I have 3 more polishes from this collection, so hopefully I'll get to swatch them all this weekend, and post one every day in celebration of opening weekend. :]  But for now, I leave you with this:

I wore this ring today without thinking anything other than it would go with my outfit.  But then, when I got bored in class and started fiddling with it, I realized that it reminded me of the Mockingjay on the cover of the book, on Katniss' pin.  I'm definitely gonna wear this when I go watch it, now! :]

HAPPY HUNGER GAMES!

SWATCH: Zoya - Apple

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I haven't posted a swatch in a while, so I thought I'd show you what I painted my nails today.  Since St. Patrick's Day is a day for wearing green, I decided to go with the obvious choice.  I picked Zoya's Apple because it's a bright green with fine gold glitter.  Reminds me of shamrocks and gold!  Perfect right?  Application was smooth and easy, though formula was a bit sheer.  It took me 3 coats to achieve opacity.

Unfortunately, not the best of pictures due to weather.  Had to make do with the lighting in between the rain and overcast skies.  Hopefully I'll remember to swatch this again on a sunny day and will be able to post it again. :]

Hope everyone is having a fun day!