Julep #6

So another month... another Julep box. And I think I can safely say this one will be my last. Unfortunately, even receiving this box for free didn't really get me too excited, because once again, the color choices just missed the mark in my opinion. Last month, I whined about receiving fall/winter colors as a part of the June box (along with the Oxygen smoothing base coat, which I haven't noticed to be any more spectacular than the base coat I was already using), and here we go again in July. 

Initially, I was excited to see that this was the "Poolside" Collection... visions of fun neons and glitter bombs were running around my mind, so I was pretty disappointed to see such blah colors. At least I thought they were pretty standard.

Source

There was a mushroomy color, tomato red, turquoise (ahem, teal), peach, berry, yellow, pink, silver glitter, and medium blue. Some of the colors aren't so bad on their own, but the pairings for each box usually left me wanting one color, but hating the other. And since I wasn't about to shell out extra money to customize my box, I went with the "bombshell" box, which included Beverly and Lissa.

Now, in the spirit of full disclosure here, I'll tell you that there are certain colors that I'm never drawn to for my nails or toes. There are just going to be some colors that I'll never willingly choose. Some of those colors are yellow, peach, white, black, and most shades of green. I just don't find any of these shades flattering to my skin tone. That being said, after 6 months of being with Julep, I'm really starting to accumulate some nearly identical shades of nail polish.

The top polish in this set is Beverly... which looks remarkably similar to the other two bottles in the picture, which were received in previous months. So similar in fact, that with the exception of the shimmer, they could nearly be used interchangeably. And it's pretty fall-ish.

Now.

How many bottles of berry-colored nail polish do I need? (apparently 3.) And maybe I'm a little crazy, but I think my grandmother wears a similar shade on her nails. One bottle of marginally-matronly-berry-colored nail polish is one thing... 3 polishes is a bit much. The frustrating thing is that these are all marketed differently online. Because I can't hold them in my hand until I've already purchased them, instead of getting a grape shade like I was expecting, I got yet. another. berry. shade. of nail polish.

I'm sorry this is coming across really petty. Had I actually spent $20 on this box, I would've been even more frustrated.

My second color, Lissa, is the bottle in the middle, which once again is really similar to the shades on either side of it. Less so than the berry colored polish, but still just another bottle of teal colored nail polish. And once again, I anticipated this to be turquoise and was disappointed to pull out a much more green-blue/teal color. Petty, yes. Frustrating, yes.

How about that? A little pyramid of similar colored nail polishes.

I should also mention that this month's box came with a bottle of Julep's Body Milk, which is just a fancy name for lotion. It has a nice summery/beachy scent that's a little sweet smelling at first, but has some fresh notes underneath that keep it from getting cloyingly sweet. It's lightweight and absorbs quickly. This for me is a big plus, because I do not like having a leftover residue or tackiness, which often keeps me from using lotion altogether. It reminds me of OPI's juice lotions, which I'm a big fan of.

This will very likely be my last Julep box. I know I've been saying that for a couple of months now... and I've finally worked up enough time as a Maven to "skip" boxes, but it's probably time to cut the strings and go our separate ways.