Wednesday, March 12, 2014

- - Julep | The Riviera Collection | Classic With a Twist | March 2014 Maven Review - -


Hi friends!

It's amazing how quickly the months are passing by, isn't it? We're almost in the middle of March and spring is just around the corner (hopefully). To remind us that warmer days are coming, Julep titled their March selection of polishes and products as "The Riviera Collection", which includes a lot of bright spring colours: reds, oranges, and a yellow.

Compared to last month's polishes, which I would say were, indeed, dramatic, The Riviera Collection left me feeling a bit underwhelmed (my favourite new word to use since I started blogging). I feel like a lot of the colours were repeats or, at the very least, very similar to polishes that Julep already had. Imagine coming out with about 10 polishes every month - is it possible that you simply start running out of ideas?

Instead of skipping the month, I decided to go with the Classic With a Twist box because I was really drawn to the polish, Soraphine. I also chose Tania as an add-on. For a full review of this box, please read further...


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Julep Subscription
- - Frequency & Cost: $19.99/a month (price increases with add-ons) (referral link)
- - Products: at least two nail polishes and one beauty product 
- - Promo Code: use code FREEBOX or FREECOLOR to get your first box free! (small shipping fee applies)
- - Shipping Cost: FREE (7 - 10 days)

If you'd like to know more about Julep, you can find more information here.

Previous Maven boxes:
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Upon opening up the box, what I really liked was that the contrast between the orange tissue paper and the blue packing material was (appropriately) very spring-like. Love it!





The product featured in most boxes this month was a lip gloss, the shade of which you could select. Lip glosses were featured in boxes this past November. Back then, I ended up collecting the shades: Charming, Daring and Timeless. If interested, you can can check out my review of those lip glosses here. The new shades for March are: Awestruck, Graceful, Fearless, Enchanted, and Adored.




In addition to the new shades of lip gloss, Julep also released two new products meant exclusively for the Modern Beauty box. These were: the Luxe Lip Conditioning Treatment and the Buff Lip Scrub, both of which are now available on Julep.com. Although I think the idea behind them is great, I didn't really care for either of these lip products. It's interesting that this is the second time that Julep has released a brand new product that was only available in the Modern Beauty box (remember Vanish in January?). 



Finally, I don't think I talk about them too much in my Maven Box reviews, but Julep always includes a little square with an inspiring quote on it. This is almost like a collectible!



* Prices are in U.S. dollars *

1 || Julep Lip Gloss in Enchanted || $20.00 (Non-Maven) / $16.00 (Maven)


Enchanted is a lot darker in person.

Julep describes Enchanted as a "sheer watermelon gloss," so I guess I just assumed this shade was going to be more orange-y. In person, Enchanted seems more pink than anything.


L: indoors, artificial lighting | R: indoors, natural lighting
Finally, the question that's been on my mind since I selected Enchanted - how does it compare to the lip glosses from the November collection?



To put it simply - Enchanted is basically the same. It has a vanilla scent, it's sheer, and it's a bit sticky. I find that Enchanted is quite pigmented despite being sheer - this is sort of what I've seen with Daring. Here's are the swatches comparing all 4 shades with artificial and natural lighting:


Artificial lighting
Natural lighting

2 || Classic With a Twist Colours: Soraphine and Myriam || $14.00 (Non-Maven) / $11.20 (Maven) each


Myriam is a "casino red crème."
Soraphine is a "classic sheer white crème."


There were mainly two reasons why I chose the  Classic With a Twist box this month:

1. Although I don't care for another red nail polish, I didn't mind getting Myriam because that's the name of one of Andrew's stepsisters (the spelling might be slightly different). Haha, don't worry, it's not because I'm obsessed with one of his step-sisters. Altogether, he has four stepsisters, and although I got them sets of Julep nail polish this past Christmas, I thought it would be nice if I could gift them polishes with their names. Myriam, the nail polish, didn't exist at the time (neither do a couple still)....and now it does! I'm thinking I'll hold off until I can collect a set of the polishes with their names and then surprise them. :)

2. My favourite nail polish from this collection is Soraphine. Although it is slightly sheer, the possibilities are endless when it comes to this nail polish because it's just so basic! Definitely check out my manicures at the end of March - I'll be sure to include it somewhere!

I forgot to take pictures of the nail polish swatches, but I'll add those in when I get a chance.


Add-On || Tania || $14.00 (Non-Maven) / $11.20 (Maven)


Tania is described as a "multdimensional mermaid teal glitter." I have to say that it looks as pretty in person as it did online. As I mentioned above, I don't have a swatch for you right now, but I will soon.


Here's a photo that my little brother took of the bottle:


Doesn't it look pretty? Tania can be worn on its own or with another polish. I really liked the swatch Julep had with Soraphine, but someone did mention in the reviews that it works well with black underneath as well - I may try that sometime.


Bonus Gift || Candy!



I enjoyed this. Thanks Julep! :)

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Thoughts
I liked this month a little less than the previous one, but I still think that the box I chose was a good one.

Next month is my birthday, so I'm really hoping that the April selections will be lovely. The birthstone for April is a diamond. I'm guessing that the birthstone polish will be a glitter one, I just really hope that it looks nice.

What box did you choose this month?

Thanks so much for reading! -A.~

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