Julep Maven Box: August 2012

Instead of getting the "It Girl" style this month which offered three shades of nail polish, I opted for the "Boho Glam" option for my August Julep Maven box, which came with two shades of nail polish and a bottle of their new Acetone Free Conditioning Nail Polish Remover. According to Julep, August is all about "metallics and chromes," so I knew I wasn't going to be too excited about this month's box since I'm not a huge fan of metallics to begin with. But I'm always willing to give it a chance, just in case it'll change my mind, you know? So the two shades I received this month are:

Isla and Piper

Isla and Piper

Isla is a soft milky white in a metallic finish. It has a fluid consistency without being too thick or too runny. It goes on smoothly and evenly, without any pulling, bubbling, or streaking. Because of the nature of the finish, however, brush strokes will be visible. It has medium pigmentation and will reach opacity in three medium-thick coats. It is less pearlized than Essie's Oui Madame, less silvered than Essie's Pearly White, more metallic than Zoya's Gaia, and whiter and brighter than OPI's Birthday Babe.

Piper is a medium seafoam teal in a metallic chrome finish. It has a fluid consistency without being too thick or too runny. It goes on smoothly and evenly, without any pulling, bubbling, or streaking. Because of the nature of the finish, however, brush strokes will be visible. It has medium pigmentation and will reach opacity in three medium-thick coats. It is much lighter, more subdued, and less green than Zoya's Zuza, and lighter and more teal than Essie's Beach Bum Blu.

These haven't changed my mind about metallics. Isla is a very "bridal" colour to me, and is really dupeable. Piper is a lovely colour and much more unique than I thought, but it's the metallic finish that kills it for me. I'm just tempted to put glitter on top of it. I knew I wasn't going to be excited for this box, and I'm really not, though the colours themselves are nice. Knowing me, I would use them as base colours at best. I'm also none too pleased with the pigmentation of these polishes; they both needed at least three coats to reach opacity. On another note, however, the nail polish remover that came with this month's box is phenomenal! It's actually exactly like the one from Butter London, which I also love. They both perform the same (it removes all of my nail polish quickly and efficiently while being really gentle and completely non-drying) and smell the same (clean, slightly baby powdery), and even have the same retail price (Butter London's is $7 for 59 ml, and Julep's is $14 for 118 ml). But Julep's comes with a handy pump, which makes me love it more.