Beautopia Nails

Julep Maven Subscription Service Review and Swatches

beautopia — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 16:11:51 EDT

You may have heard of Julep Nail Vernis at some point recently, be it on the Sephora site or one of their stores where the polishes are $14 a pop (for a .27oz bottle, whoa). Or you may have seen the name on Twitter, or Facebook, or Pinterest, jeez man that name is everywhere. I watched the Julep Mania for a few months with a jaded eye until I finally gave in. If you haven't heard the name Julep, well, it started with a salon in Seattle, then grew to include a nail polish line, and now there is a monthly subscription box where you can have a selection of these polishes delivered to your door at a much lower price than their retail stickers.

If you'd like to join, here's a referral link if you click it, thanks in advance, that's awfully nice of you:) (if you refer people, it counts toward getting a free month, pretty nice) Don't forget to enter your code COLOR2012 to get the intro box for a penny. There are other codes to only pay $5 and $10 but I used the penny one and it worked just fine.

You can get the gist of what's going on here on their site, or on their freakishly busy Facebook page, but here's basically what happens:

Take a quiz about your favorite things and Julep will magick up your perfect style profile (you don't have to buy the one they choose for you)
You pay $19.99 (or a penny if you use the code COLOR 2012, duh which one would you rather pay?) and they send you your intro box. This box at this point comes with your two colors and a fairly amazing pedi creme, or three polishes and no creme if you choose the It Girl style profile).
If you like it, every month afterward you will have a four day period, between the 20th and 24th of each month to decide if you want to skip that month's box, or if you'd like to choose another style profile.
If you continue past the intro box, you get billed your $19.99 for your first monthly on the 27th of the month, which is the day the box is sent out.

Here are some interesting things to add:

Each month has a new theme, and there are several new polishes added to the line each month, so there's nearly always something new.
Recently they have been doing a thing where you can add on two (sometimes more) items to your box for $4.99 each (which is way cheaper than you pay at Sephora).
You get a 20% discount on anything that's not "new" that month in the Maven Boutique. (In my opinion the price on these items is still pretty steep, though I did purchase Taylor at retail price so who's stupid now, lol).
Each month in addition to polish there is another product. Last month it was a lip gloss (which I really liked) and this month it is a tote bag and a polish remover in a pump.
They always send little extras which range from files, cuticle oil, creams, to free polish vouchers, to candy, so it's sort of fun to open each month.
Each month tons of "Golden Boxes" get sent out randomly to subscribers and they include the polishes from every style profile box that month which is actually a pretty rad idea.
The customer service is very fast, very nice and very effective.

China Glaze Capitol Colours Hunger Games Collection

beautopia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:52:10 EST

I haven't been so excited about a nail polish collection before in my LIFE. I am a huge Hunger Games fan if you didn't know already, and the marriage of some of my favorite books and my favorite nail polish company is so awesome. I am dying waiting for this damn movie, I'm serious. Anyway, I went and grabbed the collection today at CosmoProf and did some swatches. This is a diverse collection full of color, texture, and awesome.

Click to see the swatches!

Korres Wild Rose Flawless Finish Powder - Review

beautopia — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:58:35 EDT

Korres Wild Rose Powder in WRP2 - $28 at korresusa.com

Here's my fourth foray into the Korres Wild Rose range of products, let's see... I assume this is a finishing powder, but I can't find anything on the site or on the packaging to tell me that unequivocally. After using it, however, I sort of feel like it's more of a light-to-medium coverage foundation. It felt a little too heavy on my skin over foundation.

Click to read more...

Korres Wild Rose Foundation - Review and Photos

beautopia — Mon, 03 May 2010 08:37:31 EDT

Korres Wild Rose Foundation - $30 at korresusa.com

This is the third product I've tried from the Korres Wild Rose range of products, and it's been my favorite so far. Granted, the other two were skin care, but still, this foundation is blowing me away. First of all, I like that Korres products are natural. It makes me feel like I have less to worry about when it comes to adverse reactions and permanent damage to my skin. It's still possible for your skin not to agree with even natural products, but that's more of an individual issue that you really need to read the ingredients and know your skin to anticipate. If you're looking to fill your makeup stash with more natural options then you might be interested in looking into Korres.

If you want a deal, until May 20 you can get 25% off your $35 order with the code BEAUTOPIA, and don't forget to enter to win the Korres Blush in Pink!

Click to read more and see photos...

Korres Eye Palette in Natural- Review and Swatches

beautopia — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:20:50 EDT

Korres Natural Collection Eye Palette - $35 at sephora.com

Sephora has the exclusive on these new eye palettes from Korres and they're purty. There are four different palettes to choose from, and I received the Natural one to review for you guys. Overall, I like the palette... There are things that I like about it and things that I don't, but the positives outweigh the negatives.

If you want to try some Korres products, right now until May 20 you can get 20% off your $35 purchase at korresusa.com! Code - BEAUTOPIA

Click to read more and see photos...

Korres Zea Mays Powder Blush in Pink - Review and Giveaway! CLOSED

beautopia — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:12:36 EDT

Korres Zea Mays blush in Pink - $24 at korresusa.com

I'm a blush fiend, and I'm sure a lot of you can relate to that. I have an entire craft drawer devoted to blush alone. There's just something about it. Even though truthfully so many look the same on me there's just something about a giant pan of beautiful pristine color that speaks to me. Among my favorite brands are MAC and Cargo, and now that I've tried this Korres blush, I feel like I'm going to need to start a second drawer.

Before I go any further I just want to mention to you guys that at KorresUSA.com you can get 20% off your $35 order with the code BEAUTOPIA. This code is good till May 20, which will be great for Mother's Day and for self-gifting if you catch my drift. I'll be getting my mother-in-law some stuff and some things for little ol' me might find their way into my cart...

Additionally, three of you are going to win a Korres Zea Mays Powder Blush in Pink! Read on to see how...

1) Be a follower of Beautopia on Google Friend Connect OR On Sugar. You can find those boxes to the right of this post.

2) Leave a comment below telling me about your favorite Korres product. If you haven't tried Korres, which product do you want to try the most?

3) You can tweet the following: "Follow @BeautopiaBlog and win a Korres Zea Mays Powder Blush ($24 Value)! http://bit.ly/cjb0c6" You can tweet daily, but please comment here and leave each tweet link. Sometimes tweets get lost and I want to make sure that if you take the time to tweet, that you get every entry!

This giveaway will end at midnight on 22 May and is open to only US residents because it is brand-sponsored. I'm sorry I'm neglecting you international beauties again, but I promise there's good stuff for you on the horizon!

Click for more photos and the review!

Sephora PURE Natural Believer Palette in Star Gazer - Photos and Swatches

beautopia — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:23:41 EDT

Sephora PURE Natural Believer Palette in Star Gazer - $15 at sephora.com

Please click the photo above to see the palette in more detail! Last week I posted about another one of these awesome palettes, in Island Sunset, and I like this one nearly as much. These palettes were originally about $36 but then were marked down to $15. So during the 15% off sale at Sephora I picked them up. I am so glad I did. First off, as I said before they are purported to be made of recyclable metal pans, sustainable bamboo and no less than 95% natural ingredients. I was afraid that since these are "all natural" and "pure" that staying power, texture and color pigmentation would suffer, but they don't. I am exceedingly happy to be able to tell you that these six shadows and blush are smooth, soft and packed with color that sticks around pretty well. The shades are beautiful and range from cool to neutral, as opposed to the warm shades of the Island Sunset palette.

Like the other palette, the packaging is attractive, includes a large mirror and includes all the shade names on the back of the palette, which is hard to come by in a pre-made palette, especially such an inexpensive one. The textures again range from buttery mattes, to lustres, frosts and satins. All are blendable and pack a punch whether it be in shimmer or pigmentation. Click to read shade descriptions and see swatches...

Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Quad in Opulence

beautopia — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:25:26 EDT

Wet n WIld Opulence Quad - $4.99 at most drugstores

I previously reviewed one of the new Wet n Wild Color Icon singles, and was quite impressed with the quality of the shadow, so when faced with these new quads, I had to at least try one. There are several adorable color combinations, but the turquoise and purpley-pink shades in this quad screamed out at me. In the quad you get three powder shadows and then the top left is a glittery cream shadow. Here are my shade descriptions:

Top left: Frosty white with opalescent glitter
Top right: Satiny nude beige with lilac flash
Bottom left: Shimmery medium turquoise shimmer
Bottom right: Satiny lilac with large golden shimmer

I was pretty impressed with the turquoise and beige shades. The turquoise has a deeper base with lighter shimmer and had lots of depth. The nude beige has a gorgeous lilac duochrome flash to it that really makes it interesting. This highlight type shade pairs gorgeously with both the lilac and the turquoise. The lilac shade itself is a bit chalky, and I'm not the biggest fan of it. It almost reminded me of a mix between MAC Stars n Rockets and Trax. It sounds like a strange combination, and it is, but I found it to be pretty accurate. You can see the slight chalkiness of this shadow in the swatches below. As for the glittery shade, I was pretty impressed with this as well. I don't recommend using it alone or as a base, but when patted on top of other shadows with your finger, it gives a beautiful light-catching pearliness. The glitter isn't overwhelming, but it's definitely there. Overall, I was certainly pleased with the value of this quad. For $1.25 per shade I really can't complain. The turquoise and the nude are worth the price of the quad alone. Furthermore, you will find that Wet n Wild often have sales so you might be able to snag it for even half the price I did. If you run across these, I'd definitely take a close look at them.

Click for more product photos and swatches

Project: Swatch - Week 2 - My Favorite Blues

beautopia — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:00:01 EDT

Project: Swatch is back after a couple weeks hiatus. Sorry I haven't had more time to keep up, but while it may not be EVERY week, I promise to try to keep up with Swatch Friday a couple times a month! This week the focus is on some of my favorite blues, so click to see some swatches of beautiful blue polishes from China Glaze, OPI, and more.

China Glaze Poolside Swatches!

beautopia — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:00:32 EDT

My eyes are killing me! After swatching and photographing all this retina-searing gorgeousness, I still had hundreds of photos to edit. Yes hundreds. Nearly a hundred for Pool Party alone! Anyhoo, I'll have comparisons over the next couple weeks so my eyes can heal ;p but here are the swatches!

Click to view the swatches!