Julep Nail Polish: Hit or Miss?

I feel the need to first say that I really dislike posting negative things about products here, honestly, if I receive a product to review and I really dislike it, I normally just skip posting about it because I don't like the negativity, but when I've personally purchased something that I then mention to all of you and it turns out to be really, really bad, well I think that I need to let y'all know!

About a month ago I posted about a nail polish brand called Julep and the awesome deal that I scored when I signed up to be part of their Maven program.  Now, I love all things beauty related and I live for nail polish so when I found out that I could get a few full-size nail polishes and a bonus beauty/nail product for less than $3 I was definitely going to do it!  And since it was such an awesome deal, I wanted to share that with all of you!  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Julep or their Maven program, you can read more about it in my previous post.  Basically it's a monthly subscription box service (much like Ipsy or Birchbox) where you pay a monthly fee (they have two options but it's around $20-$25 per month) and each month they send you a personalized box with a couple of their nail polishes and usually some other nail related product.  Honestly, I signed up to be a Maven because I basically received the first box free (not counting the $2.99 I paid for shipping) for over $40 worth of products, I love nail polish so it was a no-brainer.  When I received my Maven Box I was over the moon excited and couldn't wait to use the polish, but I immediately noticed that my box did not contain the items that I had chosen (I was suppose to receive 2 nail polishes and a blush, instead I received 2 nail polishes and a cuticle oil), not a super big deal because the polish colors were gorgeous and who doesn't need a good cuticle oil.  Unfortunately that is where the excitement ended for me.

The same day that my box arrived I decided to give myself a manicure and I chose the Madison (which is a neon orangey coral color that was beautiful in the bottle) to paint my nails.  Immediately I noticed that the bottle was awkward, being tall and skinny made it very difficult to dip the polish brush into the bottle without it tipping, but again, I tried to see the bright side so I shrugged it off since the bottle has very little to do with the color and how well it applies.  Next thing I noticed (and immediately disliked) was the super runny, streaky, messy formula and I was instantly confused because this polish sells for $14 a bottle, this had to be a bad bottle...right?  I mean there is no way that all of their polish is this bad...right?  After three (very messy, very streaky) coats of polish, the color on my nails looked absolutely nothing like what was in the bottle and the "highly pigmented" polish that Julep describes, is not at all what I had on my nails.  As a matter of fact, my nails looked like a five year old painted them...it was bad, really, really bad.  Since I wanted to be fair to the polish and give it a chance to redeem itself, I threw on a top coat and went on about my day.  I woke up the next morning with sheet marks (like the marks you get on your face when you wake up in the morning from the pillow or sheets) and chips on nearly every single nail, keep in mind that I applied the polish around noon and it was completely dry within 30 minutes, yet I still woke up with marks.  Now either I was fighting someone in my sleep (and they won) or this nail polish is just the absolute worst polish ever.  Completely discouraged, but still wanting to love it, I decided to try the other color that came in my Maven Box, Maddy, which is a gorgeous pink color that I thought would be perfect for summer...sadly, my results were exactly the same.  It took 3 coats to even cover the nails, the outcome was a streaky mess, the next morning there were marks in all of my nails and chips within 24 hours. You can check out a little bit more indepth and detailed review of the Julep polish in the video below.

I am definitely not an expert on nail polish, but I'm pretty sure that if you're selling something as small as a bottle of nail polish for $14, it better be damn good, I mean MAC polish is $16 a bottle so you'd expect a very similar result from something that was only $2 less...or maybe that's just me.  Honestly y'all, I wanted to love this stuff, I really did, but at the end of the day, there are SO many other great nail polish brands out there that I'm not sure why anyone would spend $14 a bottle on this stuff.  If you're looking for a good polish, try Essie you can get it at the drug store, it's around $8 a bottle and it's amazing!

Unfortunately I will be cancelling my subscription with Julep Maven, because at this point, I don't feel like spending even another $3 (let alone $20) for nail polish that not even my 12 year old nail polish obsessed daughter will use.

Sorry Julep Maven, but the nail polish is definitely a miss!


Until next time y'all...

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Love Nails? Enter #LancomeLovesNails for a Chance to Win!

I've had a love/hate relationship with my nails for years.  For a while I bit them (alright, it was a long, long while), for a while I had acrylics (I don't recommend anyone doing that if you ever want to have your own healthy, beautiful nails) and now I'm just doing the natural nail thing...and loving it.  Since I'm somewhat addicted to my nails and nail polish at the moment, I spend a lot of time looking for fun nail designs and colors to try on my own nails and since I know there are SO many people out there who love nails as much as I do, I thought I'd share a fun contest with all of you from Lancome!  Details on how you can enter the contest below...good luck!

From February 1^st-14^th, readers can Instagram their best nail look for a chance to win a full set of Vernis in Love.

How to Enter:  Instagram your best nail look with #LancomeLovesNails for a chance to win a full set of Vernis in Love + be featured on Facebook! http://bit.ly/11b8N5t

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Fun in the Sun Summer Blog Party Day 6...Piggy Paint! *CLOSED*

Today is Day 6 of our 11 days of Fabulous Giveaways. I hope you've had a chance to check out all of my other giveaways as well as my friend Alexis' giveaways!

Today's giveaway is for all of the girlies out there! I don't know about you guys but as soon as I had my first daughter I wanted to paint her toes...I refrained from doing so because of the smell and all of the chemicals in the nail polish but I could just see her cute little toes adorned with pretty polish. As Taylor (my oldest daughter) got older she begged and pleaded with me to let her paint her toenails and my answer was always the same..."NO" it was only a couple of years ago that I finally gave in and let her paint her fingernails and toenails. That in itself created a problem as Savanna (my middle daughter) begged and pleaded for me to paint hers as well. I was always disappointed that I could never paint their nails but I had no idea what to do about it.


I saw a review for Piggy Paint a few months ago on another blog and fell in love with it's "natural as mud" slogan. When I decided to do our Fun in the Sun blog party I knew that I wanted to include Piggy Paint because what little girl doesn't want to have pretty piggies in the summertime. Here is a little background on Piggy Paint. Piggy Paint was born when one stay-at-home-mom while painting her little ones piggies noticed that the nail polish that had dripped on a foam plate had eaten a whole through it. After that Piggy Paint an all natural water- based nail polish was born! Piggy Paint is a non-toxic, odorless, and kid-friendly version of tradition nail polish. Piggy Paint comes in a rainbow of colors including Girls Rule, Ice Cream Dream, and Angel Kisses...what little girl could resist colors that sweet?



We received a bottle of Piggy Paint (in Dandelion Dance) and a bottle of nail polish remover to review. I was really curious about whether or not the polish and the remover would actually smell, the smell of nail polish is a huge migraine trigger for me, and I was completely shocked and very happy to discover that there was very little smell at all. For the first time ever I painted my girls toenails without getting a horrible headache. The best thing about Piggy Paint was the fact that I could paint Kinley's toenails and not worry about her breathing in the toxic fumes or putting her toes in her mouth after I painted them. Overall I was very impressed with Piggy Paint; there was very little smell, the paint dried quickly, looked gorgeous, and came off without effort using the Piggy Paint remover.

Buy it!!! You can purchase Piggy Paint online at PiggyPaint.com and at select retailers nationwide. And because the people at Piggy Paint are awesome they are giving my readers 15% off of their online purchase through July 15, 2009...just enter the following code at checkout: BABY15L. Also if you spend $25 at PiggyPaint.com then you get free shipping!

Now since the people at Piggy Paint are so cool they are giving one Misadventures in Baby Raising reader a $20 Gift Certificate to spend on PiggyPaint.com!

Win it!!!

1. To be entered into this giveaway head over to Piggy Paint and look around come back here and leave me a comment telling me what your favorite Piggy Paint color is (actual name of color not pink or blue). This is mandatory and must be completed before any extra entries are counted!
Extra Entries!!!

Please be sure to leave separate comments for each extra entry. If you grabbed our Fun in the Sun button before June 22 then you receive 5 extra entries into this giveaway and if you blogged about our Fun in the Sun summer blog party then you get 10 extra entries into this giveaway!

2. Follow Misadventures in Baby Raising via my feed, email, or on Blogger...2 extra entries!

3. Grab my Fun in the Sun or Misadventures in Baby Raising button...2 extra entries each!

4. Enter the Layers giveaway on Running Away? I'll Help you Pack come back and leave me a comment telling me (I entered Layers)...2 extra entries!
5. Follow me on Twitter and Tweet this about this giveaway make sure to leave your Twitter ID in your comment...1 Tweet Per Day=1 Extra Entry Per Day.
6. Become a friend of Misadventurous Mommy (Allison Proffitt) on Facebook...2 extra entries!

7. Blog about this giveaway with links to this giveaway and Piggy Paint...4 Extra Entries!

This giveaway ends on July 11, 2009 at 11:59 pm EDT. One winner will be chosen via Random.org and posted in a winners post. Winner will have 48 hours to contact me or forfeit the prize.

US Residents only please!

Good Luck!

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