Julep May 2014 Review

My May Julep box arrived a bit early (actually near the end of last month) because I was part of the crowdfunding thing for Julep's new Plie wand. I'm not sure if it's because I got my initial box early or if everyone had the same thing this month, but my box choice shipped separately from my addons, which they haven't done in a while. But it was less than a week apart, so not a big wait or anything (though if you're going to ship them less than a week apart, just ship them together! Save some money and some boxes and some packing!).

Opening the box

A couple ads, coupon codes, and the usual monthly quote

I was surprised to see that because I was part of the crowdfunding, I got a little bonus gift - a free polish! Now, it's possible that when I originally signed up for the crowdfunding, I knew that would be included, but that was a few months ago, so if so, I had forgotten, so it was a nice surprise. I do already have the polish, Yumi, but it's a pretty one, so I may keep it as a backup.

Thank you gift, Julep Yumi.

Onto the main product! The Plie Wand. I was definitely intrigued when I heard about this initially since I always have trouble doing my right hand with my left since I'm right handed and this new design is supposed to make it easier. I already had a fresh coat of polish on when it arrived, so I still haven't gotten to try it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Not that it's really essential, but I thought the packaging was pretty nice too with the padded holder that slides out of the main box.

Julep Plie Wand, extra cap with brush (just a back up), and extra cap without brush (to make any Julep brush fit the Plie wand)

With my right hand, using the wand straight, like a normal brush

With my left hand, with the bent wand for extra stability in the pointer/thumb crook

I'm also super happy they listened to all the complaints from customers about having to buy all new caps to accommodate this new wand - ick, right? My Julep collection is embarrassingly big (like, I have 2 large polish wall racks, one of which is full of Julep and is now going into a second row in front of the original row!). It would've cost me a small fortune to replace ALL the caps! So, they made it so all you have to do is take off the top square cover cap to reveal the little nubby cap and put the extra empty (no brush) plie cap on top and then you can just stick the wand onto the magnetic bit! Super easy.

Instructions for converting a normal Julep brush into a Plie wand brush.

There were a few polishes that looked interesting to me this month, so I went with the Boho Glam box, which included Jeanne, a light blue creme, and Paulette, a light purple with a golden shimmer in addition to adding on Maddy, a raspberry shimmer, and Laree, a pink with a golden shimmer. I didn't really see much shimmer in Maddy, which was a tad disappointing, but it's still a pretty shade of dark pink. Paulette and Laree were both really awesome because the golden shimmer shows up really well. Jeanne is pretty, but I mostly got it for Emily, who usually won't wear anything but blue polish.

Julep Paulette and Jeanne

Julep Maddy and Laree

Swatches

I also added on the Plie Wand Creativity Kit, which includes a dotting attachment and a striping attachment for the Plie Wand. Technically, I already have quite a few nail art tools, but I thought it might be nice to have the attachments for the wand if the wand turns out to work really well.

Julep Creativity Kit

May 2014 Julep box (with addons)

I'm excited to try out the Plie Wand. I really hope it does make it easier to paint my nails with my right hand. If you'd like to sign up, I'd love it if you'd sign up with my link! AND! If you use promo code, FREEBOX, you can get your first box free! You just pay shipping! I started my subscription with a similar deal! :) If you already get Julep, which box and add-ons, if any, did you pick this month?

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own. I have included referral links.)

Hi there.

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I do have a good reason though! And certainly not one I expected! As it turns out, that month I was 95% sure I wasn't pregnant? Well, turns out I was! 3rd cycle of clomid worked like a charm, in spite of being really busy that whole month and really in spite of getting so sick (that was actually totally unrelated, not morning sickness yet). I was so surprised, especially after needing to take so many cough medicines (apparently the guifenisen ones might've helped!) during my fertile time/2 week wait and then my OB telling me to take the short course of steroids and antibiotics and get better even though I was terrified it would screw things up so early in pregnancy. And then I got better and transitioned nicely into the first trimester's morning sickness! Ha! So, I was sick for a while, which is why I haven't been around.

But everything is looking really good. Due to my recent history, we've seen this baby more than I saw Emily early in pregnancy. I got to go in early for my first ultrasound at 6 weeks (as opposed to the 8.5 weeks we first went in with Emily), where we saw a yolk sac and perfectly measuring gestational sac, but we weren't sure we saw the fetal pole yet.

The yolk sac is the tiny, barely noticeable circle on the right side of the dark gestational sac, where the tiny arrow is pointing.

The doctor said that was totally normal for that gestational age and was very optimistic, but we obviously wanted to see a heartbeat before we totally relaxed, so a week later, we went back and saw the baby with a nice heartbeat of 158 bpm!

Yay!

Randomly, we had another one at 8.5 weeks, where we saw some little arm and leg buds!

Baby is upside down with the head at the bottom

Then, we decided to go for the 12 week nuchal scan and genetic screening (because the past year has made me worry more about being able to make a healthy baby), where everything measured normally in the ultrasound and after waiting 2 weeks, our blood test told us the baby was highly unlikely (the doc said the new version we got is 99% accurate) to have any of the problems tested for (trisomies, downs, and sex related genetic issues. Maybe there were other things it tested for too - all I know is they told me everything looked normal.). HUGE relief! In an additional bonus, because we went to the main downtown facility for this test, they apparently throw in a free "Jack or Jill" test - the blood test part of the screening (just a sample of my blood) also can check for the sex of the baby (I swear this wasn't an option given to me just a few years ago when I was pregnant with Emily, I don't know if it's just because we didn't do the first trimester screening with her or if it wasn't available yet or not in my area at the time). We found out we're having a boy! I'm simultaneously excited for a new adventure and nervous because I don't know what to do with boys! Eek! We do have a name picked out though, at least a first name (we can't decide on the middle)! We're naming him after my dad, which I think really touched him - he rarely cries, but he did when we told him. Which of course, made me cry too. His nickname will be slightly different from my dad's nickname though.

Profile

I'm now 20 weeks and we just had our anatomy scan last week. Baby boy was a tad uncooperative and seemed to want to just snuggle into his placenta pillow face down and move his body parts away from view, so while we got fantastic views of his spine, the tech had a little trouble getting a good view of his heart and face at first. After hearing we might need to come back in 2 weeks (and get charged another rather large fee!) to reexamine those areas, we begged them to let me shake my belly up some and try some different positions, which thankfully helped a lot, so in the end, the tech got a fantastic view of his heart (even I could see the 4 chambers clearly!) and a pretty good view of his face and profile, though we didn't get a good profile shot to take home since she put the pictures on a CD before the "belly shake". That part wasn't as clear to me, but the tech pointed out his nose, lips, and chin on the head-on face shot (and I think I saw a few fairly good side views while she was moving the wand around) and she and the doctor seemed happy enough with what she got pictures of. Apparently, my OB does one more routine ultrasound though, so maybe he'll be able to get me a good picture then. If not, the 12 week one above will probably go in the frame. Anyway, thankfully, in the end, both the tech and the facility's doctor said everything they looked at looked normal to them, which was another huge relief! I've also been feeling him for the past 2-3 weeks and if his movement is any indication (apart from during the anatomy scan!), it looks like we have an energetic one (like Chris was as kid)!

Not a very clear profile shot, but the best of the 3 we got. I think he's slightly turned.

I feel a bit bad though - this poor kid is already getting second child syndrome treatment. I kept up a weekly blog with updates on my pregnancy with Emily. I do have a few more pictures this time compared to last time, but I haven't written anything down (apart from this post)! Eek. I am really excited to do his nursery though. I think I'm going to go for a nautical theme.

Emily kind of goes back and forth on her reaction to the news. Mostly, she was unaffected at first. She didn't get terribly excited when we told her, but I think she just doesn't know what it all means. She thinks babies are cute (she always says "aaaww! Look at the little baby!" when we see one or a picture of one) and she has a baby doll that she loves to play with, but a real one is much different than pictures and dolls. She does love telling people that she's going to be a big sister though. And she loved hearing about how she can help - I think she's most looking forward to making him laugh with funny faces and then later on playing cars and trains with him. I have no idea if she'll still be into cars and trains by the time he's ready for them, but I do hope they can play something together. In the past week or 2, she mentions him almost every day, which is cute. She's noticing now that my belly is getting bigger and she asks about it. I can't wait till she can feel him kick. She also asks me a lot how I'm feeling because I was sick a lot in the beginning. She's such a caring little girl! I'm so excited that my kids will have each other.

Anyway, that's where I've been! I do hope to resume posting about my subs again next month and I may post an update now and then on baby. :)

Madd Cat Monthly January 2014 Review

One of the new mineral eye shadow subscriptions I'm trying out this month is Madd Cat Monthly by Madd Style Cosmetics. I found out about this company through the Makeup Talk forums (MUT) along with the other one I'm still waiting on. For $12 a month, you get 2 full sized exclusive to the subscription shadows, at least 2 samples (think baggies) of their other products, and occasional surprises that can range from full size to sample.

Since I signed up before the 20th of the month (that's the cutoff for that month), I got January's bag first.

The bag (with lots of star confetti inside!)

Info card

This month's colors were:

• Stroke of Midnight (full size) - a super sparkly black with a definite purple tint and lots of purple sparkle. I really wish this photographed as it looks in real life. I couldn't capture the beautiful detail of this color, but it's so gorgeous and definitely a new favorite. 
• A Wrinkle in Time (full size) - a super sparkly antique gold. Really lovely and unique to my quickly growing collection.
• Time Warp (sample) - Another black, but this one was filled with blue and green glitter, so close up it looks quite different to me in person. Sadly, again, I just couldn't capture the detail in the picture, so it looks pretty similar, photographed, to Stroke of Midnight. They are different though!
• Fairy Fright (sample) - White in the bag, this turns to a lovely beigey white with a strong pink sheen on my skin. Very pretty.

Top jars: Stroke of Midnight and A Wrinkle in Time, Bottom bags: Time Warp and Fairy Fright

Swatches: Stroke of Midnight, A Wrinkle in Time, Time Warp, and Fairy Fright

Blurred shot to show sparkle

I was totally thrilled with this month's selections. The colors were so gorgeous! I love when shadow has a ton of sparkle in it and this absolutely delivers that! Although I'm not sure I need all this shadow, I'm definitely keeping this subscription.

Madd Cat Monthly January 2014 bag

If you'd like to sign up, head over to their website!

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.)

Glamour Doll Eyes OTM January 2014 Review

Another of my favorite mineral eye shadow subs is Glamour Doll Eyes. Previously, the longest subscription you could make with them, I believe, was 3 months. That's what I started with and then December was a special month, so only a single month sub was made available that month. Early in January though, when the subs went up on the 8th (they always go up on the 8th, unless that's a weekend, when they'd instead go up that Friday), I noticed a 12 month sub, which I snatched up immediately! Woot! Don't have to worry about logging on on the day subs open up for a whole year!

Anyway, GDE is an eye shadow of the month subscription. I still can't remember what 1 month costs (the info is only up when there are open subscriptions spots on the 8th of each month. I think it's $7.), but I got a 12 month subscription for $72, which includes shipping. For that price, Glamour Doll Eyes sends out a 5g pot of a limited edition color mineral eyeshadow of the month and usually a little bonus item. Subscriptions DO NOT automatically renew and usually sell out pretty fast on subscription day.

So, again, I forgot to take a picture of everything in the bag, but it wasn't a see-through bag, so it wouldn't have shown much. It was a velvety blue bag. Cute!

Info card

 The color of the month was Social Suicide. I thought it was a lovely rich, true blue with a good amount of sparkle.

Glamour Doll Eyes Social Suicide

The extra this month was a small sample of their new Hydraglaze lip gloss in the color Social Butterfly. It's a very pretty pink, but I couldn't really get the blue in it to show up in my swatch photo. In person, you can see it in the pot, but I'm not sure how well it will show up on lips. Maybe unless you get super super close to the person wearing it? I also kind of wish it were a slightly bigger sample. Not huge - I'm not asking for a 5g pot of it, but maybe just fill the clamshell? I feel like I'd use this up in like 2 applications. We also got 2 fun size Laffy Taffys for fun.

Glamour Doll Eyes Hydraglaze in Social Butterfly

Blurred shot to show the blue sparkle in it

Swatches

Blurred to show sparkle in the shadow

I liked this months colors. I don't wear a lot of blue, but this is a really nice blue. I think I'm less a fan of light blues. I have brown eyes, so light blue and teal don't look fantastic on me. The lip gloss is also really nice and it smells great!

Glamour Doll Eyes January 2014 bag

If you'd like to sign up, subscriptions open up on the 8th of each month, unless that's a weekend, like this month, so I think for February, it will most likely open up on the 7th at this page.

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.)

Brazen's Friends with Benefits January 2014 Review

Well, I was just going to do a compilation of the...4 (ahem...)...mineral eye shadow subs I tried this month, but I'm still waiting on one of them - it doesn't appear to be the company's fault. The owner talked on Facebook about how USPS has had problems with tons of her packages this month. According to the tracking, they shipped it out a while ago (the 12th) and it's just been sitting somewhere in Illinois since the 22nd. <shrug> Hopefully it'll get here eventually. So, anyway, I guess I'll just split them up.

The first, one I've been with for a little while now is Brazen's Friends With Benefits. They've been pretty consistently good for me from the beginning. I wasn't thrilled with December, but only because they sent out mattes and I don't love mattes. Personal preference. Anyway, as a reminder, they have 3 levels of subscription that vary in what you get (I get silver):
1. Silver ($15) - 3 3g pots of limited edition or unreleased shadow, a 3g pot of limited edition or unreleased lipgloss, and some ordering rewards, early access to sales and a 10% discount on their site.
2. Gold ($20) - Everything in silver plus a full sized lip gloss and 15% off on their site.
3. Platinum ($25) - Everything in gold plus a full sized eye shadow and 20% off on their site.

I forgot to take a picture of the bag with everything in it, but it was fairly simple this month - a clear bag with a silver tie.

Info card (blurry, I'm sorry)

The goods! Top row: Blizzard, Snow Day, and Frostbite. Bottom: Turn up the Heat

 Yay, back to non-mattes! Rather than just state what the info card says, I'll give my own impressions of each product:

•  Blizzard - a nice dark blueish silver with a good amount of sheen (I'm not quite seeing the duochrome mentioned and I see more sheen than particle sparkle). 
• Snow Day - a light silvery white, also high sheen (also not really seeing the duochrome - maybe I have to try without a primer underneath?) 
• Frostbite - a medium shiny silver
• Turn Up the Heat - woot, another lip gloss I love! Very sparkly lightish pink. Awesome!

Swatches, top to bottom: Turn up the Heat, Blizzard, Snow Day, Frostbite

I like the 3 shadows (and I think they'd look great together!), but I'm a bit bummed that I'm not really fully seeing what the description states. I may try them out again without primer because colors tend to be much bolder with primer, so maybe I need it a bit more powdery to see all the aqua duochrome and sparkle the descriptions talk about. Funny enough, I think my favorite product this month is the lip gloss! I'll definitely use it! 

January 2014 Brazen Friends with Benefits

If you got Brazen's Friends with Benefits this month, did you like it? If you got a different level, what else did you get? If you're interested in signing up, head on over to their site.

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.)

Ophelia's Apothecary January 2014 Review

Man, I hate to do this. This is not going to be a good review. I don't like writing bad reviews. But after a late delivery of December's Ophelia's Apothecary bag (a good bag, just didn't arrive till January), I was hoping January would make up for it by being just as good in contents, only on time. Alas, January was not good.

The bag. So far, so good.

Upon opening up the bag, I found a note, basically explaining that January was sort of a "grab bag" month, where it appeared the owner just unloaded stuff she needed to unload. I guess it was all already made, so she didn't have to worry about getting them out late at least.

Note and coupon

Dumping everything out, I saw that I got 2 small sample pots - 1 of Green Tea Cucumber Face Cream, which I believe is new to me, so I'm happy to try, and 1 of Lemony Meringue Hand Cream, which now makes my 3rd tiny pot of this, the last of which I got in last month's bag only 2 weeks ago! I suppose I could combine all 3 pots into a bigger jar and call it a day, but I'm bummed to get the same exact product in the same exact scent in 3 separate months, 2 of which were in a row! Especially when I've seen a linen spray go out in 2 other months that I didn't happen to get those months (I got something else both times). I really want to try that linen spray and the one time on Facebook I asked about whether a coupon could be used on it and where I could buy it since I couldn't find it on her site, she just liked my comment and didn't answer. Anyway, moving on.

My 3rd sample of Lemony Meringue Hand Cream and a sample of Green Tea Cucumber Face Cream

My last set of items was 11 baggies of eye shadows, 3 grams each. Normally, this would be AWESOME! That amount of shadow in a regular indie store (albeit packaged in jars, not bags) would cost probably at least $50! However. Looking at this shadow, it's clear it wasn't mixed well. I'm not sure what the ingredients are because they're not listed on the bag (a big no no - it's apparently illegal to sell mineral eye shadow without listing the ingredients on the product or with the product), but I can clearly see pigment and some random white powder ingredient just floating around. Trying to mix it into a few bags left the bag surface pure white, which makes me think that's all it will do on my eyes as well. I'm not even going to swatch these. I'll probably just throw them out. I don't know what the white stuff is. She's very particular about what she puts in her bath products, so I'm reasonably confident it's nothing dangerous, but the whole thing just turns me off. Besides, I have a huge collection of awesome, well made mineral eye shadow. I don't need to bother with subpar mineral eyeshadow. She mentioned that she was discontinuing her mineral makeup because it was too much work, so good. Focus on what you're good at.

Mineral eye shadows - the ones that appear whitish are the ones I tried to mix and you can see the white particles in some of the others.

So, next month is my last month on this current 3 month sub. If it's not impressive and filled with the stuff she does well, I'm cancelling. This month was just super disappointing. I really hope next month is better. I normally like her stuff a lot, which is why I was so bummed with this bag.

If you want to look into her subscription, go to her website. It usually is better. If you get this box already, let me know if you got different things this month.

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.)

Relevant Nails January 2014 Review

I had previously tried Relevant Nails as a one time box just to see what kind of polish they sent out and was really pleased, so I decided to go ahead and order a 3 month subscription. Again, they aren't quite set up to do ongoing subscriptions monthly (automatic billing) yet, so you just have to buy the box month by month or you can buy 3, 6, or 12 month subscriptions paid upfront. For $16, you get 2 full size indie nail polishes! According to the Relevant Nails site, this subscription features "Rain City Lacquer, Black Sheep Lacquer, LynBDesigns, Sparkle Nail Lacquer, FLOSS GLOSS and much more!"

Once again, my order arrived packaged well with bubble wrap and squigglies.

Opening the box

 And again, I loved the colors I got! 2 gorgeous glitters! The first is called It's Inconceivable, although I couldn't figure out the brand at first. It doesn't look like any of the indie brands featured on the site and doesn't appear to have a brand written on it. There's something tiny, but cut off on the back that looks like it says ?nbdesigns.etsy.com, and I thought the ? was an r, but that's a graphic designer. Then I tried searching for just It's Inconceivable, thinking that maybe that was the brand name and not the color. That found something on Etsy! It's apparently LynBDesigns and she has a lot of really pretty colors! Anyway, that polish is nice densely packed glitter with silver, light blue, and pink.

LynBDesigns It's Inconceivable

The second polish is a Spy Princess polish in the color Spectre. I feel like this one could've been a bit more densely packed with glitter. It's a lovely clear base with light blue and silver holo glitters and if it were densely packed, I think it would be amazing, but as it is, I think it might make a better topper because it's quite sheer. The silver holo glitter does give it a really nice sparkle though! And, man, I'm really glad I looked up the brand on Etsy to link it because I didn't realize this was a glow in the dark polish! That makes it more fun! They say it's best to "charge it up" with light for a few minutes, but I just held my phone light on it for maybe 20 seconds and it definitely glows!

Spy Princess Spectre

Swatches (3 coats on top, 2 coat on bottom). I couldn't really get a good shot of the glow in the dark of Spectre.

So, again, I'm happy to get some new polish so this sub makes me happy! And the value's certainly there - my 2 polishes alone would've been $17.50, plus individual shipping on each one since they're from different Etsy shops, which would've added an additional $5.75, so $16 was a great deal! Can't wait to see what I get next month!


If you'd like to sign up, head on over to their page!

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.)