January 2015 Maven Box: The Chrysalis Collection

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your holidays were wonderful and super fun. Now it’s time to get back to business. Last month I skipped the December Maven box (even though I REALLY wanted one of those Orbital Eyeshadows), in order to save money to grab this month’s Maven box. I finally switched to the new, customizable box instead of being grandmothered into the old program, where I could only choose from curated boxes. It’s $25 now instead of $20, but I still believe that it’s well worth the cost. This month’s collection was called The Chrysalis Collection which I found to be a cute way to express the coming of the new year. (For those of you who don’t know, a chrysalis is that pod thingy caterpillars go in before they turn into butterflies.) As always, the packaging was ace.

First things first, the quote of the month was from the Queen herself, J.K. Rowling! This is definitely going to be my new year mantra, because why wouldn’t we listen to the woman who created the best fictional universe in existence??

If you can’t read it, it says “We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power inside ourselves.” -J.K. Rowling

We also get candy in our boxes each month, and this month was Junior Mints. 😛 I’m not a chocolate fan, and especially not chocolate with mint so those went straight to my mom. Now onto the good stuff.

The big ticket item this month was my Julep Pilé (pill-aye) Wand! It normally retails for $25 for non-Mavens (the cost of the whole box), so that was good deal. The instructions were very easy to understand, so that was helpful. In order to test the full integrity of the product, I used the included Precision Wand instead of a regular polish wand. The Precision Wand boasts a shorter and slightly wider brush than the standard Julep wand making it easier to cover the entire nail in one stroke. I personally liked it, but the hassle of cleaning it off every time I use it may make me use it a tad bit less. The more important component of the wand is its boast of making it easier to polish your nails with your non dominant hand. And I’ve gotta say, I’m a believer. I’m right handed, so polishing using my left hand is often difficult. Using the Pilé wand, I could feel more control while polishing my right hand, and I didn’t feel like I was contorting my wrist to get a corner of a nail. That said, I’ve been doing some intricate nail art for a long time now,and I have had a long time to perfect painting my right hand, so it didn’t visibly look any different than when I paint it with a regular brush. However, it was much easier to work with. I’m sure this would be a great tool for beginner polishers though.

My favorite item in the whole box was the Plush Pout lip crayon. It’s like a chapstick and lip stain all in one. Let me explain. You can’t see it in the picture, but looking directly at the crayon, you see something like an eye, kinda. The outside is the plum color and the middle pupil area is white (the moisturizer). I know it’s weird,but that’s the best way I can explain. The color is very pigmented, and the moisturizing core kept my lips from chapping the 2+ hours I had it on. LOVED IT!

Back in December, Julep sent out an email to all of their Mavens advertising a new top coat that, when applied over your nail color, can change the color of the polish, annnd they were giving it away for free to anybody who claimed their January box. This top coat was the main reason I picked up this month’s box, and I’ve got to say that I’m disappointed. I eagerly applied my favorite shade of purple Julep polish to my nails, waited for them to dry, applied the top coat and then waited. And nothing happened. At first I thought, maybe I did something wrong. So I started trying stuff out. I rubbed it like one of those color changing pencils we’ve all had at least once. I held it up to the light, which sometimes helps glow-in-the-dark stuff.I put it in cold water. Absolutely nothing. So I’m thinking that a) I shouldn’t have let the base color completely dry before applying, b) something’s up with the color I chose, and it’s just that color or, c) it just doesn’t work. I’m hoping it’s a or b. I’ll update you guys about it later.

I also got these super cool holographic zig zaggy nail decals! I didn’t use them on this manicure, but it’s a set of 20, so I can use them pretty often as accent nails, or two full manicures! 🙂

Good job this month Julep. Let’s hope this new top coat of yours doesn’t turn out to be a bust. For all of you polish fans out there, you can get a free polish with any $15+ order on julep.com with the code COLORFUN. And if you want to be a Julep Maven, and get tons of cool stuff like this every month, click here for your first month FREE (plus $3 shipping). Have a happy Sunday!!

Ciao!

– The Mechanic ❤