Review and Swatch of SquareHue's "Chatham" Nail Polish

Hey Everyone,
Just thought I'd pop in with a review and a swatch of SquareHue's "Chatham" Nail Polish.  It's a beautiful color and perfect formula.  Here's the swatch:

As you can see it blends in with my end table.  I just don't have the means or the time to photograph quality swatches so I make do with what I got.  Anyways, this color is a rich milk chocolate color and I used two coats but some people whose blogs I've read used three coats with this color but I got away with two.  It went on easy and effortlessly and after two days I had only one chip on one nail and it's usually on my right hand which is my dominant hand.  I'm very impressed with SquareHue and will continue being a subscriber.

Until next time guys have a great day and stay tuned for more!

Maggie

November 2013 SquareHue Box-The Coastal Collection-My First Box!

Hey Everyone,
When Bondi axed their subscription box I had to find a new nail polish sub box so I remembered hearing about SquareHue a while back and then I was considering subscribing before September's collection was released but I couldn't afford a third nail polish sub box at the time.  But now I can, after Bondi cancelled their box, of course.  Right now you can get a Square Hue box for $14.99 a month plus $5 shipping so it's $19.99 a month which is what Julep sells their boxes for so good for me.  I got the November box in the mail today and all I can say is...WOW!  The polishes were beautifully packaged and came with a card listing the collection name and the polish names.  November's collection is called The Coastal Collection and here's a picture of all three polishes I got today:

 

From Left: Nantucket, Chatham, and Portsmouth

 

 

Here's a detailed description of each polish:

 

 

Nantucket-This is a medium teal polish that looks more green than teal.  It is described as a HiGloss Crème polish and goes on very easily.  In the swatch I used two coats and a clear coat to top it off.  This color is beautiful and could be worn on St. Patrick's Day.  Here's the swatch:

 

 

 

 

 

Chatham-I thought from the pictures I saw on other people's blogs that this polish would be orange but that's silly since they had an orange in last month's collection.  This HiGloss Crème is actually a chocolate brown and it looks absolutely gorgeous in the bottle.  I would also imagine that it would look beautiful on the nails as well.  Swatch coming soon!

 

 

Portsmouth-This nail polish is described as a blue-grey HiGloss Crème.  It looks exactly like a storm cloud on a rainy, stormy day in a bottle.  It has to be my favorite color out of the three because it's so unique to me I don't know.  I mean it's just nail polish but it's unique nail polish, you know.  Swatch is coming soon!

 

 

 

I loved this box so much that I can't wait for December's box, which is The Passport Collection: New York!  Wonder what colors they'll come up with for that box?  A girl can only dream.

 

 

Anyways, as always, have a great day guys and stay tuned for more!

 

 

Maggie



Julep Maven October 2013 "It Girl" Box-Rebel Themed

Hey Everyone,
We need some more nail polish happiness in here after the last post so here goes-I'm posting my Julep Maven October 2013 box review.  October's theme is The Rebel Set and I loved the colors in this month's It Girl box.  Here is what I got in my box plus two add-ons.

 

From Left to Right: Ciara, Kendra, Missy, Casper (add-on), Stevie (add-on)

 

Here's a rundown of the colors:

 

 

Ciara-Ciara is my absolute favorite in this box.  I've decided that I like frosts, microshimmers, and microglitters and this one is described as a vampy magenta with teal microglitter.  You can see the microglitter in person even in the brightest of light, it's so beautiful.  This color gets an A+ from me.  Here's a swatch of it:

 

 

 

 

 

Kendra- Now this army green frost polish caught me by surprise because it's one color I didn't think I would like but I did, a lot.  There's like a silvery shimmer to it when in light and it's so perfect in person.  I give it an A.

 

 

Missy-This is my favorite polish from the box behind Ciara.  It's described as a titanium metallic and boy does it scream metallic, metallic, metallic!  It's so bright in the bottle and on the nails that I thought I needed sunglasses!  Man!  That's bright!  I give it an A+ also.

 

 

Add-ons:

 

 

Casper-This is described as a sheer white shimmer that glows in the dark.  It was the featured add-on for Halloween (I was hoping for an orange but that's just me).  But I didn't notice the glow in the dark effect.  Maybe it's just me or my nails didn't get enough light.  Oh well.  It's very sheer so maybe three or four coats will do.  I give it a B.

 

 

Stevie-This polish is supposed to be a concrete grey frost but it looks like a metallic color to me.  It's so gorgeous on the nails that it jumps out and screams, "Am I a frost or a metallic?!  Please tell me!".  I give it an A+ too.

 

 

So there you have it.  That was the October 2013 Julep Maven box.  As always have a great day and stay tuned for more!

 

 

Maggie



My Two Cents on this Whole Bondi Fiasco

Hey Everyone,
Some of you may have or have not heard about this new startup company Bondi New York putting their subscription service on hold recently, sending many people scrambling to get their refunds that they are due.  Is Bondi really giving out refunds?  Did they actually ship the September boxes and beauty gifts?  So to clear things up here are my two cents on this whole situation.

One, I am truly disappointed in this company because I thought that they were a legit company and that they actually were truthful and honest.  I was wrong, way wrong.  According to posts on the Bondi Swap Group on Facebook, the September boxes and beauty gifts were never shipped in the first place, making the founder and his company total liars.  So that's why we never received updated tracking information, hmm?  Well, my faith in Bondi is completely gone.  I have thrown away all my Bondi polishes and I will throw away the two that are coming in the mail today and from this day forward I will never buy or use anymore Bondi polishes, including the clear coat which I will throw away as well.  I have since subscribed to Square Hue and will keep Julep and also subscribed to NatureBox.

Two, I think Bondi, which started up in March, shouldn't have come out with a subscription box until they did the research about shipping options and how they were going to manage the subscription service.  Julep has been around for seven years and they didn't come out with a subscription box until 2011.  I think new companies need to do the research first before they jump into the subscription service market.  There's a lot of planning that's involved that needs to be done first and you need to get your feet wet before you make a decision about where you want to go as a company.  I agree Julep has done wrong with switching to DHL as their shipping service and that they need to improve their customer service and make cancelling easier for those who want to cancel but I'll stick with them anyways, if it means waiting 9 days for my packages to arrive.

I will see if Bondi can turn things around because their polish is good especially the clear coat and their formula is great.  But only time will tell.

Well, that's my two cents on this whole situation.  As always, have a great day and stay tuned for more!

Maggie

Julep Maven September 2013 "Bombshell"-Cityscape Themed

Hey Everyone,
Sorry I've been MIA these past couple of months.  Between school and homework my time is taken up.  But I have quite a few swatches and Julep Maven Box reviews so let's get started with September's Julep Maven Box.

This month's box has a cityscape theme to it to kick off the fall color season and all the colors in September were appropriate for fall.  I got the "Bombshell" box because I was dying to try the product of the month which was the Bare Face Cleansing Oil and I gotta say that Julep hit one out of the ballpark with this one.  I'll review this in a bit.

Here is what I got in the box for September:

 

 

 

Karmen:  This has got to be one of my favorite colors of all time.  Karmen is a red with gold shimmer and you get a lot of gold shimmer in this color which makes it my favorite and the other reason why I had to get the "Bombshell" Box.  Here's a swatch below:

 

 



Daria: When I saw this color paired with the red with gold shimmer I thought it was quite odd to include it since it was slate grey colored but I don't have any greys in my collection so this was a perfect fit for me.  Swatch is coming soon.

Bare Face Cleansing Oil:  This was the number one reason I got this box.  I wanted to see how a cleansing oil works and how it would help me since I have combination skin with oiliness in the T-Zone especially my nose and forehead.  I used this as directed and rinsed it off with warm water and it still looked like I didn't rinse it off the first time but when I dried my face it was so soft afterward.  I can say that I am very impressed.  I will definitely be getting this again.

All in all this box was definitely one of my favorites and I can't wait for future boxes.  Until next time guys have a great day and stay tuned for more.

Maggie

Review and Swatch of Julep's "Veronica" Nail Polish

Hey Everyone,
As promised here is a swatch of Julep's "Veronica" Nail Polish:

The "Veronica" Nail Polish was a little bit thicker than the "Sylvia" Nail Polish and went on thick too.  I half don't like and I half like it on my nails, maybe I'm just not a mauve type of girl, but now that I look at my nails it looks kind of pink on my nails.  Maybe it's just the lighting.  Who knows?

Until next time guys have a great day and stay tuned for more!

Maggie

Review and Swatch of Julep's "Sylvia" Nail Polish

Hey Everyone,
As promised, here's a swatch of Julep's "Sylvia" Nail Polish.  As always, the picture doesn't do it justice:

Julep describes this polish as a "Lilac Purple Crème" but it's more of a dark lilac purple crème, close to a lighter version of the color of an eggplant.  It's a great color to work with, and I must say that Julep did a wonderful job of improving the formula of their polishes.  It goes on easy, is not thick, and it gives a smooth application, plus no pesky air bubbles!  Yay!

Julep's preview window for the September box/collection opens tomorrow.  We already got a sneak peek of the product in the September box-Bare Face Cleansing Oil!  I can't wait to try that.  I'll post in my blog tomorrow what the September collection is so you get an idea of what to expect.

Until next time guys have a great day and stay tuned for more!

Maggie