Julep Summer Collection: Swatches & Review

Hello everyone! I am sorry for the lack of writing, but I'm back home in Utah and hopefully back in the swing of blogging. I mean, I don't have a job right now, what else am I going to do (h'yuk yuk yuk).

I was introduced to Julep nail polish from reading NailPro magazine. They interviewed the owner/creator Jane Park about her salon, which started five years ago. Her salon atmosphere is all about comfort and cleanliness. She wanted to create a salon where women can go and get a quality service and have an enjoyable time. I was wishing I had somewhere like that to go in my area! Too many salons have sanitation issues, rush folks in and out, there are language barriers a lot of the time, and there isn't enough room to make it a conversation friendly atmosphere. After reading about her passion, I knew that I needed to check out the nail polish brand she created. Especially after I heard that $1 from every polish sold goes to organizations that support women.

I have the new Julep nail colors for Summer 2011 to show you today, they are so bright and fun. Niecy, named for television's Niecy Nash, is a gorgeous bold pink that wears perfectly on the toes or nails. The formula is like butter and it was very nicely opaque in two coats. Three of Niecy Nash's favorite charities, Define Your Pretty, Dress for Success, and Girls Inc. are being supported right now by the Julep brand.

Blake is a pretty and happy yellow crème. I am not sure why yellow is coming into such "vogue" lately but it is and Blake is right on trend. Yellows are notoriously streaky, but this one was only a tad bit so. This is three coats.

Jamie is a dark turquoise crème that is super chic and ultra-saturated. I couldn't believe how opaque this was. It's almost a one-coater, but I used two for consistency.

You can visit their Facebook profile to vote on which organizations they should support through their "Powered by Girlfriends" program. And you can get Julep polishes from their website www.julep.com for $14 each.

AND extra special for my readers, Jane is going to let the first 100 followers that enter "KELLIE" at checkout on julep.com receive $15 off any first online order of $30 or more. Isn't that totally amazing?! So hurry quick to take advantage of this generous offer. I have about four more colors from Julep to review soon, so stay tuned!

Products provided for review.

Zoya Promo Offer - Dove & Caitlin

ZOYA PROMO OFFER

Limited time only
Get Zoya Dove and Zoya Caitlin FREE with ANY** purchase on Zoya.com! 

Special Promotional Offer*!

Try the Zoya "French Twist" manicure created by Haven Spa for the Joy Cioci presentation at NYFW! For a limited time with any** purchase (excluding Zoya Color Spoons) on Zoya.com you get Zoya Nail Polish in Caitlin and Zoya Nail Polish in Dove for free!! Just enter the code ZB52 when you check out! These trend setting spring colors are MUST have in any collection! This offer is only good until Monday May 23 (11:59PM EST)! Act now and try the "twist" everyone is talking about!
*Online only, cannot be combined with any other offer , promotion or coupon. US ONLY. Promotion ends Monday May 23 at 11:59 PM EST. Offer good for 1(one) open stock .5 oz bottle of Zoya Caitlin  and 1(one) .5oz bottle Zoya Dove with the purchase of any NON-SPOON item on Zoya.com. Art of Beauty Inc. will not honor promotions that are submitted after promotion has ended - No exceptions. No exchanges. No returns. Worst case scenario please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Comments, videos and pictures posted about this Zoya Nail Polish Exchange outside of Zoya.com or zoyanailpolish.blogger.com are not representative of the opinions of Zoya Nail Polish, Art of Beauty, Inc., Qtica and Qtica Smart Spa and we do not confirm the accuracy of any postings. Customers are responsible for maintaining active accounts. If username or password have been lost we (Art of Beauty, Inc.) are not responsible for restoring accounts or giving out any account information. S/H not included. 
**offer excludes Zoya Color Spoons. 

© 2011 Art of Beauty Inc. All rights reserved

Lex Cosmetics: Coupon Code for Cayman Cabana

Hey folks! Just wanted you to know, LEX Cosmetics has a 30% off coupon for Cayman Cabana for the remainder of May. It's the perfect color to welcome the summer!

The code is : x1u9x3y7v2

Enter it on the "Shop" page of the website and it will automatically add Cayman Cabana to your shopping cart. That takes a $10 polish down to $7! It's so pretty too, 'member... :) you can see my swatch of the pretty seafoam green here.

Product was previously provided for review.

Kelier Crackle Polish

Born Pretty webstore currently carries Kelier crackle polish in a variety of colors. These special effects polishes have become a growing trend, especially now that bigger brands like OPI and China Glaze have/are coming out with shatter and crackle polishes. This is a more spidered crack effect rather than straight cracks, so it gives a different look. It also takes a little longer to crack. I had some curling up at the edges of the nail which was weird, so some of the black flaked off before it was done cracking. I used the black Kelier crackle polish over China Glaze's Flip Flop Fantasy polish.

Just so you know, I don't recommend this polish at all.

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

This was sent for review.

Born Pretty products

I recently had the chance to review some products from the Born Pretty web store. One of them is of course, a nail polish. This polish is definitely not big 3 free, as far as I can tell, because it has a telltale very strong chemical scent. It is a mini polish, even though the bottle says 0.6 oz, it is clearly not. They are $3.51 each, and are even cheaper the more you buy. This color doesn't have a name, and in fact the sticker on the bottom said "OPI Original Nail Envy"....so yeah. Anyway, it's a fuschia pink foil glitter, very attractive. This swatch is two coats.

The next product is a set of press-on nails that have red tips with white polka dots and 3d bows. They remind me of Minnie Mouse! Very cutsie and almost nautical. Normally this is not something I would wear, but I just fell in love with them and wanted to try them out. They were very long, but I could file down the bottoms if I wanted. They were also a bit larger and wider than my natural nails so they weren't super comfortable. But look how cute! They also unfortunately didn't come with the gel tabs that stick for temporary application, just glue. I don't like to use glue on my nails so I'm glad I had a few tabs left over from a different set I had finished with.

Jessica from Born Pretty is giving my readers a special 10% off their orders with the code: GONZO15. Take a look around, she has quite a variety of nail art products, including crackle polish, which I'll be showing you a review of soon.

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

These were sent for review.

Zoya Free Color Spoon Friday

EDIT: This offer has been extended to Saturday 12/11/10 at 11:59PM EST

FREE ZOYA COLOR SPOON FRIDAY 

6 FREE ZOYA COLOR SPOONS* 

FRIDAY ONLY

(12/10/2010 - Expires 11:59 EST)

Here's how it works...
First pick any 6 Zoya colors you would like to try on... Add the matching Zoya Color Spoon to your shopping cart on zoya.com. Add SP6 as your code. Process order. Zoya will ship them to you for FREE! Plus you will automatically earn a $3 Zoya Color Spoon credit code for use on a future zoya.com purchase. Feel free to order more at the regular price if you would like (shipping is always free on Zoya Color Spoons).

Zoya Color Spoons allow you try on nail color before you make a color commitment. Now you can see exactly how a color will look on you before you buy it.

SEE IT . TRY IT . BUY IT

To learn more about Zoya Color Spoons and how easy they make it to find the perfect nail polish color see the video here.

* Valid Friday, December 10, 2010 only. Offer expires on 12/10/10 (11:59 EST). Code SP6 valid only on Zoya.com only. Continental US only. Consumer orders only. Limit six free Zoya Color Spoons. Limit one per customer. Standard S/H applies for all additional non-spoon items. This offer and Zoya Color Spoon Credit Code not valid in conjunction with other discounts, promotions or offers.

xoxo,
kelliegonzo