Julep Maven February 2014 Box

I received another Julep Maven box this month! If you're unfamiliar, Julep Maven is a subscription service for nail polish and other goodies from Julep! Each box costs only $19.99 and you typically get 2 nail polishes and one other item. You can purchase Julep nail polishes from Sephora, but they retail for $16/ea., so it's a much better deal to subscribe to the Maven boxes!

In this month's box I got three nail polishes and one of Julep's new products, an Eye Sheen Liquid Eyeshadow! The liquid eye shadow was the main reason I chose to get a maven box this month, rather than skip the month. It seemed like a unique and interesting product and I wanted to give it a try! Also, on top of the regular 2 polishes that came with my box, Julep added a free bonus polish to each box for Valentine's Day!

The three nail polishes that came in my box were Love, Kristen, and Judi. Love was the bonus polish that was added to everyone's box this month for free. It's a gold opalescent shimmer with small red glitters in it. Kristen is a deep sea teal with silver microshimmer. Judi is a deep violet creme. I'm excited to try these nail polishes out!

The last item that came in my Maven box was one of Julep's new Eye Sheen Liquid Eye Shadows! I chose the shade Dusty Taupe Shimmer. I would describe this more as a shimmery bronzey-brown, not so much taupe, but it's still a pretty shade. The texture of this eyeshadow was really strange. It felt almost like jello or pudding when I pressed my finger in it. The colour pay-off was really quite nice though and it'd be a great everyday shade! I have yet to try it out on my eyes, I've only swatched it here, but I'm excited to try it out!

What subscription boxes have you tried? Are there any others worth checking out?

Sign up to be a Julep Maven here!

Mani Monday #3

Happy Monday everyone! For this week's manicure I decided to be a little festive for Valentine's Day since it's this week! I didn't do anything too elaborate, just a simple manicure with an accent nail and glitter top coat! The nail polishes I used are OPI Pink Friday as a base coat on most of my nails, an accent nail of Julep's Anisa, and then topped the whole thing off with OPI Minnie Style. I hope you all had a great weekend and are looking forward to the upcoming holiday!

Friday Favourites

Going to start this week's favourites off with this photo I took when I got to see Panic! At The Disco again last weekend! They're my favourite band and it's always amazing seeing them perform.

Look at this fox and puppy that are friends *u*

I love this cacti illustration!

This fried egg necklace is too cute.

I love these gorgeous colourful illustrations by Natalie Foss!

Llama socks. Do these even need a description why I love them?

This pretty floral dress is making me wish it was spring!

If only these books were what were taught in school.

I absolutely love this fox sweatshirt!!

What were some of your favourite things this week? I hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Valentine's Day Picks

Valentine's Day is right around the corner. A time of the year to eat all the chocolate and sugar cookies you want, and wear all the red and pink imaginable! Well, at least those are the reasons I enjoy Valentine's Day. I thought I'd share some items that could be great Valentine's Day gifts to a friend, family member, or even for yourself!

Be Mine Handbag // I saw this handbag at Aldo a couple of days ago when I was out shopping and I thought it was so cute! It'd be perfect to use on Valentine's Day on a date or out with friends! It also comes in pink and yellow too!

Valentine's Day Cards // One thing you can't do without on Valentine's Day is cards! This set of assorted cards from Rifle Paper Co. are so gorgeous. These are cards you'd definitely want to leave out and display for a little while, they're works of art!

What I Love About You Book // My best friend actually gave me this book for my birthday last year, but it'd be perfect for Valentine's Day to tell someone everything that you love about them! The gift-giver fills in the blanks throughout the entire book and gives it to the receiver. This is one of my favourite gifts I've ever gotten, it makes me so so happy every time I flip through it!

Pillows (1/2) // How cute are these throw pillows? Perfect to add a little comfy decoration to any room on Valentine's Day or year-round!

Macaron PJ Shorts // Don't these pajama shorts just make you want to cozy up with some macarons and a cheesy rom-com on Valentine's Day?

ncLA Heart Attack Nail Polish // This heart-shaped glitter would go perfect over any shade of pink, red, or even white for a gorgeous girly Valentine's Day manicure!

Red Floral Dress // This textured floral dress from Forever 21 is the perfect Valentine's Day dress. Pair it with some tights, a cardigan, and some flats and you're ready to go!

Do you have any exciting plans for Valentine's Day? Or will you spend it relaxing and as a me-day? That's what I'll probably be doing but I'm looking forward to it!

REVIEW: Urban Decay Naked3 Palette

By now it seems everyone and their mothers have bought and reviewed the Urban Decay Naked3 palette, but since I just recently got my hands on one I thought I'd add myself to the long list of people who shared their thoughts on it! 

First though I'll tell you how I got mine. The Sephora at my local mall had been sold out of the palette since before Christmas and I hadn't been able to find it (once I actually decided I wanted to give in and buy it). But, my friend Sara from Ohio had purchased one and decided it wasn't really for her so she packaged hers up and sent it to me! I paid her over PayPal to help cover the cost of the palette and shipping and it ended up only costing me around 50% less than what I would've spent on it at Sephora! She had only used 3 of the shades and the palette arrived in near perfect condition, only Darkside getting a little dent in it. A couple of pans were loose as well but they popped right back in. So thank you Sara for getting the palette to me!

The packaging of the Naked3 is very similar to the Naked2 palette, a hard tin-like case that is very durable and easy to travel with. Different than the Naked2 however, the Naked3 palette has a texture that looks kind of like a smooth fabric or something. I personally prefer the smoother look of the Naked2 palette but I don't mind this either!

Inside the palette are 12 gorgeous rose-toned neutrals, as well as a dual-ended brush (which I will be mailing back to my friend upon her request, and I have plenty of eye brushes anyway). The shades are: Strange (pale ivory/pink matte-satin), Dust (pale metallic pink shimmer with glitter), Burnout (light pinky-peach satin), Limit (matte light dusty rose taupe), Buzz (metallic rose), Trick (metallic pinky-copper with sparkle), Nooner (matte medium pinky-taupe), Liar (metallic mauve-taupe shimmer), Factory (pink-toned brown satin), Mugshot (metallic taupe shimmer with pink undertones), Darkside (dark taupe with hints of mauve), and Blackheart (black matte with rosy red microsparkle).

There are only 2 fully matte shades in this palette and the rest have some sort of shimmer in them. One complaint people often have with the Naked palettes is the lack of matte shadows but I personally don't mind them only having a couple of matte shades. I really enjoy the metallic and satin shades Urban Decay does and I can easily pair matte shades I have from other palettes (such as my Sonia Kashuk Eye On Neutral matte palette) with the shimmery shades of this palette. The two matte shades included, Limit and Nooner, are both so gorgeous too and work perfectly with the rest of the shades in the palette.

The only other Naked palette I have is the Naked2, which I got in the fall of 2012, and it has been a favourite of mine since then. So far I'm really enjoying the Naked3 and I'm sure it'll get just as much love as my Naked2 has! I hope to one day get the original Naked palette to round out my collection, but for now I'm fine with the two I have! I love that both palettes here are so perfect for day-to-day and so versatile in their own ways. They can both create countless beautiful looks and are so wonderfully pigmented and just a great quality product!

What's your favourite Naked palette from Urban Decay?

February Wishlist

Can you tell I'm ready for spring? I'm so tired of all this cold weather and snow! Here are a few things I wouldn't mind getting my hands on in preparation for the new season!

1 // I love the idea of pairing this Fabuleuse cropped sweater with a skater skirt and tights while the weather is still a little chilly.
2 // I'm also obsessed with the periwinkle colour of this bag, so unique and perfect for spring!
3 // I admittedly have a lot of dresses in my wardrobe, but I want to get some more dresses with t-shirt sleeves! I find them so cute and girly, especially in a floral print like this.
4 // Something I've been dreaming of lately is buying a YSL Rouge Volupte lipstick for myself, and I love the look of Opera Rose. Maybe one day I'll eventually splurge and get myself one!
5 // I'm excited for OPI's Brazil collection for S/S 2014, and Don't Bossa Nova Me Around looks like the perfect nude!
6 // Recently I've heard a lot of good things about the Stay All Day waterproof liquid eyeliner pens from Stila, and as a liquid liner/cat eye fanatic I'm dying to try them out! I love that they come in such a range of colours too, I'd love to try out this mint green one!
7 // Something on my beauty bucket list to try this spring is orange lips! It's something I've never really tried before but I'm curious to see if it's something I'd like for myself. The Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Audacious looks like such a pretty (but not too scary) orange colour, so I might have to give it a try!
8 // And lastly, how cute is the new Esperanza Eyeshadow Palette from Kat Von D? I've never tried any makeup from her line at Sephora before but I've heard good things about it and I'd love to try something from it! The packaging and mix of neutrals and pastels are really drawing me to this palette!

1. Fabuleuse sweater // 2. Periwinkle bag // 3. Floral dress // 4. YSL lipstick // 5. OPI nail polish // 6. Stila eyeliners // 7. Revlon matte balm // 8. Kat Von D palette

Mani Monday #2

Happy Monday everyone! For this week's manicure I'm wearing a nail polish I bought recently. It's Make Him Mine by OPI from their 2013 Mariah Carey holiday collection. I didn't really pay too much attention to this collection when it first came out but in the past few weeks I've picked up 2 polishes from the collection because they were on sale, and I love them both!

As you can tell, this is a liquid sand polish. At first I had mixed feelings about liquid sand polishes but after trying one out (in Jinx) they really started to grow on me! The glitter in them is just so, so beautiful. The textured finish is a bit weird to get used to, but it doesn't bother me too much. This is a gorgeous rosy pink polish with some silver glitter too. It'd be a great nail polish for Valentine's Day! I applied two coats for the photos above and that was enough to make it opaque.

Have you ever tried OPI's liquid sand polishes or any other textured nail polish? What are your thoughts on them?