Beauty Misanthropic

I'm still very, very busy with unpacking, painting, etc, and will probably still be busy for several weeks.  I'm really missing painting my nails, but honestly my hands are in awful shape right now and if I took the time to paint them right now, they'd be shredded off in one day.  Maybe my toes soon.  But I could not resist at least  taking a look at my Julep box.

This is the first month I upgraded to the full set, and I'm somewhat having buyer's remorse, but there are a few great ones in here.



Gabrielle - dusty dark purple creme - very opaque, may be a one-coater, nice but unfortunately closer to some polishes I already own than I realized, for one it's pretty close to Barry M Dusky Mauve

Alice - dusty yet slightly frosty lilac creme - I don't actually have many light purples, so a good addition for me

Coco - oxblood jelly/creme - I had a bad feeling this was going to not differentiate itself from the several other oxbloods I own and I was right, and not a superior formula either.  A very boring oxblood.

Myrtle - classic red jelly/creme - This one I like more than I thought I would.  Absolutely the most perfect and flattering classic red.  It has pink undertones, like the red lipstick in the set and the two should work well together, and look good on anybody.  A little thin though, going to need several coats for opacity.

Millie - navy blue creme (maybe a bit of purple undertone) - Not hugely different from Eloise, though Eloise is more of a dark peacock blue.  Very opaque, 1-2 coats should do it.

Clara - flesh-y pastel peach creme - I don't care for this color and not sure how much use I will get out of it. I can't see this being a very flattering color on most people.  Pretty much just super pale people.  It's too bright and cheap looking.

Zora - very light pink creme w/ slight shimmer - a bit disappointing for me, it is almost identical to Penelope, though an improvement at least - just a bit less bubblegum, more classy and classic.  Wish it was more opaque.

Etta - peridot green metallic - this was an add-on option.  I like it!  It's a bit thin, but I think it will look interesting layered over other colors too.

Zelda - rose gold metallic - Definitely my favorite out of the set!  Very pretty and vibrant.

Paris - vintage-y large hex glitter, yellow to full-rainbow-spectrum-flash hexes in clear base.  I am really so sick of glitter right now, especially large glitters, but will probably use occasionally for an accent nail.  The color is not quite to my taste, but it definitely evokes the feeling of 1920's chintzy costume jewelry.

I do have to say the packaging on this set was TOO GORGEOUS.  Like I didn't even want to throw it away, or touch it.  Too pretty.

I have only tried out the red lipstick in the two sets, Lady in Red.  Just briefly.  It is a flattering universal red, as Julep advertised.  I seriously just barely feathered it onto my lips with the lightest touch and it is amazingly opaque and bright.  Maybe too much for me.  I lean towards very nude, natural colors (though I like shine and glitter) most times for lipstick.  But I have very few red lipsticks and should try to be more daring some days.  I look forward to trying out the other colors and field testing them against food.

The lipstick did have a unpleasant chemical/plastic taste to it, like they didn't add anything to it to make it more pleasant, but that should discourage me from licking it off.  I guess that does make it more vintage-feeling, since makeup used to be more like that, before it became more common to add candy flavors/scents or mint flavors, etc, to lip products.

I have not yet sampled the lip scrub.  I do kind of wish the packaging was something less easy to contaminate with my fingers, but it is super pretty and retro.  The whole makeup packaging reminds me so much of stuff my mom would have bought in the 80s from expensive makeup counters.

I have not used the Julep mascara either.  I have a lot of mascara right now, so probably won't open it up for awhile.  I would have preferred a brown-black to a jet black.  I don't like jet black mascara or eyeliner, I prefer dark brown.