That time of the month! When I thought all was lost for this month, no more posts with me being sick, and in love with my nails (best frenchie yet), I receive a package. Yay! So, let's dive into it.

This time I made a collage of the opening, and products inside. This is probably my favorite box so far.

Colors:

Eva- a "juicy raspberry créme"
Renee- a "spring lilac créme"

The Best Pedi Créme Ever!

"Exfoliates with alpha hydroxy acids, hydrates with shea butter and coconut oil, nourishes with vitamin E." Meant to be applied every night, with results noticeable after one or two uses. 60 mL or 2 fl oz.

Extras:

Toe separaters
5 chocolate eggs (came with an allergy warning, so considerate!) 

Become a Maven today!

Sick Days

Well folks, playing outside with the rabbits has finally hit me. I am allergic to them, and having a little less than 30 out there can really play with my allergies. I love them though, and I don't think I'll ever get rid of them. I can't imagine life without rabbits. I will suffer with a sinus cold for the love of the fluff, I suppose.

M.A.S.H. on Tv (TV Land), Dia Frampton playing over that (such an energy waster!), and painting a french manicure on my nails, with A Great and Terrible Beauty sitting to my right, waiting to be read. That is how I'm spending Thursday. So this blog post isn't entirely boring, I will share some pictures of cuteness. I must warn you though, we're about to hit a cuteness overload!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I am off to make some Chicken Noodle Soup and then go lay down while watching the special features of Breaking Dawn (really want to know exactly how they did "dying Bella"). Toodles!

Comparison: Essie Too Too Hot and Olé Caliente

I'm going to be blunt and say that these two are basically exactly alike. I think Olé Caliente is a bit more  opaque, but color wise, they are dupes for each other.  I hate it when companies do this, release a color that is so close to being the exact same as one released previously. The only reason I have Olé Caliente is because it came in that box I posted about a while back. Now I have a back up of a color I really like. I actually slapped on Too Too Hot on my thump and other hand, and called it a day. No one noticed, even when I pointed out that I had two colors on my left hand.

Julep Glow On Age Defying Hand Brightener Review

"Visibly minimizes the appearance of fine lines and age spots on your hands while adding radiant glow and evening skin tone.Contains rare African plant extracts that are clinically proven to block melanin production and reduce hyper-pigmentation. Advanced emulsion system imparts water-resistant, non-greasy softness."

Based off of this claim I had fairly high hopes.  I got this hand cream with my first Julep Maven box, and I really had no idea what to think of it at first. As far as what it claims to actually target, I can't comment on it. I do not have an issue with hyper-pigmentation, age spots, or even fine lines on my hands. I also don't have an issue with uneven skin tone, other than the freckles that I've had my whole life. I will be reviewing this simply as a hand cream, that boasts it's water-resistant and non-greasy formula.

First off, the smell. It's actually quite nice. In the beginning I found the scent very off putting, and didn't want much to do with it. I thought "well, it was basically free, might as well get some use out of it". With that I put it in my purse, and keep it in there as often I remember to put it back. The scent is hard to describe, I really haven't smelled anything like it before.

The product itself is easy to blend, and rub, into the skin. It's a light cream, but thick at the same time. I want to say that it is non-greasy, but I can't tell a lie! Truth is it's rather greasy when it's first applied, and then as it dries out it becomes less greasy. In the end I find myself wanting it to dry a little bit more to get rid of that last bit of grease. How many times can I say grease in a sentence?!

Next claim: Water-resistant. I suppose it is. How does one truly test this claim? Confused me, to be honest. Anyways I find my hands to be as soft as they were before I ran water on them. To clarify I did dab my hands with a towel after I wet them.

I love how it moisturizes my hands and cuticles, without it being too greasy. It's nice to keep in my purse with the bottle being small, but not too small. At 3 fl oz (89 mL) it's the perfect size to follow my everywhere I go for a quick hand fix.

Julep Maven price: $25.60

Regular customer: $32.00

Orly Artificial Sweetener - Swatch

Bows for your thoughts?

These two are the same style, but one is white, and the other is a bright yellow. There were other colors at the show such as green and red. I really like these, they're subtle and super adorable. I bought these at a boutique called Apricot Lane at Downtown Disney; Pleasure Island.

The boutique has a lot of cute stuff, but I was immediately drawn to their jewelry, which was buy two get one three. All three of the necklaces were $18 each, with one free.

This one is probably my favorite. I love the antique and vintage feel to it. I am obsessed with Vintage, and this was my answer for the obsession. For now anyways, I have my eyes on a few other pieces. I also bought this at Apricot Lane.

I never used to like wearing jewelry, but I do have a few pieces that I wear occasionally. These bow necklaces have sparked a new love of necklaces! I will probably buy some more in the future, I'm trying to buy the necklaces over time, I don't want to go crazy and then find out it was only a faze, and all of the spending be wasted. That would not be good.

Thought you would like to see my new found love! Toodles.

Essie Tour De Finance - Swatch

OPI Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI? - Swatch

Spring Picks - Blues and Greens

I decided to group the two together because I don't have much of these colors in either group. All of these are creams. I decided to put Mint Candy Apple in with the blues because that's what mine looks like. It no longer looks like the minty green that it did when I first bought it.

 Mark Ibiza Sol Mojito and Essie Navigate Her

Zoya Kristen, OPI What's With The Cattitude, Essie Mint Candy Apple

Spring Picks - Purple

Nothing says Spring like beautiful pastels, and bright colors all around welcoming in the Summer months. These are some of my favorite purples. If I haven't done a swatch on it yet, I will this Spring!

       Essie To Buy Or Not To Buy, OPI Planks A Lot, Essie Nice is Nice

To Buy Or Not To Buy is a shimmer filed with purple and pink glitter. Super super pretty. The other two are from older collections, but they are so pretty none the less.

                 Essie Play Date, OPI Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI, Julep Anne

All creams except for the OPI one. Dutch 'Ya is a purple filled with gold or bronze glitter. Super pretty, and I will upload a swatch of this color in the next few days.

Spring Picks - Pinks and Corals

I'm normally not one to pay attention to trends, or care how bright or dark my nails are during the contrasting seasons. I am excited to wear a lot of bright colors this spring though! First off, are the pinks. I pulled together some new, and old, colors that I will be wearing this upcoming season.

              OPI Pedal Faster Suzi and Essie Pink-A-Boo

Both are shimmer, but Pedal Faster Suzi is filled with white and silver shimmer where Pink-A-Boo is filled with different shades of pink, white, and purple.

            Essie Cute As A Button and Essie Olé Caliente

Corals, the staple shade for the warmer months. For me, I plan on wearing these on my toes. Both are creams, and both are bright!

                  Essie De Finance, Zoya Renee, and Julep Helena

All three have their differences, and all three are bright pink! De Finance is a beautiful shimmer, while the others are creams.

Blue/Green picks for Spring will follow my Purple picks.

Collective Haul

Whoo! Hunger Games. I really didn't think I would get any, but the lovely ladies at tPF made me want several. I also picked up a few Essie at Ulta, and a treatment from Orly that I've been eying for a while now. Sadly my dad mowed the grass so my pretty grassy/weed backgrounds are gone for a while =(. I have one more swatch with it, then I suppose I'll have to find somewhere else to take pictures at.

I love China Glaze's minis, they're hardly even mini! Normal bottles are .5 fl oz and the "minis" are 3.25 fl oz. Still a decent size I say! The normal sized CG are from Sally's. I wanted to get Smoke and Ashes, but they were out. That's one of the reasons I picked up the minis! I think Luxe and Lush will get a lot of use around Christmas. It reminds me of a snow globe.

I've been wearing Stone Cold for the past few days, and it is a matte (yay!), but the wear is bad even for a matte nail polish, and a pain in the butt to remove, and stained my skin for some odd reason. Even with all that negative stuff, I will still wear it from time to time, and I will do a swatch of it in its matte form, and with a glossy top coat on top as well.

I fell in love with this pink. It's "Pink-A-Boo" by Essie. It has this beautiful pink and gold shimmer to it. I can't wait to try it out, but I think I'm going to tackle the box below first.

De Finance, Navigate Her, To Buy Or Not To Buy, Olé Caliente

I just finished putting on De Finance, and it is gorgeous!!

Essie Chinchilly

I swatched this color last year at the start of the blog. I think that post can be forgotten now that there is a proper swatch to look at! Here you go, one of my favorite colors, with possibly the cutest name; Chinchilly