Recent Mani's

I love pampering myself. If I was the richest girl in the world, having a beauty team on staff would definitely be at the top of my list. I love getting massages, long hours at the spa getting my hair done or sitting in the lounge chairs while my hands and feet get prettied up. Unfortunately, not being the richest girl means I have to take matters into my own hands at time...literally. Here are the latest of my at-home manicures.

 

 

Essie 'Ole Caliente' and 'Bachelorette Bash'

 

 

 

Essie 'Boxer Shorts' and Julep 'Carrie'

 

 

 

Essie 'Bahama Mama'

 

 

 

Essie polishes are one of my favorite brands (along with OPI. Julep is pretty great too - plus with their membership, you get a few polishes every month for under $20 - you can read more about Julep Maven HERE.) If I find a color I really love, I buy the polish and add it to my personal collection. When it's time to hit the salon, I will take it with me to get a professional manicure & pedicure done. Then when it chips within a week's time (mani's just don't last so long on me!), I now have the exact color to touch up with at home!

 

 

Are you a salon girl or a DIY girl when it comes to your manicures?

 

 

Hello Again!

I cannot believe it has been almost three weeks since my last post! My computer has had some serious issues and it took some time to have it checked out. Bottom line is that we probably need to invest in either heavy duty maintenance or just buy a new one altogether. Both of which do not fit into our current budget. So it's temporarily fixed...enough to the point where I can probably keep up with regular posting until something else happens!

Anyways, I thought I would share some of what has happened in that time through my glorious Instagram photos - follow @theprettyfactor

Polka-dot Converse for casual Fridays at work

Mint (Avon's 'Jade') & gold (Julep's 'Oscar')  mani

First lobster roll at Bonefish Grill

Made my first trip to Ulta...and now I know what Tiffany is talking about when it comes to their noisy shopping bags!

I ditched the highlights and went back to a pretty shade of red.

Celebrated the Hubs birthday at Tijuana Flats with tacos

My favorite Disney coffee mug ;)

J. Crew stripes and Kristin Hassan's golden bow

Long overdue mani & pedi sesh with Essie's 'Jumpin Junkanoo'

To see other snapshots of my life, check out Instagram and follow me - @theprettyfactor

I hope this computer doesn't abandon me anytime soon so I can continue to post and stay connected to you all! What have I missed in the past three weeks?



Julep - April

I received my Julep box for the month of April and I was so happy to see the pretty spring colors inside! Not sure what Julep is? Check out my intro post here.

April's box was "It Girl" and featured three pretty shades:

Niecy (super bright pink), Penelope (soft blush) and Jessica (baby blue)

(without flash)

(with flash)

They even sent fun little toe separators & chocolate eggs, just in time for Easter!

Are you a Julep Maven yet? If so, I would love to know what colors you got this month!

And if you haven't signed up yet, do it! You can become a Julep Maven here!

Julep Maven

I love getting manicures - if not for the perfectly polished hands I leave the salon with, but also for the pamper time involved. But sometimes a girl has to do her own nails. I don't have a large collection of polishes by any means - I probably have about a handful of go-to nail colors when I am in a crunch and don't have time to run to the salon. So when I heard of Julep Maven while reading I am Style-Ish, I thought this would be great to try out!

So basically it's like a membership club in which you take a quiz based on your beauty preferences and Julep comes up with nail shades picked for you based on your quiz results! Each month, you receive nail polishes and other beauty picks for just $19.99, which is great because each nail polish retails for $14!

So my first box was for the month of December and I received the "It Girl" set:

From left to right:

Nail Therapy

Trina

Christina

Kim

Samples of their hand cream & hand brightener

The only polish I have used from my December box is Christina (along with the Nail Therapy as a base coat). The golden-orange color was on my hands all month into Christmas and it was so pretty! It did chip fairly quickly on me, but with that said most polishes do. My nails don't hold color very well for some reason, no matter the brand.

 For January, I received the "Bombshell" set:

From top, clock-wise:

Pomegranate body scrub

Megan

Carrie

Nail Therapy

Carrie

Megan

This box was also supposed to contain a shade called Gayle (which I totally cannot remember what color it was) but it apparently sold out, so Julep sent me a card to redeem for a free polish. I thought that was really spectacular - some companies just have an "Oh well, you missed out " attitude, so this was a nice surprise!

Overall, I am really happy with Julep and the products I have received thus far. The colors are prettier in person and really pigmented. I do think they last well, despite that I had to re-polish Christina often, but I think that it because I didn't give myself a complete mani. I just polished my nails quickly so I think if I had the time to manicure my nails as a professional would, then it would have lasted just as long as normal manis do.

Another perk that I like with being a Julep Maven is that they email you a sneak peek of what your monthly box will bring and if you aren't liking what they have selected for you, you are free to choose another set from the ones they have put together! This is just what I did for January's box - the original set wasn't made of colors I would pick myself, so I swapped that set for the "Bombshell" box. Easy-peasy!

I hope you give Julep Maven a try! I think it is really worth it especially if you are one to give yourself manicures. Polishes alone can add up and for under $20 you get a set personalized to your beauty style that retails for over $40!

You can sign up to be a Julep Maven here!!