June Julep Box - Classic with a Twist

Since I skipped my Julep Maven box in May, I thought I would treat myself to a box in June. What a good month to choose because the colours were beautiful! I choose Classic with a Twist and could not be happier with my choices. I had every intention to skip July.. but seriously how could I say no to the colour selection for next month!? I caved and can't wait for my July box to arrive. But before I get too ahead of myself.. let's go through June's box!

Lauren is the fuchsia pink which is a fantastic jelly texture. I have already worn it and with two coats it is a beautiful bright opaque colour. Though I did find it to peel quickly. Claire is a great creamy but bright blue. I haven't worn this fully on my nails but I did do polka dots on top of Lauren and it showed up great! I also received two additional nail polish brushes in my box. There was a note saying this was for the defective brushes some subscribers received last month. I didn't order a box last month so I didn't really need these brushes, but they are certainly great to have!

The additional products that Julep always sends in its boxes this month was the Julep Daylight Defence for Hands and Face and the Daylight Defence Lip Balm in Vanilla Mint. These were great additional products and perfect for summer. With the addition of products like this, I can justify the $20 price tag. The lip chap is fantastic: a fairly standard consistency but I love the flavour of mint and vanilla together. Plus, the addition of SPF is great. So often people forget that our lips need SPF too! The consistency of the Daylight Defence cream is great. It is not greasy or heavy and is great for all over the body. I have used it a few times on my face and it has not broken me out. Chelsea at Chelsea Morgan Beauty raves about this and I would have to agree with her review!

Please note that there were two pixie sticks in this box... though they barely saw daylight before I devoured them. What a nice little touch.. so nostalgic for me since I definitely grew up in the era of the pixie sticks!

I love my box this month and shipping was super fast to Ontario (it was me that took so long getting up this post)! Overall, Julep just makes it harder and harder to skip a month!!

Hope you enjoyed this post!

xo Kathryn

Product Review: Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream

After my colour match disappointment with Marcelle BB Cream I was on the hunt for a BB cream that would cater to my off-white skin colour. I thought maybe an Asian BB cream would be more my style, but honestly, I live in a smaller city and there is no where for me to get one. And with skin products I really want to try it before ordering it, which made me shy away from on-line ordering. While I was in Wal-Mart the other day I noticed that Maybelline had launched their own version of the BB Cream. I really like the Maybelline brand, and with a five colour selection I thought I might have better luck with this line.

Display at Wal-Mart (this is it even after I cleaned it up a bit for the photo...super messy!)

The Promise: This BB cream promises to be an 8-in-1 product (as can be seen on the front and back of the product). After a few days of wear this is how I feel towards these eight promises:

1. Has SPF 30 - The level of SPF in this product is great, and ensures that I don't need an additional layer of sunscreen under it on a day when I'm just going to the office. The product has no smell other then a faint sunscreen smell (but it is very faint).
2. Helps blur the look of imperfections - I like the wording of this one. Definitely a true marketers statement. I would say this product definitely leans more to a tinted moisturizer then a BB cream coverage or foundation coverage. It will even your skin tone but certainly will not hide anything.
3. Creates a natural glow - This effect is very minimal. I could see it brighten my complexion but only slightly.
4. Skin looks smoother - This statement I would agree with. It does a good job of evening skin tone as stated above, as well as makes your skin feel incredibly smooth once dry. Don't toss that concealer just yet! If you have things to cover (blemishes, hyper-pigmentation etc.) this product will not cover that.
5. Compliments skin tone - With a five shade colour range I am fairly confident that most people could find a colour that would blend it. The lightest shade matched me perfectly. I like that they have mini testers out (which you can see in the display picture), but be aware that the testers have shade names while the actual products themselves do not (how strange?).
6. Hydrates all day - It is extremely hydrating, but somehow walks that line of hydrating my skin without making it oily or dewy. The finish is initially a little scary, but once dried it is beautiful!
7. Feels fresh - this product is super light weight. Once on, it feels like nothing but moisturized skin. No cakey-clearly-wearing-foundation face here. It is perfect for the summer!
8. Oil free - This is perfect for us oily to combination skin girls! I set everything with powder (just a habit of a chronic oily skin girl) but had no problems with my face getting more greasy or getting greasy earlier then it usually does. If anything, this product kept my face matte longer then it usually would be on its own.

Any Flaws?: I am not sure I would recommend this product for dry skin girls. I have quite oily skin but had a dry spot from over medicating a blemish, and the BB cream stuck to the dry patch and made it flake. On the rest of my face it applied evenly and smoothly but I definitely had troubles with that one patch. Additionally, if you are going somewhere where you know your photo is going to be taken, I would not recommend this product due to the high amount of SPF. I'm not sure why but I wish they had shade names on the product..it bugs me for some reason. That is strictly a personal opinion though.

Titanium Dioxide Cream?: I will touch on this point lightly, since I am no scientist (help me out here Jayne?), but it is hard to ignore the "Titanium Dioxide Cream" statement printed right on the front of the product. I mean, how unappealing does that sound? I read a few articles on the matter, (which is the sunscreen ingredient in this product) and all seemed to state the same thing: as an ingredient, it is probably not good for you but there is nothing conclusive saying it will hurt you. We all know most products are better when they are as natural as possible, so it is up to you whether this statement turns you off of this product or not.


Would I Repurchase?: Definitely!! The colour match, the consistency, and the finish are all exactly what I was looking for. Would I love to have a product like this that didn't have an extra long ingredient list with words I can't pronounce? Of course! But despite all that I do love this product and would highly recommend it.

I hope this review was helpful!

xo Kathryn

Product Dupe: butterLondon Black Knight

I think it's safe to say it has been a great year for butterLondon. They have exploded onto the nail polish scene, and are now reviewed and revered every where you look. I hesitate at the price, $18 is not typically what I want to spend on a nail polish, but their colours are beautiful. When I saw Black Knight on Glymm's website it had just come out in their Christmas holiday collection. It was gorgeous... it was sparkly...it had to be mine! I used my points to knock $10 off the price but with shipping it still hit the $15 mark. When I got it I was excited, and immediately put it on. The formulation, packaging, brush: all stunning. And other then taking it off (which is a major pain), I absolutely love it. But...why spend $18 when you don't need to!

I stumbled upon this dupe by chance. I have owned the Black Sally Hansen nail polish for almost a year, it is a fantastic black nail polish. I just happened to buy Rockstar Pink a few weeks ago. I was trying to think what polish colour it would look good over when I saw it beside the Black Knight. The glitter is very similar so I decided to see how close the combo could be. I used two coats of black polish and one coat of the sparkle. The resemblance was amazing. The Sally Hansen colour actually gave me something I was craving from the Black Knight: a deep black base colour. I find that Black Knight is a very greyish black, that never gets as dark and deep as I would like. If you fell in love with Black Knight like I did, try out the Sally Hansen combo (which only costs me $5 in total!).

I hope this was helpful!

xo Kathryn