Julep September 2017 (Flawless Without the Fuss) “Peaches & Dream” Maven Box unboxing (with add-ons and promo code!)

Just a quick unboxing post! I went with one of Julep’s curated boxes this month, “Peaches & Dream” (the box they suggested for me), and threw in a few extra nail polishes:

My picks:

• Skip the Brush Creme-to-Powder Blush Stick in Sweet Peach ($24 regular, $19.20 Maven), a “Light Peachy Pink Sheen,” plus these nail colors:
• August ($14 regular, $11.20 Maven), new this month, “Chocolate Cherry Ghost Shimmer,”
• Karin ($14 regular, $11.20 Maven), new this month, “Powdered Lilac Crème,”
• Eve ($14 regular, $11.20 Maven) as an add-on, sold as the Unicorn Party Mystery Polish, “Iridescent Lilac Matte Shimmer,”
• Signe ($14 regular, $11.20 Maven) as an add-on, “Red-Hot Coral Shimmer,” and
• Ange ($14 regular, $11.20 Maven) as an add-on, “Tidepool Blue Crème.”

Extras:

• Katya ($14 regular, $11.20 Maven), freebie for getting three or more add-ons, “Açai Berry Crème,”
• Julep stickers, this month’s freebie, and
• the collection description card with the monthly quote (below) and featuring Julep’s primers, new cushion skin perfector, and new finishing powder (which I picked up in July).

I got two each of the sticker sheets and paper inserts this month, for some reason. Not that I’m complaining!

This month’s quote:

“Find a sense of self, because with that, you can do anything else.” – Angelina Jolie

The promo code that came with this box is FALLPOLISH for a free nail polish with a $10+ purchase at Julep’s website, expires 9/30/2017.

I have Skip the Brush in three other colors already because they’re so versatile, and I’ve liked them all to varying degrees. I thought Sweet Peach would be a little more of a cream finish and a little less shimmer/glitter than Golden Guava, but that was only maybe somewhat true. Though you can’t see it in the tube, Sweet Peach ended up having some of those odd chunks of gold glitter inside, too. I think there’s less than I saw in Golden Guava, but if you can’t stand glitter, this is not for you.

I think Sheer Glow and Moonlit Sand stand as my favorite shades of this product. They have that glowy shimmer a good luminizer has, but no random chunks of gold glitter.

I’ve already swatched new colors August and Karin in another post, and Eve is a duplicate I’ve also swatched, if you’re interested. (I love Eve, which you can read about at the swatch link.)

In short, August disappointed me because the shimmer doesn’t show, and in person, it reads as an almost-black creme. Here, you can see it next to an older Julep polish, Ledi, which has the same largely gimmicky “ghost shimmer” finish. You can see in strong direct light (this is taken in harsh sunlight) that it’s actually a very dark chocolaty brown compared to Ledi’s black, but it doesn’t look that way on the nail. Also, the shimmer is silver, not, say, reddish. Too bad.

Signe and Katya are new to my collection and will be swatched at some point. 🙂

That’s all for this box. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions or comments about the products I got, Julep, etc. Happy fall!

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Summer 2017 Pusheen Box unboxing!

Better late than never, right? I received my Summer 2017 Pusheen Box back on July 29th – delayed from its original expected delivery in mid-July because of a customs inspection, we were told. Anyway, here’s the box:

Pusheen with star shades! Adorable. As before, it was shrink-wrapped in plastic during shipping to protect the box. The box also seems to be of a slightly glossier paper this time.

Here’s what was inside – vacation and hot-weather stuff!

There was a bit of moisture/condensation inside my box, but luckily, it doesn’t seem like anything was damaged.

Condensation inside the vinyl figure packaging. The ice pack also had some condensation in the packaging.

(1) Pusheen lightweight backpack – Pusheen Box Exclusive – Starting with probably my favorite item in this box! Vacation Pusheen and ice cream print, with Pusheen on a skateboard front and center. I love that this lightweight backpack folds up compactly into its own front pocket and zips up into a roughly 6″ x 8″ handled pouch. Holds up to 20 pounds. 100% polyester, machine wash cold, line dry.

Phone included in photo for scale. 🙂

 

Folds up nicely. 🙂

(2) Pusheen luggage tag – Pusheen Box Exclusive – Not sure what kind of plastic it’s made of, but it’s textured, in that signature Pusheen aqua, and printed with Pusheen on the front. The print is kind of sticky-feeling, and the sewing isn’t terribly even, but hey, it’s a cute luggage tag.

(3) Pusheen passport holder – Pusheen Box Exclusive – Same aqua textured plastic as the luggage tag, with an embroidered patch of a hang-gliding Pusheen sewn to the front and “See ya” embroidered under that. Super cute, but again, the sewing isn’t terribly even, and the inside of mine is pretty crooked. It actually looks worse in person than in the below photo, probably because you can tell it’s not just perspective causing that funny bend in the right pocket. Ah, well. Doesn’t look bad from the front, and it’s still functional and cute.

Fronts

Back/inside. Not the best quality workmanship, but not entirely unexpected for this kind of subscription box.

(4) Pusheen earbuds – Maybe my second-favorite thing in this box. Aqua cable with pink connectors and buds, which have Pusheen’s front end on one side and her back end on the other. Too cute, and they work just fine. Also comes in a handy matching storage box! Too bad they don’t seem to have a built-in mic for phone use, else I might ditch my current vanilla earbuds for these.

(5) Pusheen 4 popsicle mold set – Pusheen Box Exclusive – 4 popsicle molds shaped like Pusheen’s adorable noggin (the features are printed on the mold and won’t show up on the pop when removed), 4 popsicle sticks (in pink, yellow, mint, and blue), and a popsicle stand. BPA-free and dishwasher-safe.

(6) Pusheen 3 silly straw set – One clear with Pusheen and ice cream, one aqua with Pusheen and watermelon, and one pink with Pusheen sipping a drink.

(7) Pusheen ice pack – It’s one of those plastic gel ice packs, shaped like Pusheen with sunglasses! It was packaged in a cute clear box with a sun, birds, and clouds backdrop. Roughly palm-sized and probably too small to use in a lunch bag, but probably useful for cooling down in hot weather or icing injuries. Non-toxic gel, wash gently by hand.

(8) Pusheen sleeveless tee – Pusheen Box Exclusive – Heather gray, 60% cotton and 40% polyester, and printed with various Pusheens, clouds, and hang-gliding Pusheen. This top fits me better than the other unisex-cut clothes I’ve gotten from the Pusheen Box, thankfully, though I have the usual issue of it being a bit snug in the hips (it’s about hip length on me). Everywhere else, it’s nice and roomy. It should make a good workout shirt!

(9) Vacation Pusheen vinyl figure – Pusheen Box Exclusive – It’s Pusheen in sunglasses, at the beach under a palm with a beach ball! My two-year-old especially loves this figure and keeps gushing about “Pusheen on an island! With a ball!” I think it’s her favorite one yet.

That’s all for this box! Very pleased that nothing was defective in this box, and the selection of items was pretty great. 🙂 Anyone else nab this box? What was your favorite item?

Julep July 2017 (Neon Nights) Custom Maven Box unboxing (with promo code!)

Unboxing incoming! This month, I very nearly skipped my Julep box, but I was curious about Julep’s new Insta-Filter Invisible Finishing Powder. I kept this box small – just two items.

The contents:

• Insta-filter Invisible Finishing Powder ($32 regular, $25.50 Maven),
• Skip the Brush Creme-to-Powder Blush Stick in Golden Guava ($24 regular, $19.20 Maven), a “Peachy Pink Gold Shimmer,” and
• oddly, I didn’t receive a freebie (usually candy but sometimes a free Julep product) this month. It’s not the first time this has happened, but it was a bit disappointing. 😦

This month’s quote:

“I’m very much about letting other people shine, because it makes us all shine brighter.” – Chelsea Handler

The promo code that came with this box is SUMMER20 for $20 off a $50 purchase at Julep’s website, expires 7/31/2017.

Insta-filter comes in a fancy, slightly rubberized black paper box with metallic violet print. The round compact inside is metal, about 3 inches in diameter, and hefty. Quality seems good, and it’s nicely designed with clean, modern lines; a little groove for your fingernail to pry up the lid; and a firm magnetic snap.

As for the product, it definitely does what Julep says it will –  “blur the appearance of pores, fine lines, and imperfections while instantly mattifying.” I don’t have much of a comparison point, though, since my usual translucent/finishing powder is BareMinerals Mineral Veil, which I got in a slightly dewy finish instead of a matte. I don’t own/wear enough makeup to compare it to anything else. Insta-filter works nicely enough, though, and the little foamy sponge is so soft, especially the flocked application side. Thumbs up.

Well, my Golden Guava arrived with this fugly ding from the cap being squeezed on too tightly inside the box. 😦 The ugliness doesn’t affect its function, though, fortunately, so I didn’t even bother telling customer support this time.

It’s pretty similar to the past Skip the Brush sticks that I’ve purchased (Sheer Glow and Moonlit Sand), but the barrel is shiny gunmetal gray instead of matte black, and the formula on this one somehow seems a little creamier or stickier than my other two. The reviewers on Julep.com mentioned “glitter” in this one, which made me curious, since my other two colors don’t have anything coarse enough that I’d call glitter.

I tried it, and sure enough, the Golden Guava color somehow has an odd bit of coarser gold glitter flecks when applied, even though they’re not visible on the stick. The flecks are so occasional, too, that they stand out strangely against the otherwise smooth and finely milled peach/pink. Not my favorite, mostly because it looks inconsistent on application. I don’t know if that’s a mistake on Julep’s part, or if it was intentional. Looks fine on eyes, though, at least, maybe because the area is so small.

That’s it for today. There should be a Pusheen box coming in soon, so that’ll probably be my next post!

Unboxing: Spring 2017 Pusheen Box!

I hit a few snags with the Spring 2017 Pusheen Box, but I finally received it about a week ago!

As always, it arrived shrink-wrapped in protective plastic, which kept the cute Bunny Pusheen cardboard box clean, perfect for future gift use:

Look at the cute puffball bunny tail:

And here it is, freshly opened:

Here’s what was inside:

(1) Bunny Pusheen vinyl figure (Pusheen Box Exclusive) – super cute, and no problems with the paint/print job on this one. Too bad it didn’t arrive before Easter!

(2) Pusheen Wireless Speaker – I assume this is a Pusheen Box Exclusive, too, though it doesn’t say so on the box. It’s a cute (but cheap), hard-plastic Bluetooth wireless speaker shaped like Pusheen, with a handy grab strap for toting her along. It comes with a short USB/micro-USB charging cable and no wall-socket adapter.

It works and is about the level of quality I’d expect for it being one of 10 items in a roughly $40 box, but unfortunately, that means it’s not a particularly well-designed speaker. A red light comes on to tell you when it’s being charged, but it never tells you it’s done charging. The speaker was easy enough to pair with a Bluetooth device, but the sound quality isn’t great (as expected for a small, cheap speaker), and a bright blue light flashes annoyingly the entire time it’s in use. I also discovered that the battery drains out really quickly when it’s not in use. (I’d charged it for maybe 8 hours before using it, played some music for a few minutes just to test it out, and turned it off. A couple days later, the battery was completely dead. Not great.)

That being said, it’s a very cute little speaker, reasonably sturdy, and very lightweight. I’ll probably give it to ‘Fiend Jr. to play with when she’s a little older. 🙂

(3) Pusheen Selfie Stick (Pusheen Box Exclusive) – lightweight and compact with an aluminum telescoping arm, spring-loaded plastic phone mount decorated with a molded soft-plastic Pusheen peeking over the top, and a foam-wrapped grip with a camera button.

Very cute. Sadly, it didn’t work at all with my Samsung Galaxy S4 phone (the camera button tried to zoom instead of taking a photo) and worked only inconsistently with my sister’s iPhone 6. I’ve never used a selfie stick before this, so I don’t know if that’s typical of selfie sticks, but I’ll try it again when I upgrade my phone later.

(4) Pusheen Party Balloons (Pusheen Box Exclusive) – includes 12 latex balloons in gray, aqua, and pink, all printed with Pusheen’s face in puff paint. I gave these out as party favors at Fiend Jr.’s birthday party.

(5) Party Pusheen t-shirt (Pusheen Box Exclusive) – these shirts come in unisex sizes only, so it’s a boxier cut. I typically wear women’s small or medium, and this shirt was sadly too big and wholly unflattering on me. I’ll probably save it for altering into a tank top or wearing as pajamas.

(6) Pusheen Bento Lunch Box (Pusheen Box Exclusive) – I’d suggested this very item in one of Pusheen Box’s customer surveys a few months back and was so stoked to receive this! Sadly, mine arrived broken, and when I contacted customer support, they told me they were all out of replacements and could only offer me a $5 refund. Ugh, so much bad luck with this box.

But, I hate seeing things go to waste, so I’m planning to drill a hole in that little nubbin of plastic and replace that flimsy plastic with a better, metal hinge. I’ll fix it somehow. Take that, broken bento box!

Anyway, BPA-free, dishwasher safe, and microwave safe. Purportedly, anyway. 🙂

(7) Pusheen Bottle Opener (Pusheen Box Exclusive) – metal, encased in a soft-plastic Pusheen shell, with a handy magnetic back. Nice touch.

(8) Pusheen Reusable Utensils (Pusheen Box Exclusive) – somewhat smaller than standard utensils, as you can see in comparison to the pen, and only about the same sturdiness as better disposable utensils, so I’d probably want to be careful with these. Wish they came with a case or pouch! Dishwasher safe.

(9) Pusheen Photo Booth Props – various cute paper cutouts (macarons, a slice of cake, Bunny Pusheen ears, playing cards, etc.), plus a sheet of adhesive dots and sticks for assembling into photo-booth props. I can see these being great as wall decorations, too!

(10) Pusheen Pennant Banner – a string of six aqua, pink, yellow, and gray cardboard pennants printed with Pusheen’s face, sewn on a white ribbon for hanging.

I would’ve taken better photos of the contents of these two items, but I wanted to keep them protected in their original packaging as possible decorations for ‘Fiend Jr.’s birthday next year. 🙂

Also, this – it finally came in! Had to email them about the bento box arriving broken, but everything's so cute! #PusheenBox #pusheen #pusheenthecat

A post shared by Lacquerfiend (@eternaldecember) on May 29, 2017 at 1:40pm PDT

And, that’s it for the Spring 2017 box! The bento box was my favorite this time, and I’m sad it arrived broken, but hopefully I can make it functional again. I’m still enjoying the Pusheen Box, but I’ve received defective items on a several occasions now, so I might not renew after this year. I guess we’ll see how I feel at the end of the year.

Julep May 2017 (Sun Crush) Custom Maven Box unboxing (with promo code!)

Another Julep Maven unboxing! This month’s featured products are some of my favorites from Julep – the Sea Salt Texture Spray, Mint Condition Pedi Creme, and No Excuses Invisible Sunscreen Gel – but I still have those on hand, so I picked other stuff:

The contents:

• Skip the Brush Creme-to-Powder Blush Stick in Moonlit Sand ($24 regular, $19.20 Maven), “Rose Gold Shimmer,” because I ❤ rose gold,
• Eyeshadow 101 Creme-to-Powder Eyeshadow Stick in Pearl Shimmer ($18 regular, $14.40 Maven), “Soft Cream Shimmer,”
• CTRL + Z Eye Makeup Eraser ($10 regular, $8 Maven), which I’m hoping will help me clean up my eyeliner accidents (though it’s got mixed reviews on the website), and
• Sixlets chocolate flavored candy, this month’s freebie. I’d never had them before, so that was fun to try, and the slightly different flavors for each color were kind of interesting!

This month’s quote:

“I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art” – Madonna

The promo code that came with this box is FREEMAY for a free polish with a $10 purchase at Julep’s website, expires 5/31/2017.

Here’s a close-up on the Skip the Brush and Eyeshadow 101. I previously picked this up in Sheer Glow and loved it more the more I used it. I find myself frequently using it over other luminizers in my arsenal, so I thought I’d try it in a different shade. I’m not much of a blush person, but this one looks pretty natural, goes on sheer, and is buildable if you want more pigment. I prefer using this on my eyelids and lips more than on my cheeks – yay for multitasking products! Love the subtle touch of rose gold sparkle.

Oh, and I find it works better over bare skin or a BB cream (or similar cream-based product) and not as well with my mineral powder foundation.

Not much to say on the Pearl Shimmer eyeshadow. It’s a pale, shimmery, almost-white eyeshadow. 🙂 As with the other Eyeshadow 101s, I find a primer is necessary to keep it from smearing around.

This is a close-up of the CTRL + Z Eye Makeup Eraser. It’s designed for removing eye makeup mistakes, and I thought I’d give it a shot, despite mixed reviews on the Julep website. Most of the complaints are that the tip is overly rough. I haven’t actually used it yet, but I’ll post an update when I’ve had a chance to try it out. (I currently use a Q-tip dipped in remover to clean up my cat eyes, and I’d love a more convenient solution!)

(EDIT 7/14/2017 – I’ve since tried CTRL + Z, and it’s awesome. Sharp cat eyes every time now, without wiping off and redrawing them a million times. 😀 The tip’s a bit scratchy, but I use a light hand, and it’s been fine on my sensitive skin.)

That’s it for this box! Still waiting on my Spring 2017 Pusheen Box to show up. I know folks who got their boxes ages ago, and mine hasn’t even shipped yet! Customer service says it was scheduled to ship this past week, but still nothing.

Anyway, happy Mothers’ Day to my fellow moms! Can’t tell you how awesome it is the first time you get a Mothers’ Day card from your own kid. ❤

 

Julep April 2017 (Relax & Remix) Custom Maven Box unboxing (with promo code!)

Not quite as late this month posting my Julep Maven unboxing!

This month’s quote: “Give me a sun lounger, a pool and a sea view, and I’m happy.” – Miranda Hart, an English actor and comedian that I wasn’t familiar with until I saw the monthly quote card. I’ve found most of the recent quotes a bit less than inspiring, but at least they have some educational value because I end up looking up the person quoted. :]

Anyway, my picks this month:

• Feels Like Velvet Full-Coverage Eyeshadow Duo in Moonlight & Starlight ($20 regular, $16 Maven), “Lilac Grey Matte & White Sand Shimmer,” a previous release from last May,
• Feels Like Velvet Full-Coverage Eyeshadow Duo in Cinnamon & Spice ($20 regular, $16 Maven), “Auburn Shimmer & Mushroom Shimmer,” new this month,
• When Pencil Met Gel long-lasting eyeliner in Ultraviolet ($16 regular, $12.80 Maven), “Blue Violet Shimmer,” new this month, and
• Brigitte ($14 regular, $11.20 Maven), “Bright White Crème” nail polish, which I think was released in April 2014 and is this month’s freebie. ❤

 

The promo code that came with this box is APRIL30 for 30% off a purchase at Julep’s website, expires 5/30/2017.

Feels Like Velvet really is pretty comfortable to wear, and the colors are great, but so far, I’ve only tried applying them dry, both with and without primer, and they faded more quickly than I would have liked. Reviews on the site seem to say doing a wet application is the way to go, so I’ll have to give that a shot later on.

Moonlight & Starlight is an matte-finish duo and looked subtle and creamy when I wore it. Again, though, maybe a wet application could amp it up a little. Work-appropriate for sure, and super fine/soft texture.

Cinnamon & Spice has two shimmer colors and shows up more dramatically on my relatively fair skin but also seems pretty work-appropriate. It wasn’t overly sparkly when applied dry.

The Ultraviolet eyeliner looks great on the pencil – a nice cool-leaning violet with blue flash – but on the lid, the blue flash didn’t really show up. Still a beautiful color with excellent application, but I was hoping for more blue shimmer!

I’ll give it another shot and see if I like it better next time. After all, the Sunset Gold color looked almost terracotta to me the first few times I wore it, but later on, the gold metallic shimmer finally made an appearance. No idea why it took a few applications to kick in, but it did, and now I love it!

 

I haven’t tried Brigitte yet, but as I understand from reading various reviews, it’s a standard bright white creme polish, and some people have some issues with the application (pretty typical for bright white polishes, unfortunately). I’ll update the blog later when I’m able to give it a try.

I’m still well satisfied with the value and quality of the Julep Maven box. I just checked, and Julep’s new subscription options now include prepaying for 6 months and getting boxes for $16.66 each (whoa)! I’m still under the oldbie $19.99 month-to-month plan, but either way, it’s a pretty great deal for trying new products or stocking up on past favorites. If you’re interested in trying it and find my posts helpful, please consider using my referral link! (You can also use the code FREEFALL to score an extra set of 12 full-size Julep polishes ($168 value), if you’re a new Maven. :D)

Anyway, that’s it for now. I better get to bed so we can take ‘Fiend Jr. to an egg hunt tomorrow morning!

Julep March 2017 (Spring To It) Custom Maven Box (with promo code!)

Behind on posting, since I was down for the count with whatever slew of viruses ‘Fiend Jr. brought home from daycare the week before last. D: Anyway, here’s this month’s Julep Maven unboxing!

 

This month’s quote: “Spring is when life’s alive in everything.” – Christina Rossetti, an English poet known for “Goblin Market.”

• Skip the Brush creme-to-powder blush stick in Sheer Glow ($24 regular, $19.20 Maven), a multipurpose product that also works on eyes and lips,
• When Pencil Met Gel long-lasting eyeliner in Clay ($16 regular, $12.80 Maven), a new color released last month,
• When Pencil Met Gel long-lasting eyeliner in Fig Shimmer ($16 regular, $12.80 Maven), a new color this month, and
• two One-Step Polish Remover Pads, this month’s freebie.

The promo code that came with this box is SPRING30 for 30% off a purchase at Julep’s website.

Skip the Brush in Sheer Glow works great as a multipurpose highlighter. The finish is lightweight and comfortable. It does look subtly sparkly, which may not be for everyone, but I like it.

I think I’ve said before that I enjoy the Julep eyeliners, so I keep picking up more colors. I haven’t tried the eyeliner in Clay yet, but Fig Shimmer is more purple and less burgundy than I was expecting from the marketing photos. Still a pretty color, though, and application is as smooth and long-wearing as usual.

And, tomorrow’s monthly selection time again. Looking forward to seeing what’s new!