December 2012 Julep Maven American Beauty Box

As a Christmas treat, Julep sent me one of this month's Julep Maven American Beauty Boxes. Unlike June's IT Girl Box which was full of bright and summery shades, all the December boxes feature gorgeous glitters that are perfect for the holiday season.

The packaging was simple but festive, with snowflake tissue paper and white paper shavings acting as a bed of "snow."

In addition to two nail polishes, Julia and Patti, I received Julep's Instant Warming Foot Scrub which smells like cucumber mint. I love foot scrubs and this will be perfect for at-home pedicures. December's boxes also came with a peppermint candy and a "Create Your Own Cabachon Ring" kit. I've seen nail polish rings being sold on other sites before and I love that this was included. Basically, you can paint the cabachon your favourite nail polish colour and pop it into the ring base for a one-of-a-kind accessory.

I was most impressed, however, by the nail polishes. Patti is described as a full-coverage black multi-dimensional glitter. You need three coats to reach opacity but the silver glitters do add some extra pizazz. But the stand-out colour, in my opinion, is Julia. It's described as a purple orchid with golden micro-glitter metallic, but that doesn't even come close to how complex this colour really is. The duochrome is absolutely beautiful; in some lights it looks more purple while in others it looks more gold.

After finishing this mani, I seriously could not stop staring at my nails. So pretty!


In semi-related musings, can you believe that we're basically a week away from 2013? December is always insanely busy but this year has been especially so for me. My flight home from Calgary was delayed for over 4 hours on Wednesday due to a snowstorm in Vancouver that left the city in chaos. People trying to get to Vancouver were about ready to revolt. It's funny how things like that really bring out the worst in us. And with barely a few days home I'm now off to Singapore for Christmas (check out this post for pictures from last year's trip). Preparations for all this flying have been very stressful!

I hope all of you have a lovely winter break... HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!