Hey everyone!
I had absolutely no intention of doing a 4th of July mani, but alas…I did. I’m not a big fan of this country right at this moment so I’m not in a “YAY I <3 AMERICA!” type of mood. BUT my July Julep Maven box arrived and it gave me a reason to do a festive mani. This is my first real Julep Maven box, I purchased the mystery box before and signed up for the 1¢ box last month, both of which were major disappointments. My intention was to sign up for the 1¢ and immediately cancel, but then I got word Julep was including an extra glitter polish in each box. “America” for US Mavens and “O’Canada” for Canadian Mavens. I received the “It Girl ‘box and I have to say I was happy with most of the contents of the box.
Here’s a look at my maven box…
July Julep Maven
The “It Girl” contains 3 polishes, bonus America polish, candy fire bombs, and a voucher for one free polish. I believe everyone receives the voucher in their first real (non penny) Maven box.
July Julep Maven
(L to R) Daphne, Kate, Mila, America)
As you can see America is very patriotic as the name implies, so when else would I really wear this? I made sure to get some use of it and incorporated it into a 4th of July Mani.
Now this is a VERY subtle attempt at a patriotic mani compared to all others I’ve seen. Like I said…I’m not feeling very patriotic right now. For this mani I used what has become one of my favorite Orly and blue polishes, Royal Navy.
Orly Royal Navy
Royal Navy is a deep and vibrant blue jelly with gorgeous bright blue shimmer that gives it a really cool glow. Even though it’s a jelly it applies very smooth and was completely opaque in just 2 coats. I seriously love this polish. Royal Navy is part of Orly’s core collection so there’s no worries on missing out on this, but I still highly suggest you pick this up if you haven’t already.
To add some patrioticness I applied Julep America as an accent nail. It is a dense red glitter with larger silver and blue glitter and silver star glitter. I wanted to sponge it as a gradient, but didn’t expect it to be so dense and thick so it lost any sort of gradient I was going for.
America
I know it may not look it, but there is a good amount of star glitter in the polish. They just so happen to not be very visible from the bottle, but I had no issues finding any during application.
Orly Royal Navy (sun)
Orly Royal Navy (sun)
Orly Royal Navy (sun)
Orly Royal Navy
Orly Royal Navy
Orly Royal Navy (Look at the pretty shimmer!)
As I’m putting this post together I can hear the loud banging of the fireworks from the next town over. Tomorrow night is our fireworks. I am probably going to go just because my bestie tempted me with girl time and food. We’re avoiding the beach and hoping for less crowdedness at the park. If that fails at least we have food and bars. Although I have a feeling if things don’t work out we may find ourselves on a state wide search for the new Fergie WnW polishes!
Whether you’re celebrating the 4th of July or not hope you have a good one!
24 comments
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LittleMonsterx14
July 3, 2012 at 11:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
i love this as an accent nail!
LittleMonsterx14 recently posted..Cold Hearted
Frosso
July 4, 2012 at 10:00 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Artemis
July 4, 2012 at 1:00 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This is really pretty. It’s understated compared to all the loud 4th of July nails out there. I love that blue…it’s gorgeous. How do you feel about Julep polishes overall? I kind of want to try them but I don’t want to sign up for a box so maybe I will buy one at Sephora.
Artemis recently posted..Color Club Wham! Pow!
Frosso
July 4, 2012 at 9:58 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thanks
I’m kind of “eh” about Julep. from the ones I have the quality is good, but they are not worth the $14 price tag at all. I had bought 3 for the first time last year when there was a deal on Living Social, or Groupon..can’t remember. I liked my polishes but I got them for real cheap. The boxes are much better cost wise then paying $14 a piece, but at the same time you are limited by what colors each box offers. I was let down by my one mystery box and their penny box…it always seems like they just put colors that weren’t popular and they had too much stock of ya know. I am 90% happy with this one, but I do intend on canceling since $19.99 a month is an unnecessary expense right now. I still think they aren’t worth $14 each…there’s nothing really special about them that sets them apart from the $8 polishes.
Nuša
July 4, 2012 at 3:04 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
So jealous!
Nuša recently posted..Dopey the "shifter"
Frosso
July 4, 2012 at 9:59 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Candy
July 4, 2012 at 1:25 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Captain America Nails!
I understand it’s an election year in the USA (we get beat over the head with it too, lol) and although I am not following American Politics as well as I should (it affects Canada to a certain extent) I keep hearing people getting so mad they are threatening to move to Canada. Our government isnt so hot right now either though, heh. We’re pretty under-populated so you are more than welcome!
Candy recently posted..Happy Canada D-eh!
Frosso
July 4, 2012 at 2:35 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Lol thanks for the invite! I wouldn’t mind living in Canada, but I’d feel so sad not having access to some of my fave products..yes i’m that vein
I’m not one of those people who are so mad at the healthcare that I’m packing my bags and crossing the border don’t get me wrong! But right now America is not so beautiful to me right now…more frustrating than anything.
Lauren Christie Mary
July 4, 2012 at 5:34 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
PERFECTLY PATRIOTIC!!! AMAZING!!!
Frosso
July 4, 2012 at 5:55 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yaaaaay thanks!
drinkcitra
July 4, 2012 at 11:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Loving your mani! The accent is perfect
Enjoy your 4th of July!
drinkcitra recently posted..4th of July Mani
Frosso
July 5, 2012 at 11:04 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thanks! Hope you had a good one too
amanda (mae)
July 5, 2012 at 10:58 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
love these ! I have nominated you for the Beautiful Blogger award, post found here: http://maesbeauty.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/beautiful-blogger-award-d/
amanda (mae) recently posted..Beautiful Blogger Award
Frosso
July 5, 2012 at 11:04 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yay! Thanks!!
Meredith
July 5, 2012 at 4:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Looks beautiful!
Meredith recently posted..Color Club Edie
Frosso
July 5, 2012 at 11:04 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thank you
adri
July 5, 2012 at 11:40 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This looks so ridiculously sparkly and pretty, I love it!
adri recently posted..Happy 4th of July!
Frosso
July 6, 2012 at 2:14 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
hehe thank you!
Nicole
July 6, 2012 at 11:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Oooh political post! haha, jk. Dang I like that blue!! In some of your pictures it looks like a gradient. I had to re-read your post to make sure you didn’t say you did a gradient with the polish. I think your nails look great but I’m not a fan of that America polish…. it just looks too chunky. I saw a swatch of it on Instagram (for the life of me I can’t remember who did it, some well-known blogger though) and it was just soooo chunky looking that’s all I can think of when I see it. I would like to try one of their boxes at some point, but only for dirt cheap. I haven’t really heard of anyone who loves their polishes and for $14 bucks… they better be something special.
Nicole recently posted..Stamped and Dotted Nails
Frosso
July 6, 2012 at 11:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Man…I thought no one would notice! A lot of the pics I took in the sun kinda gave it a weird faded gradient look. I don’t know why it did that, I think it was just the angle the sun was hitting it. America is pretty chunky, thats why I only did like half a nail haha and it was a pain to take off even just that. The idea of America reminded me of Dollish Polish’s Its a Me Mario, which I like much more.
Ryan @DreaminOfPolish
July 7, 2012 at 4:54 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
can’t tell you how much i love love love this mani….its freakin gorgeous & creative. and thank you for inspiring me to actually use my Orly “Royal Navy”…i bought it in April & still haven’t used it! miss you on my blog! love yah girl! hope u had a Happy 4th!
Ryan @DreaminOfPolish recently posted..Mint Mojito
Frosso
July 7, 2012 at 9:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yaaaay you’re back! Haven’t seen you in the twitter/blogging world in some time now. Hope all is well…and get on that Royal Navy asap!
NailsLikeLace
July 9, 2012 at 5:43 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I used America and it was the worst crap ever for me! Mine was thick, gunky, goopy, and just a nasty mess! It does look good with this blue, though! =P
Frosso
July 9, 2012 at 7:58 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yea mine was pretty thick too, my gradient turned into more of a blob because of it. Oh well!