Saturday, October 6, 2012

SUEDE POLISH: Julep or Avon?

So what do you do? Do you opt for the 14.00/17.50CAD Julep suede polishes, or do you cheap out and get the Avon ones for 3.99? IS buying the Avon option cheaping out? Or are they as good? Are they better? Here we go. The head to head match up. 

FORMULA:
For formula I have to give the point to Julep. The Julep Formula was EXACTLY what I expected from a suede polish. Thick but not goopy, easy to apply, streak free and a one coater. They dry in about 30 seconds and are problem free. 

The Avon ones are inconsistent. The blue one, Blue Royale, was by far the best of the bunch. Read the description of Julep formula and that is what you have! The worst of the bunch of  was Fuchsia Feel. It was slightly TOO thick, took much longer than the rest to dry (about two minutes, which for suedes is a LONG time), and dries to an almost suede but not quite. I would say its almost more a matte metallic than a suede. Platinum Beauty was sheer and needs two coats which is not the biggest issue but should be noted. The other 3 have ok formulas but nothing fantastic. And they all take about a minute or so to dry completely, which again, is not bad but is longer than I would expect for a suede polish. 

COLOUR:
For colour, Avon wins hands down. The colours are FAR more saturated and so much deeper and brighter and more vibrant. Nothing else really to say on that point. The one exception would be the silver. If you want a good suede silver, skip Platinum Beauty. Its not anywhere near as nice, vibrant or pretty a finish as Julep Brit

FINISH:
Julep is the winner in this category. The Juleps for the most part dry to a more standard suede finish. The Avon polishes are inconsistent. Fuchsia Feel doesn't dry to a completely suede finish. Also once more, Platinum Beauty is very sheer and dries kind of streaky. Not the most ideal. That being said, the Avon polishes have a lot more silver shimmer in them and are really pretty. 

PACKAGING/BRUSH
I must say I actually LOVE the brush on the Avon one. Its flat and big enough to get the job done and not too big that it is problematic. Most of you have probably experienced the Julep brushes already and they are fine. Nothing special, but nothing bad or problematic. The one big thing to note is the handle of the Avon. I HATE IT!! I really really do. it is short and square and the square is a harsh square that makes holding very uncomfortable. I find it a PITA. Now being as that you only need one coat each you are not holding them too long but it still is a horrible handle to hold. 

PRICE:
Ok, so its not even close to a debate on this one. Let's stick with the American pricing as that will be the simplest to compare. The Julep are $14 for 8mls. That works out to be $1.75 per ml. The Avon polishes are currently 3.99 but the regular price is $6 for 12mls. That works out to be $.50 per ml. That makes the Juleps more than THREE TIMES the price!!!

SUMMARY:
Which to choose will come down to two things.  Price and colours. The truth is that formula and finish are nice to be top notch, but aside from Platinum Beauty none of the polishes are problematic enough to warrant not buying. I will compare all the colours below but basically I would say you NEED Julep Brit and Avon Blue Royale. All the rest are a matter of preference. The one advantage is that you can walk in to Sephora right now and play with the Julep ones. You can NOT however walk in to an Avon store and try them on. If you have an Avon consultant already maybe they have some to try but that might be a factor as well that I thought was worth mentioning. 



The first two polishes to compare are Julep Minka (left below) and Avon Sumptuous Rose (right below). Minka is more a copper and the avon one is more a rose gold. I really like both though colour wise I like the Avon one better and the finish seems a little more suede like on the Julep one. So I say both! I think it will just be preference but the price might push the Avon one up a bit for many!






Next up is Julep Nora (below left) and Avon Soft Violet (right below). For this one Nora is more of a purple tinged grey where as Soft Violet is a deep bright purple. It is a near identical dupe of one of the OPI suedes, but I will discuss the OPI suedes in a separate post. The formula on these is better on the Julep by a bit but the colour and depth of the Avon one make it an easy win. Go with the Avon!!






Next up is Amber on the bottom left and Touch of Taupe on the bottom right. These ones are both good and really none of them have anything wrong with them. So its once more which colour you like more. Or which price you like more. The Avon one as you can see is much deeper and more pigmented, but that might not be everyone's cup of tea. I would love to see Touch Of Taupe compared to You Don't Know Jacques Suede from OPI but I do not have it so I can not compare them.







If you have not yet guessed what I am going to say about this match up - SKIP Platinum Beauty (below right). It is streaky, sheer, not quite as pigmented as it should be and dries to a kind of flat/matte metallic, not a true suede.







Here is Hailee from Julep. If you want a green, you have to go with Julep. Avon does not have one.





And Blue Royale from Avon. As said before, the best of the set. The most smooth, fastest drying, most bright and pigmented and just gorgeous. Its the one I am wearing on my nails right now! And Julep has no blue so if looking for blue it is the only option.





Fuchsia Feel is again one that does not compare to anything Julep has so if you want this colour, no choice here. I as you all know by now HATE pink, but it leans very purple and I must admit I kind of like it! Once it dried I realized I WOULD wear this colour!



Compared with the rose gold and copper to give you and idea of how the colour lines.


3 comments:

  1. I have to say Avon. I think the colors just look richer. But thats just me!

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  3. Very nice post! I'm waiting for the Julep box that I accidentally bought (forgot to skip) so I'm interested in seeing the shades. I was bummed that I didn't switch to the box that had Nora because my daughter's name is Nora but really, the colour is not really the best so in a way, it worked out.

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