Julep Gayle & Dior Purple Mix Swatches & Comparisons

So a lovely lady I know was honoured to get this BEAUTIFUL wonderful purple crème colour from Julep named after her. So the minute I found out this little piece of information, Gayle SKYROCKETED to the top of my wishlist. I knew I HAD to have it. And to know that it was not only named after one of my favourite people,but that it was my favourite COLOUR?? How much better was it going to get than that??? But when it actually came, would I STILL love it just as much?? As it turns out, YES!!!

The colour is creamy and smooth, easy to apply, and opaque in one coat. And lets be honest, I EXPECT that out of Julep. I dream of the day they come out with the Dior brush. That day I will do the dance of joy (Perfect Strangers anyone?? You be Larry, I'll be Balky!). The colour is a deep, clear, true purple. It doesnt lean blue, it doesnt lean red or pink, its just a great purple!

The closest thing I had in my stash (and I have more than 60 purples) was Dior Purple Mix from the Rock Your Nails collection. The Dior one is slightly lighter and has a slightly dustier, greyer tinge to it than the Gayle as you can see in the swatches below. Which one should you get? Well, Dior has the brush. The wonderful, amazing, paint your entire nail in one swipe of the brush brush. The Julep will take a little more in the swiping department, but needs one coat whereas Dior certainly needs two. The Julep is 14.00 for just under 8 ml of polish, whereas the Dior is 10 ml for about 21.00, so Julep wins the price war. Basically, which shade do YOU like better? I personally need BOTH!!!

Juelp Gayle, Dior Purple Mix

Julep Maggie, Butter London Prince's Plums & Illamasqua Baptiste Swatches & Comparisons

So seeing as how Maggie is an option you can get in the upcoming Julep Maven Box I figured I should post comparisons of this colour as fast as I could. And since I have a zillion and three purple polishes it should be easy, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!! Julep Maggie is so completely unique and unlike any other purple polish I own. It is described as a frosty amethyst, and a gemstone in a bottle

Now let me start by saying they are all totally different. Julep Maggie leans navy when painted, but is still very purple. Princes plum is FAR FAR FAR lighter on the nail than in the bottle and leans more magenta. Illamasqua is much more purple and lacks the blue leaning tinge in the Julep.

Butter London All Hale The Queen (McQueen) & Julep Whitney Swatches & Comparisons.

When I first opened up my Julep order that contained Whitney all I could think was it was a crème version of Butter London's All Hale McQueen (The Queen, depending on when you purchased it). It looked to me to be the same colour without the shimmer.

Now as you can see in the swatches below I was very very wrong. The Julep one is much more purple/grey tinged than the All Hale the Queen as well as lacking all the shimmer!!! They are two completely unique and beautiful colours and I certainly think you  need both. The swatches below are one coat of the Julep, and two coats of the Butter London.

Illamasqua Stagnate, Essie Merino Cool & Julep Toni Swatches & Comparisons

So I recently purchased Julep Toni and Whitney with referral credits I had and purchased them both unsure of what I was getting. First up is Julep Toni. I LOVE IT!!!!!! Its a grey, no its a brown, no its purple...... Its all of that and more!!!

Julep describes Toni as grey with a hint of purple. I see brown in it too. Its kind of chocolatey-mushroom-grey-purple hybrid. AND I LOVE IT! Its funny. I don't wear salon brand polishes in general but Essie Merino Cool was one that made me stop and pick it up, and they are certainly very close!!! I think though Illamasqua Stagnate is slightly more brown/mushroom leaning, Essie is more grey leaning, and the Julep one is more purple leaning. Toni might also be a teeny tiny bit darker. But by a shade. And in this comparison, Julep is the clear winner. (Can you BELIEVE i chose something over an Illamasqua shade??!!) Now don't get me wrong. Application on Julep and Illamasqua are both SUPERB. But I personally prefer the little extra purple in the Julep shade myself.  Both are opaque in one thick or two thin coats, both wear flawlessly. The Essie one is certainly not as great a formula, but for under 10.00, its certainly a comparable colour at a cheaper price!!

Stagnate, Toni, Merino Cool

Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal & Julep Jamie Swatches & Comparisons

I have so many blues and purples in  my stash, I honestly thought it would be a PIECE OF CAKE to find dupes of my Julep blues and purples. But I was wrong. Julep Jamie is such a beautiful shade, but very unique in my stash. The closest I had was Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal.

As you can see, RBL Teal is much darker. Probably a good 3-4 shades darker and has more of a green hint to it than the Julep one. Julep Jamie was part of the Summer 2011 collection and is described as  an ultra-saturated, dark turquoise. It seems to be sold out, but since it was taken down due to being part of last months maven box, it might be just not back on the website yet.

Julep Amy & Butter London Artful Dodger Swatches & Comparisons

The closest comparison I could come up with to Julep Amy in my stash Was Butter London Artful Dodger. Julep Amy was part of the Spring 2011 collection and is described as a smoky turquoise. Artful Dodger is a smidgen lighter (maybe a shade) with a slight hint of green in it, but are very similar. If you already have Artful Dodger you could easily skip Amy. If however you do NOT have both, I would go for the Julep one. It is opaque in one coat where as the Butter London takes 2 and to be honest, Julep polishes are just a dream to work with!

New!!! Stila Makes Nail Polish!!

Stila is coming out with TWO nail polish sets! Their website offers the Daring Collection:

And the Delicate Collection:

At 0.25 fl. oz. a bottle with a $24.00 price tag per collection it makes each polish $6.00!!! Which set are YOU getting? I will certainly not be running out to get these, need to work on my holiday wishlist first, but if they are still around January time I will certainly pick them up!

Julep November Maven Polishes - A Closer Look

So there seems to be a big consensus that people want to see the polishes closer than the little preview email. Julep doesn't have any of the polishes on their website that are in the current boxes so it creates a problem.  To help you all out, here are closer pics of all the colours with the descriptions that used to be on the Julep website.

Julep Boho Glam November Maven Box Preview

Julep Bombshell November Maven Box Preview