Today, I'm showing you one of the polishes I received with my October Julep Maven box: Jaime, a vivid blue that applied beautifully. It was nearly opaque in one streak-free coat, and completely opaque in two. This blue, which I would describe as Smurf blue, dried to a glossy finish.
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| Julep Jaime. Inside, artificial light |
At this point, I was in love with Jaime. Until I removed it:
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| Julep Jaime: The Aftermath |
Although it's not uncommon for blue polishes to stain the nail, Jaime is the stainer to end all stainers. I took this photo after considerable effort to remove the polish with remover alone, and naturally, I had been wearing a base coat. Polish remover got me only so far--next came buffing, followed by brushing my nails and surrounding skin with whitening toothpaste, which removed most, but not all, of what remained of Jaime.
Conclusions:
If you're willing to put up with the extent to which Jaime stains the nails and surrounding skin, this vivid blue may make a nice addition to your collection; however, if you're looking for something relatively easy to remove, this polish isn't for you.
Update:
Response from Julep:
Thank you for your email. I am sincerely sorry to hear about your experience with Jamie. Have you read Jane’s new Blog? She just talked about staining colors, since so many of us use dark or pigmented colors in the fall. Do you have any cuticle softener? That is what we use in our salons for removing stains as well. We can send you a sample if you do not have any. Please let us know if we can help any other way, or if you have any other questions.
And now a second response from Julep:
I am sorry to get your
hopes up, the cuticle softener we use in our salon is actually on for
professional use, so I am not able to send you a sample. We are in the
works of developing one for retail, hopefully out in the summer. Our
product development team also wanted me to mention the main ingredient
in the cuticle softener/remover we use has Potassium Hydroxide in it.
Which there are brands of cuticle softener that you can purchases with
it over the counter. I have passed your original email about Jamie on to
them as well. Please let me know if I can help in any other way
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Until next time, sending you lab love!
ouch! this looks really bad! i never had staining because of blue nailpolishes, maybe because when i remove it i put the pad with the remover on the nail for a few seconds and only then remove the polish (not in circular moves, only from the skin to the tip, and repeat)
ReplyDeletetry it? maybe it works for you ^^
Alex--trust me, I tried keeping a remover-soaked pad on my nails for a while. Like quite a while. But NOTHING works on this polish. I pretty much know every trick in the book for getting rid of/preventing staining, but this is genuinely the worst staining polish I've ever used. NOT FUN! Too bad because it applied so nicely and I liked the color.
ReplyDeletedarn, i would never use it again! if my nails looked like that in the end it sure isn't worth it :s
ReplyDeletetoo bad because it really does look nice! what about layering it over another blue?
Hmmm. . . layering *might* work. Or maybe I'll try water-marbling with it and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestion!
ReplyDeleteyou're welcome ;) good luck! I wanna see your water marble if you do decide to make it :D
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm feeling ambitious enough to tackle Jaime again! Ha ha!
ReplyDeleteAllison maybe you should return it. I did that with a polish that stained excessively and they took it back (not Julep though).
ReplyDeleteAce--well, based on what they've said to someone else who complained about the staining, I don't think they'll take it back. I will, however, be contacting them. Their response to the other person (on FB page) was basically, "blues can stain. Use a base coat."
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking how gorgeous this colour looked and then I saw your sad stained nail =( that sucks so bad! I've encountered the same issue with a dark green, it took forever before the nasty stains were finally grown out. I've looked at it since but never dared to wear it again though have used it for minor detailing in nail art. Some polishes stain yes but if they stain as badly as this they should fix the formula tbh!
ReplyDeletewow! that looks rough! I'm still trying to get the diamond don't teal my heart off my toe nails!
ReplyDeleteEeewwww! I've had hands look like that from procion dye while tie dying. I washed my hands in bleach and that got most of it. But geez, just a little nail polish did that much damage?! I'd probably trash it.
ReplyDeleteVery Emily--yes, my sad, stained nail! Kinda feel sorry for it, don't ya? What green stained your nails this badly (so I don't buy it!)? I agree--some staining, okay. But this bad? Fix the formula.
ReplyDeleteJeanne--yeah, rough doesn't begin to describe it! LOL. Okay, I won't be buying Don't Teal My Heart! Thanks for the warning.
Denise--yes, ewww. Really, really ewww.
All--I've talked to several people who've tried this polish and all have had terrible staining problems, with the exception of one very lucky person. I don't know whether that one person got a different batch from the rest of us or what. Anywho, I've contacted Julep. We'll see what they say. I was anxious to get this post up to warn everyone about this polish!
Allison, I totally do feel sorry! It's so sad looking!!! The colour that ruined mine was a limited edition one by Essence called Back To Paradise, I think it was from last year so you shouldn't be able to accidentally buy it haha! I am sort of okay with staining, I've learned to accept it but my nails were so bad after that one polish it was criminal haha! Hopefully Julep will do something about this, thanks for warning the rest of us. However pretty the colour may be if it leaves your nails in an awful state like this it's best to avoid it!
ReplyDeleteEmily--thanks for filling us in on that green polish. Glad it's not something I might "accidentally" buy. I buy a *lot* of greens, so I was kinda worried!
ReplyDeleteMe too! I love greens and blues which is why I have come to accept staining haha.
ReplyDeleteHey Allison, my bad! I do Not have Jamie, I have Taylor!! Another deep bluey color from Julep.
ReplyDeleteI've had no trouble w/staining from Taylor.
Sorry about the mis-info!
Debbie ;)
Debbie--oh, okay. That makes sense. I was wondering what the heck kind of teflon fingernails you have that you didn't get staining! LOL
ReplyDeleteDef. Not using the Jaime I got with my October box. :( And I thought it looked so pretty in the bottle. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteYeah Allison! I was wondering the same thing!!
ReplyDeleteSorry for the mis-info again! Taylor is a beautiful purply blue? I'm awful at describing colors! No staining w/it tho & it's highly pigmented.
Hopefully, Jaimie is just a bad batch-such a pretty 'smurf blue'!!
Debbie ; )
Wow! I got this one in my box too. Now I'm afraid to put it on. Its such a nice color.
ReplyDeleteDebbie--I think I have Taylor on my wishlist. If not, I'm going to add it because it sounds beautiful.
ReplyDeleteTess--I know; it's disappointing! The color is so pretty. Maybe some people might find it worth dealing with the staining. I'm not that person!
KayJay--well, if you *do* feel brave enough to put it on, I'd do a ridge filler over a base coat. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did--let me know if you try it.
All--let's hope Julep does something to fix the formula!
WOw! That really stained your nails and finger!
ReplyDeleteI guess this would be a stamping only polish haha!
ReplyDeleteOh, stamping! That's what I could do with it! Thanks--now it might actually get some use! :)
ReplyDelete