Woooo! A few weeks ago I saw a promo for a 1 penny Julep Maven box (yes – a penny!! I’ll put the new code they sent me to share at the bottom of this post) and of course ordered it right away – and today it finally arrived!
I was super exhausted coming home from class but perked up right away seeing this box :)
The box was really cute with red and gold confetti and a big red ribbon tying together all the goodies. They enclosed a letter welcoming me to Julep and explaining how the box works, plus a postcard with a description of the products.
All of my goodies! Viola, "deepest dark purple creme" ($14), Oscar, "ultra chic, multi-dimensional gold glitter" ($14), Julep Topcoat for Hair ($16), and a 2mL sample of their SPF 30 handcream.
You have to take this quiz that matches you up with the box that best suits your personality, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the American Beauty box, so I picked Bombshell! I thought the purple looked gorg and I’m super excited to try out the topcoat for hair – basically it’s supposed to be like, well, topcoat, but for your hair instead of your nails to make it super shiny.
Viola - super gorgeous dark purple. This is after two coats with no topcoat. The lighting makes it look a little brown but it's a dark dark glossy purple with no shimmer that reminds me of an intensely hued red wine. This colour was too pretty to resist - I did my nails right away after opening my box.
The boxes are normally $19.99, so I wasn’t really planning on continuing my subscription but I’ve gotta say – I am such a huge fan of their nail polishes now!! I haven’t yet tried the gold Oscar nail polish, but this purple one was soo nice to put on. Just one coat and it was pretty much opaque. When I first pulled out the brush I was a little worried because it was so thin but it was pretty easy to use. The formula is so beautifully smooth it doesn’t show brush strokes at all and dries super glossy and smooth. It’s definitely dries smoother and is more pigmented than most of my OPI, Nicole, Essie, etc. nailpolishes. Though at $14 a bottle for probably less than half the volume, it better!
I did some reading up on Julep before I ordered as well, and I think it’s a really great company. I’m still definitely on the lookout for an opening for Topbox or Luxebox but I think Julep does have a few things on these other beauty subscriptions. For one, you actually get to see what you’ll be getting each month, and change it if you don’t like it. And if you don’t like any of the options, you can just skip that month completely for free, which is what I’ve been worried about with these other subscriptions. Besides that, I really like the message that they’re putting across – it’s all about empowering and inspiring women, and I love that they’re doing some CSR by donating a dollar from each sale to organizations that support women.
Their “About” section reminds me of Lululemon’s manisfesto. Here’s one of my favourite lines:
“Beauty thinks we should all lighten up already.
Beauty is finding your own place in the world. Or making it up as you go along.“
However, as much as I like them, I think they’ve definitely got room for improvement. I really feel like the packaging is pretty lacklustre, especially compared to all the other gorgeous boxes out there! I’m going to recycle the box, because it honestly just isn’t pretty enough to warrant being reused :( I’m not a big fan of their printed materials either – I know I’m being picky but the pictures and text they used on their postcard and letter weren’t high resolution enough to print crisply, and the welcome letter is printed on plain printer paper and just folded up, which feels a bit cheap.
Overall though, I think although the price is higher than the typical box, it’s worth having a subscription to since the polishes are super fab quality and you can basically just skip months until you find a month with colours you like. I’m happy with my box :)
And like I said. The box was a penny!! Normally it’s $19.99 a month but they sent me a promo code (I think it’s only valid for March so get on it!) to share with friends/family so they can get a box for a penny too :) If you want one use “SHAREONMARCH” at www.julep.com
Ok, time for me to head to bed! I realized I haven’t posted in forever but I have tons of pictures from my last month in Europe still to post so I’ll try to get those up in the next few weeks :)
xx Betty
betty tang 