Julep Maven: November and December's boxes Julep is a hand, nail and foot care subscription service based in Seattle, WA. They're actually a nail parlor with three locations in the Seattle area. The cost for each box is $19.99 monthly but if you live in a taxable state there is also tax on the box. My subscription after tax is $21.89.
Originally I wrote this blog entry at the beginning of December (12/3/11 at 2:17 PM to be exact) but didn't share until now because I couldn't find my camera's transfer cable (I have two and both were missing) so this blog entry has been completely revised of my original article since at the time I didn't know if I was going to continue my subscription or not. I did post on Make Up Talk back in November about signing up for Julep.
Julep is another subscription/member service and like Birchbox there are referral perks - $15 for each person who signs up via your referral link. As I mentioned before the monthly cost is $19.99 plus any applicable tax. The nice thing about Julep is you CAN skip the following month by the 25th of each month otherwise on the 27th of the month you're charged the subscription fee. Other than that there are no perks like Birchbox review points.
There are five different styles - American Beauty, It Girl, Bombshell, Classic with a Twist and Boho Glam. The style chosen for you is done via a quiz but I found you can change it if you don't like the style picked for you. Each month, unless you skip or cancel, the box that is sent out is based on the style picked for you by the quiz you took when you signed up. My style is American Beauty.
I ordered my first box in November on the the 10th. The package arrived in my mail box within a week. According to my email they sent me notification of the first package sent on November 14 and the box arrived on November 16. Pretty fast service.
I had used the promo code NOVEMBER and so my first box was $5 plus tax ($6.90 total) and these are the items I received in my first Julep Maven box.
I received a black quilted makeup bag (sells on their site for $14.99) and inside was the Julep Pout Plumping Lip Gloss ($18) called Arousal (that color is currently not sold on their site).
I did try it and didn't get the super tingly feeling I get like with Smashbox's plumping lipgloss but then again even that doesn't plump up my lips. The color is pretty but it really didn't last a long time on my lips, few lip glosses do.
The nail polish sent to me was called Trina ($14) which is described on the Julep site as a "Deep aubergine". Aubergine, for those like me who had to break out the dictionary, is another word for eggplant. *lol* I don't think it's really an eggplant color but it is a beautiful shade of deep purple.
Also in the bag were sample sizes of Age Defying Hand Brightener, Glycolic Hand Scrub and SPF 30 Hand Cream. These were one time use sample packets and I think they were 0.07 oz each.
Since November was my daughter's birth month I signed her up for a subscription as well, for under $7 I figured it was worth it however she skipped December and January's boxes because she didn't want to pay almost $22 on a few polishes. Her style is It Girl.
I liked her box since she received three polishes and a nail therapy. Like my box, her first box was $6.90 after tax. Her three polishes were Trina ($14), Christina ($14) and Kim ($14) plus the Nail Therapy ($16). I think she got a better deal since she got four products while I only got two (plus the bag). I remember she did get two samples but can't recall what those samples were.
Christina is described as a "Shimmery, deep orange--not as red as it might appear on your screen" when in reality it's a nice deep fully-ripen pumpkin orange. It does have a red tinge to it but it was still more orange than red. Kim is described as "Dark, gunmetal grey" and I thought it was more a light pewter color than gunmetal grey.
As I mentioned, she skipped December but I did choose to get my December box. In that box I got one polish, a top coat, a cream and some "glitter" that reminded me of "googly" eyes than glitter.
The nail polish in my American Classic box for December is called Helena ($14) which is described as an "ultra-saturated fuchsia". It's BRIGHT. I thought it was a pretty color in the bottle but not so much on my skin tone.
The "bonus" item, I guess that's what it was, was described as glitter but like I mentioned above it looked more like "googly eyes".
The Pomegranate Body Creme is sold on Julep's site as a set of two for $36 which means if these were sold separately they would retail for $18. It's a nice size container - 4 oz - and it smells nice but to be honest I wouldn't spend $18 on 4 oz of body cream when I can get my favorite Korres body butter (7.95 oz) for $29 on Sephora. The price difference is $7 and sure you get 0.05 oz more Julep body creme but you pay $7 more for it.
My daughter did use her polishes and found that the polish chipped within a few days (I think it was three days) but she applied her polish on bare nails that hadn't been prepped. I applied my polish on a buffed nail then applied a base coat and found the polish to have lasted almost a week before I noticed any chipping or flaking (if I recall it lasted about five days).
My only complaint about the polish is the size, I expect polish to chip and flake and have yet to find a polish that lasted on my nails more than a week before chipping or flaking. Sure it looks pretty large due to the shape of the bottle BUT the amount you get is actually around half the size of OPI, Sinful Colors or China Glaze polishes (full size bottles are 0.50 oz). The Julep polishes are only 0.27 oz / 8 mL. The Zoya mini polish I received in my November Birchbox was 0.25 oz / 7 mL so for $14 (regular Julep price) I don't think it's worth the price tax. Consider this, Deborah Lippman polishes are $18 but you get a full size bottle of 0.50 oz. So for $4 more you get twice the amount of polish, that's if you like "designer" polishes, me I like any polish so long as it's gorgeous and wears well.
As I said, I skipped January's box for two reasons - 1) I hadn't posted this blog entry on my November and December boxes (camera transfer cable if you remember) and 2) the price - at almost $22 a month I just didn't feel like spending it on the January box which a preview was available by the 25th of December. Here's what I would have received if I opted not to skip the month.
The other styles for the month of January are:
Is it worth it? I honestly don't know. As I mentioned before the polish sizes are roughly half that of a full size OPI or China Glaze. Granted I get my polishes at 50% discount since I have accounts with my local beauty distributors but still retail price on OPI is roughly $8 and around $6 for China Glaze plus when it's on sale you can get it for even less. For me almost $22 for three products (in the January box) breaks down to roughly $7.33 an item which is roughly the same price as OPI or China Glaze but you get LESS polish. I think that's my biggest beef with Julep is the amount of polish you get. If it were full size (0.50 oz) and at that price then I would say yes it's worth it but I really don't think it is at 0.27 oz of polish. The other items - the scrubs, body cremes, etc are nice but still I'm not sure if I would buy the items on their own if it weren't for the Julep Maven program.
Originally I wrote this blog entry at the beginning of December (12/3/11 at 2:17 PM to be exact) but didn't share until now because I couldn't find my camera's transfer cable (I have two and both were missing) so this blog entry has been completely revised of my original article since at the time I didn't know if I was going to continue my subscription or not. I did post on Make Up Talk back in November about signing up for Julep.
Julep is another subscription/member service and like Birchbox there are referral perks - $15 for each person who signs up via your referral link. As I mentioned before the monthly cost is $19.99 plus any applicable tax. The nice thing about Julep is you CAN skip the following month by the 25th of each month otherwise on the 27th of the month you're charged the subscription fee. Other than that there are no perks like Birchbox review points.
There are five different styles - American Beauty, It Girl, Bombshell, Classic with a Twist and Boho Glam. The style chosen for you is done via a quiz but I found you can change it if you don't like the style picked for you. Each month, unless you skip or cancel, the box that is sent out is based on the style picked for you by the quiz you took when you signed up. My style is American Beauty.
I ordered my first box in November on the the 10th. The package arrived in my mail box within a week. According to my email they sent me notification of the first package sent on November 14 and the box arrived on November 16. Pretty fast service.
I had used the promo code NOVEMBER and so my first box was $5 plus tax ($6.90 total) and these are the items I received in my first Julep Maven box.
I received a black quilted makeup bag (sells on their site for $14.99) and inside was the Julep Pout Plumping Lip Gloss ($18) called Arousal (that color is currently not sold on their site).
I did try it and didn't get the super tingly feeling I get like with Smashbox's plumping lipgloss but then again even that doesn't plump up my lips. The color is pretty but it really didn't last a long time on my lips, few lip glosses do.
The nail polish sent to me was called Trina ($14) which is described on the Julep site as a "Deep aubergine". Aubergine, for those like me who had to break out the dictionary, is another word for eggplant. *lol* I don't think it's really an eggplant color but it is a beautiful shade of deep purple.
Also in the bag were sample sizes of Age Defying Hand Brightener, Glycolic Hand Scrub and SPF 30 Hand Cream. These were one time use sample packets and I think they were 0.07 oz each.
Since November was my daughter's birth month I signed her up for a subscription as well, for under $7 I figured it was worth it however she skipped December and January's boxes because she didn't want to pay almost $22 on a few polishes. Her style is It Girl.
I liked her box since she received three polishes and a nail therapy. Like my box, her first box was $6.90 after tax. Her three polishes were Trina ($14), Christina ($14) and Kim ($14) plus the Nail Therapy ($16). I think she got a better deal since she got four products while I only got two (plus the bag). I remember she did get two samples but can't recall what those samples were.
Christina is described as a "Shimmery, deep orange--not as red as it might appear on your screen" when in reality it's a nice deep fully-ripen pumpkin orange. It does have a red tinge to it but it was still more orange than red. Kim is described as "Dark, gunmetal grey" and I thought it was more a light pewter color than gunmetal grey.
As I mentioned, she skipped December but I did choose to get my December box. In that box I got one polish, a top coat, a cream and some "glitter" that reminded me of "googly" eyes than glitter.
The nail polish in my American Classic box for December is called Helena ($14) which is described as an "ultra-saturated fuchsia". It's BRIGHT. I thought it was a pretty color in the bottle but not so much on my skin tone.
The "bonus" item, I guess that's what it was, was described as glitter but like I mentioned above it looked more like "googly eyes".
The Pomegranate Body Creme is sold on Julep's site as a set of two for $36 which means if these were sold separately they would retail for $18. It's a nice size container - 4 oz - and it smells nice but to be honest I wouldn't spend $18 on 4 oz of body cream when I can get my favorite Korres body butter (7.95 oz) for $29 on Sephora. The price difference is $7 and sure you get 0.05 oz more Julep body creme but you pay $7 more for it.
My daughter did use her polishes and found that the polish chipped within a few days (I think it was three days) but she applied her polish on bare nails that hadn't been prepped. I applied my polish on a buffed nail then applied a base coat and found the polish to have lasted almost a week before I noticed any chipping or flaking (if I recall it lasted about five days).
My only complaint about the polish is the size, I expect polish to chip and flake and have yet to find a polish that lasted on my nails more than a week before chipping or flaking. Sure it looks pretty large due to the shape of the bottle BUT the amount you get is actually around half the size of OPI, Sinful Colors or China Glaze polishes (full size bottles are 0.50 oz). The Julep polishes are only 0.27 oz / 8 mL. The Zoya mini polish I received in my November Birchbox was 0.25 oz / 7 mL so for $14 (regular Julep price) I don't think it's worth the price tax. Consider this, Deborah Lippman polishes are $18 but you get a full size bottle of 0.50 oz. So for $4 more you get twice the amount of polish, that's if you like "designer" polishes, me I like any polish so long as it's gorgeous and wears well.
As I said, I skipped January's box for two reasons - 1) I hadn't posted this blog entry on my November and December boxes (camera transfer cable if you remember) and 2) the price - at almost $22 a month I just didn't feel like spending it on the January box which a preview was available by the 25th of December. Here's what I would have received if I opted not to skip the month.
The other styles for the month of January are:
Is it worth it? I honestly don't know. As I mentioned before the polish sizes are roughly half that of a full size OPI or China Glaze. Granted I get my polishes at 50% discount since I have accounts with my local beauty distributors but still retail price on OPI is roughly $8 and around $6 for China Glaze plus when it's on sale you can get it for even less. For me almost $22 for three products (in the January box) breaks down to roughly $7.33 an item which is roughly the same price as OPI or China Glaze but you get LESS polish. I think that's my biggest beef with Julep is the amount of polish you get. If it were full size (0.50 oz) and at that price then I would say yes it's worth it but I really don't think it is at 0.27 oz of polish. The other items - the scrubs, body cremes, etc are nice but still I'm not sure if I would buy the items on their own if it weren't for the Julep Maven program.