Julep Maven

I’m not sure if I mentioned it in another post, but a little while ago I ordered the Julep Maven box after watching a video review on the October box that mentioned a code that would get you the first month for only $5, which sounded like an awesome deal to me.

Now, before I get into the pictures and such of what I received, I’ll explain what Julep Maven actually is. Julep is an American nail polish (and I believe salon) company, and Julep Maven is basically their take on all the beauty boxes out there like Birchbox and Glymm box, only Julep focuses on nails and hands. For $19.99 per month, normal price, you get a box that contains, according to their site, at least $40 worth of products, which is why $5 for the first box seemed like such a great deal. Your first box always includes a full sized tube of their hand scrub as well as nail polishes.  Also, when you join, you complete a sort of survey so that they can classify your tastes in order to suggest the best boxes for you. I believe there are 6 categories, such as Boho Glam, American Beauty, and It Girl. One different thing about Julep is that they email you every month with what will be in your box, and you get to look through all of the boxes for the month and decide if you want yours, one from another category, or if you want to skip that month entirely, in which case you aren’t charged.

I took the quiz a couple times, admittedly, just to look at the different choices, and I ended up choosing American Beauty. In my box, I got the “Facial for Hands” Glycolic Hand Scrub, which comes in everyone’s first box, and 2 polishes: Alfre, which is a sort of metallic lavender colour, and Cameron, which is a simple, bright pink:

Above: This is how the Julep box looks when it arrives (alongside my November Glamour)
Below: inside the box… a bag…

The bag inside, front and back. Seems kind of unnecessary, but cute, especially with the pink ribbon what was tied around the handles.
(You can click on any of these pictures to see the larger image.)

The letters inside the box. The personalized touch of handwriting my name and the signature is kind of cute. I wonder how much time this takes her each month…

The card explaining the box’s contents

The wrapping on the polishes, and the colours themselves. The pink is called Cameron and the metallic purple is Alfre. Also, no, the pink on my nails isn't Cameron, it’s ELF’s Bubble Gum Pink, but they look very similar to me.

And this is the Glycolic Hand Scrub that comes in each introductory box. I keep meaning to try it out and forgetting about it…

And finally, the two sample packages that were thrown into the box. One is just a small sample of the hand scrub, and the other is a SPF 30 hand cream.

Although this was a great deal for $5, I won’t be continuing my subscription with Julep, because I can’t really afford to be spending $20 every month for nail polishes, especially if they aren’t of my choosing. If I was to spend that much on polish each month, I at least want to be able to choose my brands and colours. Also, at least for me, part of the charm of the Glymm box, and even Luxe box, is that you don’t know what you are getting every month, it’s like you’re getting a little surprise gift to yourself!

However, for those of you that are interested, I will point out a couple other things about this program. By becoming a Julep Maven, you also receive 20% off all purchases from their site, and for every polish bought from Julep, they donate $1 to women’s organizations. For referring people to Julep, you receive a $15 gift certificate for their site.  Finally, Julep Maven ships for free, even for Canadians, and obviously the program is available to Americans as well as Canadians. I think that’s it, but I’m sure if you have more questions, you can find your answers on their site.

Have you tried Julep Maven? What did you think?

And because I want to show them off, but I don’t think they warrant their own post:

I am absolutely loving my new bangs!