As I said before I'm going to give this themed day thing a try. At least for Sundays so that I might share with you all my boxes that I get.
The previous post about nails was actually intended to be this review, however, it got out of hand and ended up more of a story and tutorial than how I ended up with a nail polish subscription.
With my new-found obsession with my nails I thought to get nail polish and do them up occasionally. Well when I found Julep, it was love at first site. Let me tell you of my weakness: packaging. That's right, I am a total sucker for cute and well thought out packaging. So Julep's little stylish nail polish bottles and colors instantly attracted my attention. And the first box free? yes please!
So this review is my take on Julep Maven, its nail polishes, packaging, thriftiness, and cool factor. I paid out of my own pocket for this subscription. (so the company holds no power over my opinion) Julep is a monthly subscription box company that costs $24.99 a month, or $19.99 a month if you purchase three months at a time (which I did) When you become what they call a "Maven" you then receive a discount of 20% on all products and free shipping. Also there is the option of skipping a month of your subscription if you don't like the color collection, or (and here's the fun part) you can send a month to a friend as a surprise.
Also let me tell you that Julep knows how to keep a customer engaged in their products! They open your Maven Box from the 20th-24th of each month. This is the opportunity to select your nail polish colors, swap for beauty products, change your beauty profile, send your box to a friend, or say "naw, not this month". The boxes start shipping on the 27th. So as you are waiting for your box to come and you think you are done for the month they open a Secret Store. Only available to Mavens, this store usually opens on the 1st and contains items at deep discounts for a limited time period (maybe a week). Once the Secret Store goes away then you have a small break before Julep releases their Mystery Box on around the 15th. They curate one every month and try to make it season appropriate. Again they sing of amazing deals ($150 of product) for just $29.99. They do this EVERY month. Evil. Pure marketing evil genius.
So without further ado let's start out with the box. It was advertized to me as this:
So yes, with those bright colors dancing in my head I clicked on over to Julep's site and subscribed.
This is how it actually looks in real life:
Speaking of evil marketing ploys that I'm a sucker for: Julep also has an impulse buy screen right before you check out that has super deeply discounted items. So of course I added a base coat and another polish to my order!
So lets start with the polish. Like I said I'm a sucker for packaging and they have it down! So cute. Also they advertize their formulation as being 5-free (free of the chemicals Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, and Camphor) as well as having Oxygen Technology that lets your nails breathe 30% more. I'm always for a safer healthier way of doing things so I like that this company is ethical. They are also at the frontier to ending horrible and unhealthy working conditions in nail salons (chemicals, nail dust, nail chemicals, etc.). So yeah, an evil marketing genius company that somehow held on to its soul. Imagine that!
The first polish I tried on was the pale blue: Shelly. Which is gorgeous. Kind of a dusky robin's egg blue. I love it! So pretty and I got a lot of compliments while wearing it. Its formulation is a little thick so I had to take a little more care while applying it, but the extra effort was totally worth it!
The lip gloss in the color Graceful was the next item that I decided to try out. Its a super smooth gloss that isn't sticky and seems to last longer than any other glosses that I've tried. Also its neutral color is amazing for my pale skin and natural look that I like to rock. I put it next to a q-tip so you can get an idea of its size.
The other items I've tried actually were the add-ons I paid for at check out:
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| Oxygen Nail Treatment: Sheer Ivory |
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| Tamara |
Let me just say that I'm in love with this nail treatment. It makes my nails glow and still look natural. I didn't take a picture of it on but trust me it's worth the purchase.
I haven't had an opportunity to try out the other colors in the box but with summer around the corner these bright beauties are sure to get lots of uses!
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| Vicki |
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| Flora |
Overall my impression of Julep is a great one. The Welcome box came quickly and it was a treat to open. In fact I liked it so much I made an account for my Mother-in-law and got her a subscription for Mother's day! She's in love too.
Now for the critical part of this review because there has been a whole lot of positive. They are pricey. Normal retail value on their adorable but tiny bottles of nail polish is a whopping $14.00 ($11.20 with the 20% Maven discount). I find that crazy expensive for a tiny 8 mL (0.27 fl oz) bottle of polish. For reference a bottle of Essie polish is 13.5 mL (0.46 fl oz). So yes its pricey.
Now here is my take on why it still might be worth it.
I personally like having it delivered to my house, it's a fun service like recieving gifts every month.
I like that it is a box of curated colors I normally wouldn't be adventreous enough to try.
I like that when you get the 3 month subscription it ends up being around $6.67 a polish instead of full price.
I like that you earn points for every box you get and those points add up to free polishes.
I like that Julep will throw in a freebie or extra polish into boxes occassionally so it ends up being $5.00 a bottle.
I like that they have the impluse window with polishes for $5.00 each and a Secret Store that also has polishes for $5.00 each.
So, do I think Julep polish is worth $14.00? Nope. But is it worth $6.67? Or $5.00? Yep! Especially for 5-free ethical polish. (Again for reference Essie is only 3-free)
Well! That was a longer review than I thought it would be! I hope this helped you all to make an informed decision on whether or not purchasing a subscription is worth it. But I think for a little treat for yourself or even a loved one that is a polish addict at heart, Julep is great.
Remember, be kind to thyselves!
Jeanette
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