Julep Maven June Box Review

For more information on what the Julep Maven is I wrote an explanation of it late last year. This month though I customized the box so only one item is a surprise. Instead, I'll be doing reviews on the contents of my box.

Here are the promotional cards and extras from the box. If you can't read the 30% off code it is GOWILD.

Candy is always appreciated by me, so these fun lollipops will be eaten at some point.

Finally, they reformulated the Luxe Lip Conditioner, and so I'm interested to see how exactly I feel about it.

Konjac sponges are made from the fibrous root of
the Japanese konjac plant. One of their big boasts is
that these sponges are biodegradable. 

First (because it was the first thing I saw when I opened the box) was an extra I paid for. I've heard a lot of stuff about konjac sponges and I decided I might as well try it.

For non-mavens this sponge costs 12$

For mavens as an individual purchase this sponge costs 9.60$

For mavens as a box extra I think I paid (they won't give me the exact prices of each item in my box history)  7$.

This particular sponge is infused with charcoal. I am a huge fan of the recent activated charcoal movement and I recently had my wisdom teeth out so my cheeks aren't quite up for my Clarisonic yet.

This sponge comes on a string with a suction cup, which is really convenient but means you ultimately create more waste because the string and the suction cup aren't compostable while the sponge is, and you can't buy this particular sponge in any sort of refill pack. It is also wet when you receive it. I tried to get some of moisture droplets off the film plastic for the photo, but they actually wet the sponge and stick it in a sealed container. I don't know about you, but that just sounds like a recipe for mold and mildew.

The sponge itself is an incredibly gentle exfoliant, my skin isn't particularly sensitive, and I don't usually wash my face more than once a day but this would probably be great for people who do. I've used it a few times and it keeps my face clean but I wouldn't say it magically clears up any of my breakouts or clogged pores.

Ultimately, I probably wouldn't recommend that you buy this from Julep. From Ulta you can get alternative sponges that are cheaper (5$ per sponge), including ones that contain charcoal. However I would recommend a konjac sponge to people with very sensitive skin, people who wash their face several times a day, and people who are trying to cut down on waste in their lives.

The next time I decide to pay 12$ for a face sponge that will last me a little more than a month with frequent usage I will probably get it from here because they specialize in konjac sponges, package them dry so the sponges have an unopened shelf life of 3 years, have free USA shipping, and cater to a lot more skin types.

These are the Ta Da! Quick Dry Drops. I have no idea how much I paid for this as an extra. I would say 8-10$ for a full ounce of product.

For non-mavens this costs 14$
For mavens this product costs 11.20$

This product smells very lavendery, so if you don't like lavender this may be an issue for you.

My only other dry drops product I own is the Drip Dry by OPI because upon doing my research they were the most consistently loved drops out of the 5 or 6 options available to me. I am almost out of my Drip Dry because I only got the .3oz version, but I had enough to test my new Julep drops against the OPI version.

The OPI dry drops have little to no scent, and would likely be suitable to people sensitive to fragrance (or who don't like lavender because nail polish is one of the strongest scents ever, lets be real).

Ultimately I would say that OPI dry drops are marginally better. For me its not really enough to pay 26.50$ per ounce though.  Not to mention there are tons of other cheaper drug store options. One of them will probably work just as well for you.

This was one of my box items. I chose higher price items this month so I only got to pick two products meaning I paid 12.50$ to get this brush.

For non-mavens this brush costs 24$

For mavens who are purchasing this brush on its own the cost is 19.20$

I chose this because I didn't own a fan brush, and my first brush experience with Julep was pretty good. I chose the shader brush and while it is really well made I haven't quite worked out the best way to use it yet. I didn't want to go out and get an elf shader brush because so many of their products are hit or miss that I didn't want to be turned off from fan brushes forever because of a poor quality product.

Anyway, this brush hasn't really grown on me much, but that may just be me as the brush itself seems very nice. Ultimately, the bristles are soft, I haven't noticed any shedding and the curved shape helps keep me from putting highlight too close to my nose (there is a fine line between glowing skin and going to the bathroom to powder my nose).

Luxe Up Your LIps in Blushing Rose

The new luxe lip conditioning treatment in blushing rose. This cost me 12.50$ as a part of my box this month.

For mavens and non-mavens it costs 19.20$

So, something that should be noted is that Julep still kept around the clear luxe lip conditioning treatment, but reformulated the colored versions and marketed them out as Luxe Up Your Lips

I have what is technically the original sheer pink Luxe Lip Conditioning treatment (which is now a part of the Luxe Up Your Lips line) and now own blushing rose which is part of the line with more pigmentation.


I am loving the new fuller coverage formula. It is a little thicker, and more pigmented but still not sticky. This is truly the lipgloss for people who hate lip gloss. My only regret is that I like this more as a fall/winter color which means I will likely be sticking with the sheer pink for most of summer.



My final extra that I chose was the Julep Gel Eye Glider in Rich Brown. Basically, I needed a third extra to get a free polish and only have half of a brown eyeliner left.

For non-mavens gel eyegliders cost 16$ each
For mavens the cost is 12.80$ each
As an extra I think it ended up being less than 10$

These are pretty good. They set in 30 seconds which gives you a lot of time to smudge out your eyeliner or whatever else you want to do, goes on smoothly, and is moderately affordable if you happen to be a maven.


Top is Rich Brown swatched (I know its a terrible swatch, I don't even know what happened there), and the bottom swatch is a hand swatch of the Blushing Rose lip treatment.

When you add three extras Julep will throw in another extra for you. I rarely have the need or desire to add three more Julep products to my box so this has only happened twice for me but you can get just about anything. Last time my extra was a lip plumping primer. This time, it was a silk finish polish in Marcy.
I hate this polish, but I am ultimately glad I got it (you know, for free, as an extra).

Silk finish is a fancy name for satin or demi-matte.  The formula is horrendous. It is not good at self leveling, and this photo was taken after three coats of polish. Also, while I know many people love polishes that have matte or satin finishes I personally don't. It's not that I adore shine that much, but I just feel like I could invest in a good top coat

However, I do love the color. The all-white nail isn't for everyone and I think this is a very elegant way to rock a white nail. I will be on the look out for similar colors.

April 2015 Monthly Favorites

I'm a little late in the game this month. It is testing season so I'm running a little behind. I haven't done very much as of late so these products aren't super exciting.

Loreal Brow Stylist Plumper

Alright, let me just announce that this is not,in my personal opinion, a dupe for Benefit's Gimme Brow. I think depending on what you want from it though it could be, but it is not a true dupe nor my personal dupe.

I bought Benefit's Gimme Brow to fill in the one weird sparse patch on my one eyebrow. This is the first brow product though that I am comfortable using over my whole eyebrow. I have thick, dark eyebrows so mostly I need to fill in my sparse patch and hold my brows in place that's it. Benefit's Gimme Brow fills in the sparse patch like a dream but is way too intense for my whole eyebrow, not to mention it doesn't have the most miraculous staying power to begin with.

This product has a lot less fibers and less strong of a tint which makes it nice because it intensifies my eyebrows but not too much, and it holds my brows in place really well.

Cover FX Custom Cover Drops

This is really ideal for the makeup geek trying to get rid of things. If you aren't a huge makeup dweeb, if you don't love playing with your makeup, I wouldn't spend the 44$ on this product. However, I love mixing these drops with my moisturizers and my CC cream and everything else to get this custom coverage.

Olay Moisturizer with SPF- FAIL- It separated, it looked terrible on my skin, regret.

Almay Smart Shade CC cream- Meh- It separated, but not on my face. It definitely adds some coverage but it didn't feel right. There was nothing drastically or specifically wrong though, it just isn't my favorite.

As a Concealer/Foundation- Pretty good- for covering up little areas of hyper pigmentation (read: bruises from hitting myself in the face with my car door) it works well and still looks natural.

Dr.Brandt's Pore refining primer- Promising- I was worried the products wouldn't mix together properly, but it turned out fine. I didn't get a lot of pigmentation because I only used two drops for my entire face (and that's like what you would add to an already tinted moisturizer), but it helped. I'm hopeful to try it out with some primers that particularly focus on blurring imperfections rather than filling holes.

Jouer Moisture Tint Sunscreen- Holy caking, Batman!- To be fair, I never would have mixed these if I wasn't a completely useless human being in the morning who couldn't remember or stop to think that the sunscreen looked fully pigmented and not like the luminizing primer I seemed to think it was. Regardless though there was SO MUCH COVERAGE and caking. It emphasized a dry patch I didn't even know I had.

Larenim Luxurious Kabuki Brush

My best friend was getting ready for her second senior prom and when I packed up a bag of makeup for her, I gave her my e.l.f. kabuki instead of this one because this brush is mine and it is probably the best brush I have ever had. It was the very first brush I got when I was 13, my mother bought it for me. I have treated it like trash and yet the bristles are still in pretty good shape, it has never ever shed, and it is the perfect density for applying powders. Not to mention it is SO soft. 

The company has since changed the packaging/appearance, but I do believe that this is the same brush. It's only like 20$ which is an investment but compared to some other high quality brushes you are getting away cheap.

bh Cosmetics Tapered Contouring Face Brush 

So bh cosmetics is a drugstore brand but it is only available online. I've tried a few of their products and mostly it is pretty meh, but I got this as a part of their 10 pc brush set for 20$ and I love this brush. 

I gave all the eye brushes to my friend and kept the face brushes. I use three of them regularly, those being this brush, the angled contouring brush, and the flat blending brush. However, the tapered contouring brush is the only one that made it into my favorites because this is the only one that hasn't shed on me. The density, size and shape are perfect for my uses. I know I've seen a lot of other companies offer very similar looking brushes though that would probably be better quality. 

I use this brush for my contour, it is the perfect one brush way to contour my face because it fits right into the hollows of my cheeks but also has the shape for blending. For 2$, I have no complaints. I would have paid 10$ for this brush easily. As for the set, though it does shed it is a very affordable way to try out a lot of different brush shapes, and the density of these brushes is on point so it is a great way to try things out and see what you really want and use for when you build up a nicer brush collection. 

Julep's Max Nail Polish

So, this is just a plain ol' black and white glitter polish. When I was at Ulta last week I saw a polish called Graffiti that was probably way cheaper and looked really similar, but I got this polish for 5$ during Julep's Black Friday sale so it was affordable. Mostly I just love the design, the formula really isn't that great, I am just adoring how sleek and elegant this polish is while maintaining that touch of whimsy. 

I cannot photograph this polish for the life of me,

Doctor Lacquer's Viking Polish 

The swatches still don't do this justice, but this is a holographic polish that I have been loving on my toes this month. The weather is really unpredictable here right now and I've recently had a lot of special events going on so my toes may or may not need to be polished on a moment's notice. 

The polish formula holds up pretty well and dries SUPER fast, but what I am really loving is the color. Since this particular holo uses a darker base it kind of acts as the Little Black Dress of toenail polish. I have yet to find an outfit it clashes with, mostly because its hard to decide what color it is. The color is very forgiving, so chips aren't super obvious even when they do happen, and unlike a lot of beauty products this polish shines best in awkward lighting. 

Julep February 2015 Unboxing

So, I was originally planning to skip this box. I wanted the free Heartleigh, but wasn't into any of the other colors so I figured I would just swap for it. However, I like a complete idiot missed the secondary "yes I want to skip the month" button and thus got billed and had a box shipped to me and customer service can't help me because I have no email confirmation because technically I didn't skip the month.

What that means for the blog though is that I am reviewing the actual uncustomized box they gave me based on my personality profile. For the record, as stated before, Julep has a completely customizeable box system  I usually end up swapping out multiple items to make a box I'm really excited about getting, I just wasn't that excited about the polish colors this month so I figured I would skip it since I technically need nothing.

This month's theme was afterglow, and I think if I had gone ahead with customizing my box I would have gotten the fan brush or another one of their lip conditioning treatments.




I wasn't all that into the tissue paper that month, not that it is a particularly important thing, I just figured I would comment since I have been in love with the tissue paper other months.

 Here is the box upon initial opening. I ended up with two full size beauty products, one nail polish, and a polish freebie which technically I think isn't possible based on their options. Regardless, lots of products made me feel better about spending 24$ on a box I hadn't planned on getting.

 The first thing I got was a lipgloss in the color lively. It looks like a red in the bottle. If you have been around for a while, you might know I hate lip gloss.

 So, I went ahead and swatched it on my hand and it's a lot sheerer than I was expecting. It's sticky, just like your traditional lip gloss, there is nothing I can say is special about it. There is nothing that would make this worth spending the 16$ (Maven price, it's $20 if you aren't subscribed to the box) from an objective point of view.

 This is London, it is the polish color I got this month. Now, I don't wear purple very often, but I did want to keep one around in case I wanted to do nail art or a themed manicure that needed it, which is why I kept last month's purple actually. So, I did comparison nail swatches and actually ended up choosing this one over last month's purple.

 Here is a very messy nail swatch. This is only one coat, no base coat. It's a nice lavender color. Julep's creams have the same fast surface dry time as all their other polishes, but are very susceptible to smudging for quite a while afterwards and can have a very thick texture if you don't work fast. However, I enjoy the opacity of them enough to deal with the long dry time.






Next, I got a champagne highlighter. I have plenty of highlighters in every color known to man, I don't use them very often and this one is huge but it was still incredibly fun to play with.

The box is pretty, the packaging feels very heavy and luxurious. It isn't ideal for travel (especially given there was powder around the edges of the compact due to kick up during shipping) but it feels very fancy.






Here is the actual product and a swatch on my hand. It is exactly as described, a champagne colored highlighter. The powder itself even feels soft and indulgent.

 

Finally, the product I considered taking the entire box for in the first place, the freebie Heartleigh polish. It is the most gorgeous glitter top coat and I was dying over it.




I swatched it on my thumb for you guys. It should be noted that the heart glitters are so large that you will need a top coat to hold them down. The thumb swatch was done using their Freedom Polymer topcoat for the purpose of brand consistency, I also did other swatches using a gel topcoat, but the freedom polymer top coat worked pretty well.

Personal Value

For 24$ I ended up with three products I am going to get use out of. A lot of their products run about the same price point so I'm just going to average it out. It comes down to $8 per product which honestly is only a little more than the price of a drugstore nail polish right now so I can't say I'm disappointed. If I had customized the box I know I would have gotten even better product value. 

January Julep Unboxing

This month the Mavens got a special offer to get a free metamorphic top coat in January's box. This is a maven perk for people who were already signed up for Julep's subscription service. I was very pleased with my box this month, I didn't really settle at all, I am very excited about and have a use for everything in my box.

In the corner there are little junior mints, which I am excited about.

 The first thing I got was this Oxygen Nail Treatment, it shines up your nails, gives them a sheer coat of color, and is supposed to moisturize and strengthen them.

I've never tried anything like this, but I am kind of impressed. It is very shiny and has dried very quickly. My only complaint is that it chips relatively easily, but I will continue to test it and see if it does anything good for my nails (something that will justify the price tag).

 Then I got their Luxe Lip Conditioning Treatment in sheer pink. It is a new product that is supposed to moisturize the lips, give a sheer wash of color, sparkle and shine, and the tip is supposed to instantly improve circulation because it is made out of copper, zinc, and aluminum (called Zamac)

The pigmentation is absolutely terrible, this can't even be called a sheer wash of color, however, the sparkle and shine is true and it seems moisturizing enough for me. However, the major selling point on this for me is that it is very shiny and glossy without feeling sticky at all, so if you hate how stickly lip gloss feels, try this.

 Margit- the nail polish. This is a gift for a friend's mother as she has been very good to me in the past, so it isn't swatched or anything.

 Finally, the metamorphic top coat. I was super excited to try this. Mine came in the color Tilda and I will show you some swatches so you can see how it is.

 On my thumb, you can see the sort of green shift and microglitter in the top coat on it's own.

I then used one coat of four different colors on each of my fingers. It says it is meant for all polish colors, so I wanted to see if it would improve a large enough range of colors that I think this is a reasonable claim.

I understand the need to advertise it that way, but I think for a little bit more honesty some tips on how to maximize the beauty of your top coat would have been nice (ex; try it on dark colors). I think doing things like that adds a level of transparency to the company without seeming unprofessional or failing to promote the product.



Of course, that's also why reviewers who can talk about products and give out both pros and cons are so important.

Anyway, off of my tangent: I used one coat of a dark cream finish polish, a light microglitter polish, a light cream (although it does have a little metallic sheen) color, and a dark microglitter color.

Here are the finished results, with one coat of the metamorphic polish. It did the most on the cream finish colors, made the colors seem more vibrant and added some dimension. I feel the effects of the top coat were drowned out in the microglitter poishes, and that it looked best on the dark green.

My reccomendations would be to use this on darker cream finish colors for best results. However, it might also help to consider the undertones of your polish so that the glitter shift compliments the color your are using on your nails.

Julep December 2014 Unboxing

This is my second Maven box I have gotten, though I did not show you the first one because it was an absolute fiasco. If I have an experience with a company's customer service, I will always try to make a point and tell you because, particularly with a subscription box company, customer service is a serious part of one's opinion on the company.

The Company, the product, my customer service experience:

Julep is a high quality polish (and beauty) company. All of their products are vegan and 5-free (the link opens in another window and will tell you what 5-free means because I didn't know at first either), as well as allows more oxygen to pass through your nails, has strengthening ingredients, all of those good things. However, it's healthy ingredients weren't what actually drew me to their polishes, instead it was the vast array of gorgeous colors, impressively fast drying formula, and strong finish. 

The average polish costs 14$, but with Maven pricing it comes down to $11.50, and on sale or in sets it is a solidly Mid-range polish price. Mavens get special access to a Secret Store at certain times of the month, and get special coupons, it's actually a pretty sweet deal if you like the polish, a lot more than other subscription services offer you. 

The box is 25$ a month, cheaper if you buy more months, as always. They promise, I think, at least 40$ of beauty products in each box. You take a quiz and it comes up with the polish/beauty product sets they think you will like the most. HOWEVER, this is the cool part, during the end of the month they will reveal what is in your box and allow you to swap out your individual products for ones of your choice (up to two polishes and one beauty product, three polishes, or two beauty products), as well as add on up to 6 products for discounted pricing and of course free shipping. 

Now, my first box contained Roc Solid instead of the color Dana, and was completely missing my cleansing oil add-on. I emailed customer service, it took them a little longer than I would have liked to get back to me, but nothing outrageous. They said there was a problem with the polish I had selected (though it was available on their website later on when I was shopping for polishes), and they gave me enough rewards points to get another polish in my next box. You can only redeem your Jules on boxes, which kind of sucks because you then have to get another box. Also, in order to cancel your subscription you have to call, BUT they do allow you to skip the month, so that is nice. 

Actual Unboxing

This month's box looked roughly like this when I opened it. I did however take down the card that names the collection/theme of the month because It was hard to see through the glare. Julep has a tendency to use pretty large boxes and then fill them with a TON of the crinkled paper. It is very pretty, but also very wasteful. Other brands, like Fortune Cookie Soap and Treatsie also use the paper crinkles, but they are much less wasteful about it. 

 This is the Countdown collection, I assume as in countdown to the holidays. A lot of the polishes are either very bright, metallic, or glittery this month, which fits well with the season.





The first thing I got in my box was this shader brush. I had to choose between showing you the whole brush or just the bristles, and I thought the bristles would be more informative.





This is a very high quality brush, the handle feels sturdy and heavy, the bristles are soft, secure, and well-shaped, they label the brush's intended purpose for those days when I wake up and forget what all my brushes do, it is lovely.



Then, I got this mattifying eye primer, as I have been very happy with all of Julep's products and have been testing out quite a few eye primers as of late.






Now, for the add-ons

I got a mystery polish (because as much as I love customizing my box, I still want to be surprised). This color is Sylvia, which looks like a cream finish purple. This will get used at some point, probably for rainbow nails.

Then, I got the polish Nell because it was cheaper to do the two beauty products in the box and then purchase the polishes at a discount than the other way round. This is a textured glitter finish, containing mainly blush and silver colored microglitter. I love it, though I will probably finish it with my freedom polymer top coat because I can't stand rough texture on my nails, and the glitter polishes tend to be a little more fragile than their cream finishes.

I got their plie wand a while back, and while I don't think it helps me out all that much (it is designed for people who don't choke down on their brushes, as I always have with every brush and pencil I have ever owned), it is nice to have the alternate tools.

Bonus, when you add three or more add-ons, you get an added bonus gift. I ended up getting their Blank Canvas Mattifying Lip Primer. I never would have bought this on my own as I have only tried two previous lip primers and never saw the point, but after some testing I kind of like this one. Maybe there is hope for me after all.



This is what it looks like out of the tube. On the back there is a little push button that you use to expel the product, but I pushed the button WAY too many times, and it sort of oozed out a lot.

This primer is not overly opaque, but it does have some color to it. It also has a plumping function, which felt awful on my lips, but it went away a few minutes. I went ahead and used my Looking Glass Wonder Paint over it with the Elf Lip Lock lip liner.

Bare Lips with Looking Glass

With primer and Looking Glass