Julep Maven

Julep Maven is a similar concept to Birchbox, Eco-Emi and other subscription beauty boxes. Julep Maven asks you to answer a style quiz and then personalizes a "Sneak Peek Box" that is sent to you every month for $19.99/month. Each month you'll receive an email that showcases your products for the upcoming month, and you can choose to stick with the products chosen for you, request a new set of products or skip the month completely. Julep Maven focuses on nail polish and other mani/pedi products, and sends you over $40 worth of products each month. If you want to buy additional products, you also get 20% off orders made through the Julep website.

:::  THE SPECS  :::

The Julep Maven boxes cost $19.99/month, but I had a promotion code that allowed me to get the first box for only $5. I figured that was a good reason to give it a try. The nail polishes themselves retail for $14 each, which is a bit higher than what I'd normally pay for nail polish. Just from looking at the selection briefly, I didn't see many colors that were ohmygoshgiveittomenow colors. But I know others have found some lovely nail polishes that they really like. The box comes with informational materials and then the products packaged in a gift bag and tied with a pink ribbon {see pictures below}. I received the "American Beauty" set based on my style quiz results, which included two samples, a full-size hand scrub and two nail polishes in Lindsay and Shania. I didn't swatch the nail polishes at this point because I'm still wearing one of my favorite polishes and didn't want to redo my manicure. Lindsay is described on the Julep website as "Deep, dark burgundy. Find your inner Goth." Shania is described on the Julep website as "Pearly, silver-champagne. Perfect for elegant evenings and modern brides."
One additional thing to note is the cancellation procedure; instead of letting you cancel your subscription online, you have to call their indicated phone number to cancel. I'm not a big fan of that, as I went through the same thing when I chose to cancel my Shoedazzle account, and the customer service person I spoke to was quite pushy about asking why I didn't want it anymore, trying to talk me into staying, etc. I just want an easy out that doesn't require me to explain myself.

:::  THE PICTURES  :::

{Packaged inside a gift bag, which was shipped in a box}

{Two samples, full-size hand scrub and two nail polishes wrapped in pink tissue paper}

{The two nail polishes: Lindsay and Shania}

:::  THE OPINIONS  :::

While the products are nice and the presentation is lovely, I don't think I'll be purchasing future Julep Maven boxes. Compared to the $10 Birchbox price tag, $19.99 is just a bit too much for a monthly nail polish subscription — even if they are quality products. When I painted two of my nails with each of the different polishes, I found them to be very pretty, and only took two coats for even coverage. However, I didn't feel the colors were all that unique, and I'm not sure I'd wear either of the two colors very often — I'm more of a pink/red nail polish gal. I haven't tried the hand scrub or the two samples, but I'm sure they're very nice as well. I guess the price tag is really the determining factor in my decision to discontinue Julep Maven, mainly because I know that I can buy multiple OPI or Zoya nail polishes for that price, and I can pick the exact colors that I want. That, and I just don't paint my nails as frequently as others do. I think everyone has to decide for themselves whether this subscription would be worth it or not, and for some it probably is quite a deal! But, unfortunately not for me. I still encourage you to give it a try if you're interested though.

Stay Fabulous!