Friday, January 13, 2012

Julep Maven





By now, I'm sure that most of you have heard about the monthly beauty subscription services. If you haven't, it's a rather simple concept. You register with the beauty company of your choice, pay a small fee, and once a month you receive a small box of deluxe beauty/lifestyle samples to try out. This way you can see if you like a product enough to purchase the full size samples and you have something to look forward to every month. Most companies give you a little quiz to take to help you find the best products suitable to your skin type and taste. From BirchBox to GoGoGlam, Beauty Test Tube, to My Glam Bag, there are tons of boxes to choose from! 


One company that I discovered recently was Julep. Their monthly subscription service is called, Julep Maven and starts at $19 a month (they're on the pricey end of the spectrum). Recently they had a promotional deal however where they offered your first month for only $5 (you can cancel at any time without incurring a fee)! What a steal! For $5 you would receive two full sized polishes, a lotion, and other samples (That's about $40 worth of things for only $5, shipping and tax already included). My initial response is that I would never pay the $20 for a box like that when I could buy 3-4 OPI/Essie polishes for that price, but for only $5, I thought I would at least give it a try!

Instead of receiving makeup or lifestyle products, their focus is on nail polish and hand care. Being the polish junkie that I  am, I couldn't resist giving it a try with such a terrific promotional sale they had! One thing that sets Julep Maven apart from other delivery services is that if you dislike the choices your quiz results give you for your monthly box, you have the option to go and choose your own. That's what I did! I chose one with a pretty emerald green and pink. In my box came two full sized Julep nail polishes, several samples of hand creams/washes, as well as a full sized Julep hand lotion (which smells divine!) I paid $5 for my box and it arrived within 4 days of my initial order. Julep normally retails their nail polishes for $14 each (all are environmentally safe). 


So here's my opinion: For the introductory box at a rate of only $5, it was a steal! The quality of the polishes was nice, and since I will get lots of uses out of the polishes and the moisturizers, it was $5 well spent. HOWEVER, based on their original pricing of nearly $20 a month, there's no way I'd spend $14 on a nail polish when I can buy the same quality in my favorite OPI and Essie polishes for almost half of that price. If their monthly subscription service were $5-12...it would be worth it. It's definitely not worth the $19 a month though, sorry! (The color pigmentation in the polishes is good, but I still prefer Essie and OPI for the price and quality...also, you get more product out of an OPI bottle than you do ounce for ounce from a Julep bottle) If you'd like to try out Julep Maven, now is the time to do it! If you google the promotional codes and use them during check-out, you too can get your first box for $5! This is the link to try out their service at the discounted price of $5...give it a shot if you love nail polish! http://www.julep.com/great-gifts/bloomspot-50-off-first-month-of-maven


Next month I will be doing a review on EcoEmi when I receive my box from them! They have environmentally friendly lifestyle boxes that include everything from samples of gourmet teas to make up products...I've seen rave reviews all over YouTube for their box, so I can't wait to try it out and let you guys know what I think! www.ecoemi.com

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