Julep August 2016 Unboxing

Got my Julep Maven Subscription last night, but, as some of you may know, Tuesdays are usually very busy for me, so I was not able to get around to reviewing my new treats.  But here I am today to announce their arrival and show you around this month's loot.

Julep is a monthly nail polish and beauty product subscription at a reasonable price of 24.99$/month.  If you sign up on the 3-month plan (pay for three months all at once), it costs 19.99$/month. Subscribers get to pick their choice of beauty product and nail polish on the 20th of every month and get billed on the 27th.  They are also free to skip a month if needed.  You have the opportunity to add items in your box as well and if you add three, you get a bonus gift.  Also, you ave the opportunity to upgrade the box to get a bigger part of the collection, or the whole collection for a little bit extra.

This month's theme is Endless Summer and, I must admit, I was a bit disappointed with Julep when they advertised this whole collection as holographic.  As I've mentioned in previous reviews, I am a huge holographic nail polish fan and when I had a glimpse at their collection this month, I saw only three truly holographic polishes (people! sparkles does not make a polish holographic!).  This felt a bit like false advertisement on their part.  But, I obviously got the three holographic polishes in the collection.  There were a few products I wanted to try out so, yes, this month, I again added three more items for a free gift.  The orange piece of paper is a coupon for 20% off my next purchase at Ulta but since I'm Canadian and there's no Ulta here, this coupon is a waste for me.. oh well.

Without further adieu, here's the three holographic polishes I grabbed from this month's collection.   All Julep nail polishes are 14$ (or 11.25$ for Mavens) so that brings up the value of the box to 42$ (23$ more than what I paid for the box). I decided I would try something different for swatches this month as I felt I wasn't capturing the polishes' true beauty in previous unboxings.  I decided I would swatch on paper with proper close up. 

We've got Eliza described as an infinite ocean holographic.

Then we have Zori, described as a cotton candy holographic jelly. The bottle says sheer on it, but I found it built up nicely in 3 coats.

And finally we have Alysha, described as a vivid pansy holographic.

These are all fantastic formulas and definitely show the scattered holographic effect on the nail.

These were the two items I really wanted to try out.  I got these at a much reduced price but I really have a bad memory so don't quote me on the price I think I paid for them.

We've got Vanish (18$ or 14.40$ for Mavens) which I think I got for 6.95$.  This is a cuticle softener and remover that can also be used to remove nail stains.  I have pretty bad cuticles at the moment so I thought this might help me out make them healthier and more manageable.  I used it last night and I have to admit, I really like it.

And I also got Julep's Cuticle Pusher (14$ or 11.20$ for Mavens) and I think I paid 5.95$ for this.  It was recommended to use both Vanish and this tool together to tame the cuticles and I really like it. I can only say, I wish I had gotten this sooner.

Since I was already getting two add-ons, I decided to complete the three needed to get a free gift and added a nail polish.  Reminder that all polishes are 14$ (or 11.25$ for Mavens) and it costs me 4.95$ as an add-on.

The polish I picked was Elise which is described as indigo with purple shimmer.  I am a bit surprised to see how faint the purple shimmer is in comparison to the swatches on Julep's website but it still is present.  Still, I consider it a gorgeous color.

My free gift was Spencer which is described as a vintage gold chrome.  Apologies for messing that swatch, it is actually quite smooth and surprisingly, not brush-strokey.

That concludes this month's Julep Subscription Review.  To recap, I paid approx. 38$ this month and the value of this box was 102$; impressive!  I have to warn you, though, I will be limiting the amount of times I do add-ons in my future boxes.