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.

Nature Box July 2016 Unboxing

I woke up this morning to find my Nature Box sitting on my counter; I guess it came in last night and I didn't even know.  I'm glad though, because I was fresh out of snacks in the house (I guess temptation strikes more when on vacation!)  I was really happy to see Nature Box only pressed lightly when applying my address sticker because now the box is intact!

Nature Box is a healthy snack box delivered right to your door.  You can choose to have Nature Box send you random snacks or you can pick items on their website to form your "pantry".  Here are various options for your subscription:

You can get:
5 snacks at 19,95$ per box or
10 snacks at 32.95$ per box

Shipment can be done to match your schedule:
Every week
Every two weeks or
Every month.

I opted for 10 snacks every month.  Shipping is free to US but costs 4.95$ for Canadians, which is reasonable. To try a free box, click here!

I added a review of last month's snacks in my last unboxing.  If you want to check it out, click here. 

 

First snack is Honey Crunch Crisp which is a honey-coated sesame chip.  It tastes just like sesame sticks but with a sweet kick to it. 

This next snack I've had before and I know they are addictive.  These are Sourdough Cheddar Pretzels, and yes, they taste as divine as they sound.

And next, we have French Toast Granola and I think I'll heed my own advice, I prefer granola on yogurt so that's how I'll have this. I don't really see the pecan pieces in there but I bet they are ground up in tiny pieces and apparently this also tastes like maple.  Looking forward to trying it.

 This is the last from the category "Nom-Nom", these are Blueberry Nom Noms which is a blueberry-flavored oat cookie.  I really enjoyed the Dark Chocolate Nom Noms but was let down by the Peanut Butter ones.  Hope this one follows in the chocolate's footsteps.

Aww nuts!  I grabbed some Coconut covered cashews (sounds delicious right?) but it looks like they were out of stock by the time it came to my order.  Guess these will have to wait.  They sent me a Spicy Sriracha Popcorn, which is a known snack to Alex and I.  Couldn't be any happier though because we really did enjoy this snack.  This popcorn is bold and quite spicy but sooo yummy!

A few months' back, I tried getting these and they were out of stock so I tried my luck again this month and bingo! I got myself some Praline Pumpkin Seeds which are caramelized pumpkin seeds with the traditional pumpkin pie spice.  I tried a kernel and really liked the sweetness.

Sorry, this is not a ziplock bag, so I couldn't open this bag up for a close up.  These are Salt &Pepper Lentil Loops which are baked lentil and potato ringlets.  We really enjoyed the Aged Cheddar Loops, so I am pretty certain this will be a win for us too. 

Another one that doesn't have a ziplock bag.  These are Coffee Kettle Popcorn.  Have to admit, I am trying this one because I am curious to know how coffee and kettle corn mix.  Hopefully this will be a hit!

Ok, guilty as charged; I have a pretzel craving!  We also got Honey Dijon Pretzels and I tried a little nibble and wow!  a lot of flavor in that small byte!  These will be awesome!  I've tried a few versions of this snack but I might have found a new favorite!

And, last but not least, I often get a mystery snack in every box and this was what Nature Box recommended for me to try: Pineapple Coconut Bar.  Sounds delicious!  Packed with almonds, walnuts, coconut and pineapple these bars pack a good 6g of proteins!  Not bad!

That concludes this month's box; stay tuned at the end of the month for a review on all the snacks. 

Chroma Club July 2016

Hello everybody, I have a new review for you today; this is for Chroma Club.  I've always enjoyed coloring books so for me to subscribe to a monthly coloring book club, I think it's highly worth it.  Also, I've been waiting to hear news about when another of my subscription boxes will officially launch and still have no news on that, so I was really itching to get a new coloring book in hand to draw some more during my vacation.

Chroma Club is a fairly new subscription (5 months in) and it gives you a themed coloring book to your door every month.  It costs 8$ per month and you do get a variety of designs to color to your fancy.  I got 9 in my book but uncertain if the number will be roughly that next time too.  This month's theme, as you can see, is Fireworks
You can get 2$ off your first box by clicking on this link (note, this also gives me a 2$ credit on my next month)

I'm unsure how to review this subscription, as I don't want to show you pictures of every uncolored design (unless that's what you want?).  I'll opt for my top three designs for this month.  I'll add a little fact about coloring with each picture if it helps.

This is the first one.  Why I love it?  There's so much happening in this picture; it will be so easy to get lost in the task of coloring.  Coloring is known to be a great way to relieve anxiety and take the mind off things.  I think this should do the trick.

This is my second pick.  Why I love it?  It's nice and wavy and could easily break out all the coloring pencils to fill it in.  I already have visions of what I want to do with it... (mini-rainbows anybody?)  Did you know coloring has similar benefits for your brain than meditation does? In fact, coloring helps the brain slow down while it focuses on the task.  Pretty neat, right?

This is my third pick.  Why I love it?  I just find this cute for some reason and I would love to color patterns on these.  Last fact about coloring: well this one is obvious... it is a fairly cheap activity that can be enjoyed just about anywhere and anytime.

Please let me know in the comments down below if you have any suggestions on how you'd like me to review this subscription.  I am definitely open to trying out a different format next month.  Hope you have an excellent month of July!

Julep Maven July 2016 Unboxing

 I got my Julep box last night at 9pm ( a tad too late to write a review) but I must admit I was very happy to receive it, as I wasn't certain how it would get here with Canada Post being on strike and all.  But, it looks like there were some arrangements done to make it work and here it is, in my hands and ready for my reviewing. 

 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.

This month, there were 5 polishes I really wanted in the collection and I decided to get 4 (the one I left behind reminded me of Regina from May's collection) ... that means, 3 polishes for the box, and then since I got 1 as an add-on, I decided to get two more add-ons because, free gift, duh! So I'll get to this in a bit but first I'll cover the actual box (minus the add-ons).  You can get 30% off your next Julep purchase by entering JULY30 as a coupon code.  And the sweet treat this month was a "citrus jujube"  I don't remember the flavor but it was good.

 First, let me mention that all polishes are 14$ (or 11.25$ for Mavens), so that's 42$ worth of nail polish for 19,99$.  Not bad.  I'll proceed from left to right.

First there's Tomi described as a Bermuda blue holographic jelly.  You know how I love my holographic and honestly, when it's mixed with jelly, it's a match made in heaven!  I really love this color.  The picture does not do it justice since I took it at night with no sunlight to reflect the holographic beauty.  Please do click the link for a better idea of how lovely this color is.

Then there's Fleur is described as an Evening bloom matte glitter.  I thought I would like this more than I do... I mean it's alright, but it's a tad chunky for my liking.  I'll see how it translates on actual nails though.. maybe it will redeem itself.

And finally there's Eunice described as an ultramarine blue shimmer.  This one takes the cake.  It is by far my favorite polish of them all and really looking forward to wearing it in the near future.

Ok, now, let's talk add-ons.  I'll show you the first two before going to the last one and showing you my bonus items..

Let me remind you that nail polishes are worth 14$ (or 11.25$ for Mavens) and I'll tally it all up at the end.

First, there's Poppy, which cost me 4.95$ which is described as a chili pepper jelly.  I've come to really appreciate jelly polishes, so when I get the opportunity to get jelly polishes, I don't hesitate to grab them.  This is a great red-orange color and definitely is quite different from any red shades I own.

And, next to it is Camilla which is a grape lollipop jelly.  See previous comment to know how much I like jelly polishes.  This color is also out of this world!  I got this one for 6.95$ since it was part of this month's collection.

Now I teamed these up together because these are all going to one of my best friends, Melissa, as I know how much she will appreciate them.  The first one was purposefully purchased with my Jules points (for free) as a gift to her, the other two are duplicates for me, and I don't really need two bottles of any given color.

First, there's Francine, a seaglass iridescent chrome.  This was part of the May collection. Melissa is a huge fan of greens and she had her eyes set on this color when Julep had their Best Friends promotion...unfortunately, she was unable to get it.  So I decided I'd get it for her anyway.  It is a really gorgeous color and I know she will absolutely love it!

Next, I got a free pink polish for sharing the best friend promotion on Best Friend Day, and this polish ended up being Mickey, which is also from the May Collection.  This one is described as a pink geranium ghost iridescent; it is borderline reddish pink.  Another beautiful color but no need for two of these, so Melissa will gain this color too.

And finally, my free gift this month is Laure, which was a color I put as an add-on in May.  It is super gorgeous!!!  But obviously, don't need two of these.  It is described as a blazing red-orange stardust.  Melissa, I know you're reading this, enjoy!

So that sums up my box for the month of July and if I add things up, I paid 31.89$ for a box of 8 Julep nail polishes valued at a total of 112$.  Not too shabby if I do say so myself.  Hope you enjoyed this month's review and as always, feel free to leave a comment or questions in the section below.

Nature Box June 2016 Unboxing

I got a message last week informing there had been issues processing my shipment for June's Nature Box on time and that they would be sending a second one asap.  It's not too much delayed...usually get it around the 25th, and I got it on the 29th.  In either case, I am always quite pleased with the variety of snacks they provide so I knew a few days of waiting wouldn't hurt me.  Let me break down your options for Nature Box:

You can get:
5 snacks at 19,95$ per box or
10 snacks at 32.95$ per box

Shipment can be done to match your schedule:
Every week
Every two weeks or
Every month.

I opted for 10 snacks every month.  Shipping is free to US but costs 4.95$ for Canadians, which is reasonable. To try a free box, click here!

I added a review of last month's snacks in my last review.  If you want to check it out, click here. 

 First snack is Double Berry Fruit Peels which is a raspberry and blueberry fruit strips similar to Fruit to Go.  I have 10 strips and I know I commented on how I seem to be keeping my dried fruit for last in my previous comment but this is in a different format and I think they may get enjoyed a bit faster. Sorry, all you see is a foil packet... you can get a better look at what this fruit strip looks like by clicking on the link.

My review:  although these were great (similar to leather fruit strips combined with those twizzlers peel-up strings), guess what?  They ended up the last item in my box untouched.  I really should take the hint; dried fruit seem to not appeal to me like fresh fruit.  Should just avoid dried fruit altogether, unless they are part of a trail mix.  BUT, don't get me wrong.  These are great and I did enjoy them when I had them as my snack.

This one is the Probiotic Power Mix and I have been eyeing this for quite some time.  The mixture of colors just makes it so enticing.  This includes Cranberries, Greek yogurt covered apricots, sunflower seeds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, pecans and dried apples.  Such an amazing combo; I am looking forward to grabbing a handful to much on.

My review: I loved this!  Those yogurt covered apricot bits?  sooooo yummy! and the nuts are raw, not roasted, not salted, just as is.  I really liked the combination of flavors in this trail mix and I will definitely get some more at a later time.

I got the Peanut Butter Nom Noms which is a mini peanut butter oat cookie.  Same principle as the Dark Chocolate Nom Noms last month, different flavors.  And these darker morsels you see on the cookie?  Chocolate chips!  Yummy!

My review:  hmmm, these did not taste like peanut butter to me.  Were they tasty? yes.  But I was definitely looking for more than what it ended up being.  So far, my favorite Nom Nom remains the double chocolate one.

Look who came back a second month in a row!  These Kung Pao Pretzels are seriously addicting; Alex made a request I get these again this month, and I did.  Best described as oriental spicy pretzels.

My review:  well, you guys know this was a repeat from the previous month so we obviously enjoyed it.  We brought them with us on a road trip during vacation as we usually do get hungry when driving most of the day.  They hit the right spot: a little bit of sweet but mostly spicy = great combination!

Next is Honey BBQ Crunch which was in my recommendations this month.  It's a mixture of peanuts, honey roasted peanuts, cashews, pretzel morsels and BBQ seasoning.  Sounds pretty fantastic in my opinion.

My review:  These were pretty good!  I enjoyed the crunchy bits of pretzels in this nut mix the most; just added a little some extra texture in this medley.  The flavor was great too; could definitely taste the honey and bbq flavors and they went well together.

Since I started enjoyed Nature Box's granola mixes, I decided I'd give this one a go.  This is Chocolate Chia Granola and it's pretty much self descriptive : chocolate flavored granola with chia seeds.  I've quite enjoyed mixing chia seed with chocolate almond milk in the past (makes a sort of tapioca pudding texture) so I know these will be right up there too.

My review:  this granola was alright; I mostly had it as breakfast at the beginning of the month and I guess I prefer my granola over yogurt.  Was not wowed by it but was not disappointed either.  Was good.

Next are Masa Crisps which are pretty much corn chips with flax seeds on them.  This snack was recommended for me to try but I'm pretty sure I've tried a generic brand of these before and I liked them.

My review:  we've had store bought versions of this before and these taste just like them.  I realized these have flax in them after ordering them and I'm supposed to avoid flax so I gave these to Alex and he said he liked them.

I guess I was in a nutty feeling when I picked my pantry last month, this is the third mix for this month.  These are Sweet & Salty Nut Medley which is a mixture of Honey Roasted Peanuts, Peanuts, Almonds and Cashews, and, of course, salt.

My review:  These were good.  I always enjoyed mixing sweet and salty together (salted caramel anyone?)  This was no exception.  In fact, this was the first snack to disappear.

 Next is Sante Fe Corn Stix which apparently tastes like corn chips and salsa (makes sense as they are a mixture of masa corn and salsa seasoning).  This should be different.

My review:  this one was surprising for us.  It doesn't look like much but it really does taste like corn chips and salsa with a lot of crunch.  Perfect snack and something we'll likely get again in the near future.

And, last but not least, our popcorn of the month is Jalapeno White Cheddar Popcorn.  This is another one I've been eyeing for quite some time so I am happy to have them this month.

My review:  Wow!  Very flavorful and honestly my favorite popcorn Nature Box has sent my way so far.  This will make another appearance in a future box, that is for certain.

That concludes this month's box.  Stay-tunes for a review on these snacks next month.