Julep Mystery Box: Truth or Dare

This came in the mail on Friday. 

About two weeks or so, Julep had a selection of six or so different Mystery Boxes, entitled "Truth or Dare" mystery boxes. You got to see one product that would definitely be in the box, and they had different options... Like an eyeliner, or a foot creme, or a hand creme, I don't know if that influenced what the other products chosen for your box would be or not, however. I chose the box featuring the Kajal Eyeliner because I really liked how the black eyeliner looks on my bottom waterline, and I've found it's one of the best, for me, for that purpose. And well... You can never have too much eyeliner.

The box took about two weeks to get to me, which is typical, when ordering a Mystery Box, and the wait doesn't seem that bad either... which it does for a regular Maven box. 

Speaking of which, the August reveal opened today, if you are a member of Julep. I really like the color choices this month, and the featured beauty product, which is an eyeliner. So I actually stuck with my regular box, and added on a few of the polish colors from other style profiles. The colors are all nice and bright :)

This was the inside of my Mystery Box.

My first add-on was the sea salt texture hair spray. I actually wore it yesterday at my engagement party to see what it would do to my hair. I had gotten a similar product from my June Ipsy bag and I liked what it did to my hair. 

The spray definitely adds definition and waves to my already annoyinging curly hair. However, since I live in Texas, the humidity and heat destroy anything I try to do with my hair in the summer months, so I can't tell you how effective the product would be in a normal climate or the lasting or staying power, when I'm sweating buckets outside. But it does give life to my hair.

This was my mystery bag, my second add on.

These Forget Me Not seeds are about two years old. I got them, when I first subscribed to Julep, in 2012. I have no idea if they'd even work if I planted them. 

Worth: $1.00

A moisture mask for my nails.  These usually come in a pack of three. I guess Julep got cheap and it just sending 1/3 with Mystery Packages now. It's $16.00 for 3... So value is about $4.50 or so, per one, but I don't use these things, so it's a waste.

from l to r: Roz, Kamala, & Vera.

I known I own Kamla and Roz , but I'm okay with this. I know a little 5 year old girl, who will absolutely love those colors because she adores glitter nailpolish, so I'll happily pass those two colors onto her, and I know she'll use them :)

Vera is a really old and ugly color. It's before Julep even had those swatch stickers on top of the bottles. It's a boring brown color. I probably will never wear it... I like bright colors.  But hey... It's like I have a piece of the Julep Vintage collection.

Using Maven Prices, those three colors are worth $24.00

So my mystery add on value is worth a total of:  $29.50, so I definitely got more than the $9.00 that I put into that mystery bag.

This is the actual mystery box.

My first look at the inside.

The "Truth" item, my Kajal Eye Glider, worth $17.60. It has two sections, a black one, which I use for my waterline, and a shimmery brownish one, that I rarely use. It also comes with an awesome sharpener, that I've found works AMAZING for ALL my eye liner pencils.

Julep's eye sheen in "Fig", which I own already, worth, $14.40, and an angled eye liner brush, worth, $9.60.

I own all of their eye sheen colors because I LOVE ME SOME EYE MAKEUP.

 Fig is a pinkish purplish color.

It's the most colorful of that entire eye sheen set. It's actually a very nice color. It's light enough to be neutral, but colorful enough to give my eyes a pop.

While it's not something I would've hand picked for my box, it's not unwanted.

from l to r: Venus, Aphrodite, and Lindy. 

Each worth $11.20, which makes their total value, $33.60.

Venus is very pink and very glitter. It has huge chunks of pink glitter and small speckles of silver glitter.

Aphrodite is gorgeous. It's a dark pink color with silver molten glitter.

Lindy, I feel like I have already, but that's okay, my little five year old will love it. It's a hot pink gel color with iridescent glitter in it.

So my mystery box is worth.... $75.20

That's not even close to the $100+ value that it promised. But it is certainly more then the $29 or so dollars that I paid for it.

I don't think it's my highest value ever mystery box, but it wasn't the worst either. I'm pretty satisfied with the products that I received in it. Yes, there were some doubles, of colors I already had, but that's to be expected with mystery boxes and those colors wilt go to good use anyways, and make a five year old very happy.

So, if you're interested, try out Julep.

Julep: Memorial Day Mystery Boxes

In honor of Memorial Day, Julep released a slew of mystery boxes. There were ten of them, and they each ranged in price and ranged in theme. The most expensive was around $45.00 and contained nailpolish and a clutch, the cheaper ones were around $10.00

Me, being a cheapskate, went with a fifteen dollar themed glitter box with one add on.

Here it is, in all its' glory.

One thing that appeals to me about Julep is that I LOVE MYSELF A MYSTERY BOX. They tend to have one every 1-2 months, and they all have different themes, some are just because, others may be based on a holiday like The Shamrock Mystery Box back in March.

Granted, with a Mystery Box, you're totally probably going to get repeats of colors that you already have in your ever-growing Julep collection, but as I've mentioned before, I don't really mind the repeats. I donate them to friends or the daughters of friends for them to enjoy. 

 

For example, I gave a bunch of doubles to my friend Andrea, and her daughter Audrey, and before a T-ball game, Andrea sent me a picture of Audrey with her nails all painted a different color with the caption "a Jamie manicure", so I know the extras go to good use :)

Recently though, Julep has offered different Mystery Boxes with the promise that there will be no repeats amongst all the different box offerings. Granted, that doesn't mean boxes are repeat free, but it means you can order two different boxes without the worry that you'll have the same exact colors in each. So, that's something.

Moving On:

My ONLY add-on was Blakely, bombshell polish. I had seen this color on numerous beauty blogs, and thought it was gorgeous. Blakely was from the July 2013 Maven Bombshell box. Prior to... let's say... Decemberish, of this year, I never bothered to log into my Julep account to choose whatever box I wanted for the month and just got whatever was with my profile [which was usually too boring for me once I actually saw it], or else I probably would've gotten this when it was offered.

Blakely is a purple turquoise molten color.

This is my best attempt at showing the purple/turquoise molten color because words escape me to describe it. [On my nails is Flora from the April box]

It's is a gorgeous color. I am so happy to have this color in my possession. It's going to be a tough call between this and Phia for my next manicure [and I also really want Sera eventually].

Anyhow, moving onto the box itself.

This is the inside of my tiny mystery box that I paid ten dollars for. It was a really cute box, and would've been great to regift something to someone, but Justin and I scarcely have room for extra things in our already OVERRUN by three cats apartment.

I have no fucking idea what the extra for this box is... Toothpicks? Bun holders? Cuticle Stabbers? Either way... NOT INTERESTED.

from l to r: Kamala, Missy, Roz.

Kamala, classic with a twist, is a color I actually don't think I have, which makes me happy. It's sort of sand colored with silver glitter? It sort of reminds me of being on the Jersey shore, at night, seeing the moon shine on the sand, before wandering off to the Wildwood boardwalk to ride the Nor Eastern. 

Sigh, I miss living in Jersey, sometimes.

Missy, IT Girl, is a color I know I have. I've even worn it before. I think it might be my third or fourth copy of that color. It's bright silver, like the color of a mirror. It goes on thick, and one coat usually works pretty well for it.

Roz, IT Girl, is a cranberry glitter polish. It seems more magenta to me than red, but it's a pretty color, and I don't recall it being a repeat for me. I even checked all my previous posts labeled "Julep" and it's not a color I own. I think it'll be a great fall color.

So I didn't own 2/3 polishes in my myystery box, so not too bad.

Anyone want their own Missy polish?

So... Going by Maven Prices, which puts every polish at a value of $11.00... I paid about fifteen dollars for this box, so the total value NOT including those useless cuticle sticks is, $33.00, so I got double in value, what I initially paid.

Personally, I like Julep's Mystery Boxes, but they're not everyone's cup of tea, and I respect that :) Eager to see what the next one will be.

Naughty and Nice Julep Mystery Box

Wow, the Naughty and Nice Mystery Box came fast. Usually it takes Julep Mystery Boxes about 2-3 weeks to get here, it barely took one week.

Anyways, after a day full of crazy pre-k students, who were way too excited for Christmas Break, and an exhausted Pre-K teacher, I was more than thrilled to get this in the mail:

[one big box, one crazy orange cat]

[The inside of the box]

These were the three colors that were outside the box, so I assume that they're the Mystery Bonus gift I added on when I ordered the box, but don't quote me on that.

From L to R: Lois, Faye, and Jane

Lois is Boho Glam. It's a creamy pearly shimmering pink. I want to say I have it already, but I'm not sure. Either way it's a pretty color. It's a creamy pink with a kick. Retail Value: $14.00

Faye is Boho Glam.  It reminds me of the color of a cafe latte that I would order from Starbucks, and man do I love coffee. It's not a color that I would've bought for myself, but it's not a bad color. It has a nice shimmer that I also like, but you can't really see it in the picture I took. It's a nice add-on.  Retail Value: $14.00

Jane is a bombshell color. It's a bronze glitter color. I love glitter polishes and I think that the more glitter polishes I own, the better it is. Retail Value: $14.00

So, the "Mystery Add-on" was $10.00, and I got nailpolish worth $42.00 so that's not too shabby.

That brings us to the inside of the box.

Blank Canvas Face Primer. I don't wear face makeup. According to one of my co-workers, I have naturally rosy cheeks, so I don't need blush. I also don't like the feeling of foundation on my face, so really I don't have a use for any sort of face primer. This will probably be gifted to somebody. Retail Value: $28.00

Rock Star Hand Creme. I'm a teacher, and my school is an outside school, so my hands and other parts of my body are exposed to all sorts of strange weather. Hand Creme is a good thing. I put some on my hands, just try it out, and it has a really nice scent, that isn't that bothersome. It also really made my hands smooth. So this will be a nice thing to throw in my bag and keep around. Retail Value: $20.00

Kajal Eye Glider and Sharpener. This is a repeat product for me. I got some in another mystery box. I do like their eyeliner, and I am an eyeliner addict. I just wish this was in a different color, I already have the brown/black stick, and it's the only color they make, I'd love to see other color combinations. This will be added to my eyeliner collection because you never know when you might need some extra eyeliner. The color is nice. I don't really do the smudge or blending thing, I've used the colors separately, and the color does stay and it doesn't smear, as long as I use primer with it. The pencil also has a really nice tip and it glides on smooth. Retail Value: $22.00

Lip Gloss in Timeless. I really like Julep's lip gloss, and I'm thrilled to add a third color to my collection. I tried it on, and it gives my lips a nice shimmer and a nude color that isn't overwhelming. The gloss itself, isn't too sticky, it smells like a toasted marshmallow too, which is always a bonus. Retail Value: $22.00

from L to R: America, Joanna, and Nellie. 

America is red, white, and blue glitter. The base polish is red. I like glittery polish. This is a perfect color for Memorial Day or the Fourth of July, or just when you like to support your country. Retail Value: $14.00

Joanna is Bombshell.  It's sort of a lavender and silver color. You can't really see it in the picture, but it has some nice shimmery undertones. I like it. To me it's sort of a wintery color, and I always tend to like the wintery colors. Retail Value: $14.00

Nellie is It Girl. I've never been much of a pink girl, but this a pink I would wear because it's darker and not as girly as some other pinks. I really like it. It's sort of a cross between fuchsia and magenta, which is more my sort of pink than a girly pink. Retail Value: $14.00

from l to r: Alaina, Brenda, and Aviva.

Alaina is a classic with a twist color, which means I have it somewhere, and this is a double. I think I've worn it before. My camera doesn't show the color to well. It's more like a darker gray/purple, more gray than purple, this picture makes it seem more lavender than it really is. But it's a really nice color. Retail Value: $14.00

Brenda is one of the new colors they promised with the mystery box. I love it. It's much more glittery than the picture shows. It literally looks like when you open a door on Christmas morning, and the ground is covered in snow, and the sun is barely up, and the snow glitters and shimmer and sparkles. This color is why I bought the mystery box.  I can't wait to wear it, it's the perfect winter color. Retail Value: $14.00

Aviva is the other color they promised with the box. It's a dark purple glitter with silver glitter. I like glitter color. I like purple. I just like Brenda a lot more than Aviva.

 Retail Value: $14.00

Green Tea Blotting Papers. I love blotting papers. My skin  seems to be naturally oily, maybe because the temperatures in my class are bipolar, and I always feel like my face is sweaty or oily, so I'm excited about getting these. I'm estimating the retail value to be around $5.00.

Tons of Lux Skin Serum and Hand Serum samples. These were free, so I'm not going to calculate a value for them. But I got a lot of them. I got two samples of each, which is pretty nifty.

This brings the totaql value of my box up to: $181 dollars, and I only paid about thirty for it. So I think I did well. No iPad Mini, but I'm very satisfied with the products that I got. I didn't have many doubles, and it's mostly stuff I would use. 

I love Julep. 

The Naughty and Nice Mystery Box was a hit.

Julep Diamond Mystery Box

So, it was a tough week, at school, it always is, and my district, is one of the only nearby districts that doesn't have the entire week off next week, and my students are done, and I'm done, therefore it was nice, when I came home to find I had a package, and got this at the office:

My first thought was: "Damn that box is huge."

This was the view from inside the box.

Sorin [my black and white kitty] was pretty curious about what was inside the box.

The Diamond Mystery Box was my first Mystery Box. I just got one out of curiosity since the big seller was the glittery topcoat nailpolish that sparkled like diamonds, and I like things that sparkle. For my add ons, I just picked a mystery gift because I like surprises.

My surprises included all this:

Julep Doublestep Foot Treatment, Pink Grapefruit Body Frosting [which the name totally reminds me of when my best friend in high school gave me edible chocolate body frosting for a birthday], A black thing that I have no idea what the hell it is, and Moisture Masks for the hands, feet, and nails, which sound interesting.

I also got all these polishes:

from L to R: Fireworks, Adele, Lois, Ally, Coco, and Babara.

Fireworks is very fourth of July, hence the name fireworks. It's a patriotic glitter polish, which I think will go perfectly with my habit of wearing nailpolish at school to support holidays [like Memorial Day] or just nailpolish in general that seems color appropriate for holidays.

Adela is a glittery gold shimmer color. I approve.

Lois is a shimmery glittery pink neutral color, it's perfect for just any day sort of wear. I approve.

Ally is a bright blue color with a purple shimmer. I happen to really like bright colors, so that works for me.

Coco is a dark brownish red color. It's not really my sort of color. It's not a bad color, it just won't get much wear, if any, perhaps I can gift it to a friend.

I'm excited about Barbara because I had it once, and I loved it, but then in the great nailpolish catastrophe of 2013, it got shattered and broke, so I'm glad they sent it back to me,. It's dark glittery purple with a pink sheen.

Inside of the diamond mystery box were these:

from l to r: Candace, Antonia, Lucy, Eva, Karen, Geo, and Karmen.

I got two repeats: Karen and Carmen, but both are colors that I really love, so I don't really mind having a few extra bottles around, either for myself, or to gift.

Candace is a dark bronze glitter color, I like it because it's sort of a neutral glittery color that can be worn for a lot of occasions.

Antonia and Geo were the diamond colors they promised in each box. One is a pink holographic glitter and the other is a light blue/purple holographic glitter, They're both very pretty.

Lucy is a dark brown color with a hint of red, which will not get worn by me at all because it isn't colorful enough, but perhaps I can gift it to somebody.

Eva is bright pink and I love it. I love love love bright pink polishes!

I gave the rock candy to my fiance, he enjoyed it.

So, no diamond studs from my end, but that's okay, I'm really not much of an earring persin anyways.

However, I got seven polishes, and each retails at about $14.00, so that's $98.00, which is three times what I paid for the box, I got well over what I paid.

My opinion of Mystery Boxes is that they're pretty cool. I don't know if I would buy them all the time, unless it was a theme I enjoyed like Halloween, Glitter, or Christmas, but I do think it was a good investment. I would buy one again.

Now I can't wait for my December Box, I totally upgraded and used my Julep points to get every single color :)