Julep: Trick or Treat Mystery Box, Take Two

Last week, I wrote about my Julep Trick or Treat Mystery Box that was apparently sent back to them because of a mistaken address, and how I called them, and raved about their awesome customer service, and they said they'd send me a second box, with no questions asked. Then the next day, my box did show up, very beat up, but it got here regardless. So this week, I ended up with a second Trick or Treat Mystery Box and I was eager to compare them... So off to box two.

The inside of my box, at a glance.

My mystery bag add-on and mystery color add on: Payton, Leah, Roc Solid, and Millie, the exact same colors as I had gotten, last time, as an add on. No randomness there, so onto the box.

This was the inside of my box, already it was different, at a glance.

Mint Condition Pedi Creme, worth $16.00 [and more candy corn, yay]

I've gotten that in a box before. I still haven't used the last tube I had of it. It does feel refreshing, it's a product that I just forget I have... But it's also almost winter, so it's not really going to be flip flop season anytime soon, even in Texas, it's more like Ugg season, so this product isn't something that I'll be using very often.

Verdict: Meh

Mighty Nail and Cuticle Serum, worth $22.40

This doesn't really interest me. I'm not really into nail care. I mean, I like how polish looks on my nails, but I'm a special education teacher, and my day is far too active and hands-on for me to obsess over my nails.

Verdict: Meh

Julep Vanish Cuticle Softener & Remover, worth $14.40.

I just got this in either my September or October Maven Box, I don't remember. I don't need another when I haven't even opened the first.

Verdict: Meh

from l to r: Beatrix, Lacey, Chloe, and Veronica, each worth $11.20, for a total of $44.80

I got Beatrix in my last Mystery Box. Still a cool color, but I don't need two of them.

Lacey is a pretty shimmery indigo blue, I needed a color like this in my life.

Chloe is a cross between red, brown, bronze, and gold. It's not a color that I would have picked for myself, but it's not awful.

Veronica I have already, it's a coral pink color that came in one of my monthly boxes.

Verdict: Okay, I really like Lacey, and Chloe isn't awful, but I preferred the colors I had gotten in my last Mystery Box.

Total Value: $97.60

About a dollar cheaper than my last box, but still more than what I had paid for it.

I also liked my last box, a lot better.

The moral of this story is:

1. Yes, Mystery Boxes do have some randomness.

2. I need to stop spending my money on Mystery Boxes because they just haven't wowed me lately. Unless there's an exclusive color I need, I just need to say no.

Monthly reveal closes today, BTW, I added on every single eyeliner pencil... I think I have a problem.... But you can never have too many eyeliner pencils!

Julep: Trick or Treat Mystery Box

Before I get into the brink of this entry, I'd just like to take some time to write about how awesome Julep's customer service is. I was expecting this box on Friday, and when I when to check on the delivery status of the package, it said that the package was being returned to sender because no such address existed. I was confused, I've gotten millions of packages here from Julep and other places... Maybe Fed Ex was fed up with me because my apartment accepted a package addressed to me, the other day, where I totally put the wrong apartment address, and they didn't want to delivery it, but the office people recognized my name, and made them leave it here... who knew...

So anyways, I called Julep up on the phone, told them what happened, and they had no problem resending my package to me, no questions asked, and told me to expect it sometime this week. They were so nice and sweet to me.

Then this showed up in the mail today:

 I'm not quite sure if my picture accurately portrays how beat up that box is. It's re-taped back together, bent in, and my address was wrong... I don't know what happened, the last number was left out, and hand-written in, and I got it today. No wonder they wanted to return it to the senders...

But in the end, the vanishing box, still got here. I think my replacement box got sent out yesterday, so we'll see if I get another box. If I do, it'll be interesting to compare the contents of the two boxes. If I get repeats, no biggie, I promised our landlord that I'd give her some of my doubles, which I have several of, as it is because she's interested in sampling their polish since she sees how many packages from them I get a month. 

The first look at the Trick or Treat Mystery Box.

Now, tons of people were PISSED OFF [me included] about the lack of "jewels" in the September Jewel Heist Mystery Box, and were quite vocal about to Julep on their facebook.

Julep  said they learned from the feedback, and were eager to make a more pleasing Mystery Box, so even though the Trick or Treat Mystery Boxes would be recycled colors, they would be more theme related. So I was eager to see what it would contain. I was expecting a lot of oranges, yellows, greens, and blacks.

Ajani took a liking to the box it came in.. He's still in there, and doesn't seem to be leaving any time soon.

from l to r: Payton, Leah, Roc Solid, and Millie.

They were my "Trick or Treat" add on and mystery color. 

Payton, Bombshell, is a bright mint green. I feel like my nailpolish collection lacks some good green color polishes, and green is my favorite color, and I'm very happy with this color.

Leah, IT GIRL, is a shimmery green. It's a different shade of green than Payton, as you can see in the picture, and it has a greenish silver shimmer. I like it.

Roc Solid, IT GIRL, is sort of a teal colored gray. It's very much a me color. 

Millie, Boho Glam, is a cross between gray, blue, and purple. It's also very much a me color.

Love these four colors, they're the sort of colors I tended to buy in bulk when I used to get my cheap drugstore nail polish back in the day. 

Verdict: LOVE THESE COLORS

Four colors, each worth $11.20, at maven prices, total value, $44.80, definitely way more than I paid.

The inside of the big box.

Nail mask, worth $2.o0

I have never used one of these and never plan to use one of these. I'm sure they're great, they're just not really my thing. 

Verdict: FAIL, only because it isn't a "me" product.

Julep's Blank Canvas Eye Primer and Candy Corn, worth $17.60.

I have nothing against eye primer. I've used it before, although I tend to use strictly Urban Decay's eye primer, but I think I now have a total of three of these Blank Canvas Eye Primers... so maybe it's time to switch loyalties? 

I just rarely have a time, where I can sit down, and really work on making my eye makeup look pretty. I'm too busy. For school, I put on enough eye liner and mascara to make me NOT look like a corpse, and run out the door. 

And my friends group consist of a bunch of awesome geeky nerds, who care far more about what MtG cards they're going to get in their booster packs than what my makeup looks like, so I don't really have any social opportunities where I can really find a reason to dress my makeup up. Therefore, I just don't really have a reason to use primer.

Verdict: Like, just don't have much time or reason to take advantage of such a product.

The Candy Corn is already gone.

Verdict: LOVE[D]

 Luxe Care Hand Creme, worth $16.00

Hand Creme is useful. I swear between Julep and Ipsy, I'm never ever going to have to buy hand creme ever again. 

Verdict: Neutral, I don't love it or hate it.

Brilliance Glycolic Hand Scrub, worth $18.40.

I'm intrigued by this product. I totally prefer a hand scrub to a hand creme. As a special education teacher, everything I do is very "hands on", so it'll be a nice little treat for my hands that I can use to wash school  off of them, and I always love the way exfoliating products feel on my skin when I use them.

Verdict: Very Curious

from l to r: Beatrix, Valerie, Josephine, & Faye.

Beatrix, bombshell is awesome. It's a black polish with thick chunks of silver glitter in a pool of rainbow glitter. It's very much a me color. 

Valerie, bombshell is a turquoise with a gold shimmer in it. You can also see the gold shimmer in my picture. It's also very much a me color.

Josephine, IT GIRL, is more of a navy color than my picture shows. It may be a really good color for my wedding since my bridesmaid dresses are all navy blue.

Verdict: LOVE THESE COLORS

Faye, boho glam is a shimmery golden sand color. It's not the ugliest color I've ever gotten, but it doesn't wow me either.

Verdict: Meh

Again, four colors, worth a total of $44.80.

Total:  $98.80, with Maven Prices.

Well over what I paid for it, and I'm actually very satisfied with this box. I love basically all the nailpolish colors that I received, and I wasn't wowed with all the beauty products that I got, but there's really nothing [except maybe the nail mask] that I would call a waste of space. So Julep did redeem themselves for the Jewel Heist Fiasco with this box. Everything fit nicely, for the most part, with the Halloween theme, and I very much like the selection of products that I got in this box.

Julep: Jewel Heist Mystery Box

Last week, I ordered another Julep mystery box.

The theme was "Jewel Heist", and 50 random subscribers would get a box filled with all the birthstone nailpolish colors, and some sparkly earrings. 

I ordered the box, knowing I wouldn't win, but hoping maybe I could score some of the jewel birthstone polish, since I don't own any of it.

This was the first look at the box.

Ajani wasn't impressed.

I added one "mystery polish" add on, and these were the three colors I got. 

From l to r:  Kristen, Emilie, & Kam.

Kristen is a combination of blue and silver glitter. I want to say I have it, but if I don't, I have one just like it, but either way, it's a pretty color, and if I do have it, I don't mind a second bottle of it.

Emilie is a turquoise green color. I really like it a lot.

Kam is a pastel mint color. I also really adore this color.

Each nail polish retails for 11.20 with maven prices.

So the total retail value for those three polishes was $33.60 with maven prices. I initially paid $9.oo-$14.00 for the add on, I don't remember which, but either way, the value of those three polishes was far more than what I paid for it, and I really love all three of those colors.

This was the inside of the box.

Julep mascara, in brown, worth $5.99, since it's currently on sale.

Eh. I have several Julep mascaras that I've acquired from various mystery boxes throughout the years. It's not the worst mascara I've owned, but it's nothing awesome either. It's also brown, and I tend to only wear black mascara. This is a fail.

Julep Mask Noir, $25.60 with maven prices.

I love facial masks. In college, my best friend B and I would buy all sorts of face masks in hope of making our skin look better. 

I'm excited to try this because I do love masks, and I tend to love what they do for my skin. So the verdict is: win.

A bronzer brush, worth $22.40 with maven prices.

I don't wear bronzer, I have no desire to ever wear bronzer. I wouldn't have minded an eyeliner or eyeshadow brush, but a bronzer brush?

Verdict: Fail

Green tea facial blotting papers, worth $5.00ish. It's not listed on the website, I based this over similar products on the internet.

I love these. I live in Texas, land of humidity and sweat, and man does my face get oily. I love when Julep sends me these in boxes.

Verdict: WIN

Julep ink gel eyeliner in black, worth about $14.40 with maven prices.

I already own this, I got it in the February Julep box, I believe.

I'm indifferent to this, I tend to prefer pencil eyeliner to liquid or gel, but I don't hate gel eyeliner, and I do like black eyeliner.

Verdict: Indifferent

Nailpolish in Alma, worth $11.20, with maven prices.

Verdict: HATE IT

I hate yellow. I hate yellow, and I hate orange. This nail polish is the fucking color of mustard and disgusting. 

Total value: $84.59

Not even close to the $120+ value that they promised.

Verdict on the Box: Meh

This wasn't a special box. If it wasn't for the three add-on colors I got, I would've been very disappointed with this box.

There were no stand-out products for me.

I was satisfied with some of the products I got, but not wowed, at all.

I also don't understand how they advertised this as a "jewel mystery box", yet didn't send even one of the birthstone colors.

So this was a so/so mystery box, not the worst I've ever gotten, but not the best either.

On another note, October Reveal opened today! The October collection looks good, very much Halloween themed :)

I may or may not have upgraded to the entire collection

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.

Julep: Shamrock Mystery Box

Just for the record, I actually have no idea what this mystery box is called. Shamrock Mystery box seemed appropriate... or we could go for St. Patrick's mystery box... Or maybe the lean green mystery box?

And why is it, whenever I have chocolate milk, I have to fight my kitten for it?

Anyhow, onward to the mystery box I had forgotten I had gotten, most likely because I like retail therapy when I'm stressed.

What is Julep?  Julep is a monthly nailpolish/makeup subscription box that sends you nailpolish and makeup based on your profile. Different profiles get different things, and your result is based on a quiz you take. However, you're not forced to stay the same profile for the entire time you belong. You can change up your style every month during the monthly selection window. Or you can upgrade and add different stuff onto your initial order. It's $19.99 a month [more if you upgrade], and they have super speedy shipping. Most likely you will get your month's box before the previous month ends.

Occasionally, almost every month, Julep has special mystery boxes. They usually have a special color or two that you can ONLY get with that mystery box, and the rest of the products are surprises. Usually old colors being recycled.

Personally I love Julep because it's made my nailpolish collection huge, and their nailpolish doesn't stain my nails like the cheap stuff does.

I like box boxes... Last box I got, was so tiny, and had NOTHING in it, that I swore I was going to swear off mystery boxes... It's was the Cupid Mystery Box back in February. But apparently, I don't listen to myself.

And... TWO BOXES ARE WAY BETTER THAN ONE.

Inside glance at Box 1, the smaller box, which I think was my 10 dollar mystery add on.

Forget Me Not Seeds, recycled from last year, worth about $1.50. I've been buying a lot of seeds lately. I'm determined to attempt to garden, even I didn't inherit my dad's green thumb, I have more like a brown thumb. So, honestly, I was happy to see more seeds that I can experiment with in my box. 

from L to R: Rose, Grace, & Sienna, each worth $7.99 based on "Maven Pricing", rounding it up to 8... Multiply 8 x 3, you get 24. So these three polishes are worth $24.00. way more then the ten bucks I paid for the add-on, and more expensive than the initial mystery box itself which was $19.99. 

I was really hoping Rose would be "Evie", which is a color that I am obsessed with, and may just buy it, on my own. They're similar enough. Rose is basically neon pink with a red tinge, and totally something I can see Rose from Doctor Who, wearing, although I know that's just coincidence.  It's a very bright color. I would wear it. It's very much a summer toenail color to me. 

Grace is probably the perfect base color for a french manicure... if I ever gave myself a french manicure, which I'm sure I won't. It's an extremely pale pink whitish color. A little too nude and boring for me. 

Sienna is a bright silver color that's like the color of tinfoil. 

Inside the bigger box.

From L to R: Tatiana & Aislinn

These would've been the PERFECT St. Patty's Day combo, had they actually gotten here by St. Patty's Day. Now that I really go out and celebrate that holiday... Green beer gets rather old after so many years.

Tatiana is an orange gold color. It's a very pretty autumn color. It reminds me of the leaves changing on the East Coast. I miss the East Coast. Damn you Texas and your lack of fall.

Aislinn was the exclusive color to the box I ordered. It's black with bright green glitter. It's very Elphaba and Wicked to me, which is why I chose it over the other choices.

Together, those two colors are worth $16.00 with Maven Prices.

Mint Condition Pedi Creme, worth $16.00

I was bored. My feet are barefoot. I have carpet, who needs shoes or socks, when you have carpet? I put some on. It made my feet nice and smooth. It wasn't really refreshing, which is what I'd think a mint creme would do, but it did make my feet nice and smooth. It'd probably be great for a foot massage.

Julep Neon Dips are a product I have never seen before. I can't even find it on their website, which makes me think, it was just lying in a corner somewhere, gathering dust, and then they decided to mail it to me.

I can't even find it anywhere on the internet. Let's assume it's worth $10.00, which may be over or under estimating the price. 

Basically, you paint your nails with the clear stuff, dip it into the neon stuff, which are different shades of neon pink and neon orange, and use the little brush to clean up your nails. 

It's totally NOT my thing. It may wind up in a mystery package to somebody.

from L to R: Tracy, Kennedy, & Jennifer.

I have Tracy, I got her in a Halloween box. I love that color. It's like stars in a midnight sky. I didn't really need a double, but at least it's a color I like.

Kennedy is fucking ugly. It reminds me of old lady khaki pants, ugh.

Jennifer looks exactly like Grace, except maybe a slight bit creamier, when I put them side by side. 

All three worth $24.00 together.

Not a fan of any of them really, except for Tracy.

Total Value: $91.50, which is WELL over what I initially paid. I'm mostly happy with this box. There are some colors I can do without. But there was only one double, out of all the polishes I got, which is pretty good. 

Anyhow, I am a Julep fan, and they're one of the boxes that I've had the longest subscription to, and I don't see myself giving them up anytime soon. 

If you're a nailpolish junkie like me, check them out.