Julep Rambles

I just got my first Julep box, not the monthly one, but the intro. I chose the Bombshell box for the colors, even though I tested as the Classic With A Twist. I got two nail polishes, a bright orange called Natasha and gold glitter called Oscar. I also got a nail file and some hand scrub (the blurb called it "a facial for your hands" or something like that).

Classic With A Twist; Bombshell

The Maven program is $19.99 a month and it lets you get the other products  from the brand at a discount (for example, the polishes are reg: $14.00/piece but Mavens get $11.20/piece). Mavens also receive free 7-10 days standard ground shipping but I can vouch for the fact that I got my package within 4 days so it's probably even faster.

The polishes are really pretty but I'm pretty skeptical. I haven't swatched them yet but my initial reaction is dissapointment. The polishes are sized at averagely half the average amount, 8ml/.27oz when compared to the more standard 12ml/.4oz to 14ml/.5oz in polishes like China Glaze or Essie which go for around $8.00. This isn't quite a brand I know enough or have heard enough about to let it have a luxury-esque price tag (assuming that if I double the quantity it would be $28 for an average bottle and now we're in Dior (10ml) and up territory). That said, Butter London at $14 is 11ml and RBL (Rescue Beauty Lounge) at $20 (used to be $18 but the economy happened) is 11ml, so make your own decision there.

As for me, I probably won't be continuing with the program. I'll check out Birchbox instead (at half the price) and see what that's about. Julep is great if you've got the discretionary income for it, but I'd still encourage you to go for some Illamasqua or Deborah Lipmann or Butter London or RBL if you're looking for brandy nail polish. At $20 bucks a month, this program simply isn't worth it for what they give me but I'm glad I got to try it out for what I did. It didn't hurt to get, since I did get the whole bunch for all of a penny ($0.01) with the COLOR2012 coupon code. My recommendation is that you try it while the promo is up and see what happens! You might fall in love with the program, and I've seen mystery boxes and 'golden boxes' packed with goodies around the blogosphere.

I'll get to swatching what I got later but for now, here's a quick pic of one coat of Oscar applied over Turned Up Turquoise which I'm not done wearing out yet.