Julep Maven April 2013

Hiiiii there! Happy weekend! :-)

I haven't shown you guys my Julep Maven boxes in a while, and I'm particularly thrilled with this month's, so I thought I'd go ahead and share what I got. The theme for April is "turn on the brights", perfect as the weather is getting warmer. This month, I went with the It Girl box. 

Everything arrived nicely wrapped in the usual black Julep box. The nail polishes for It Girl this month are Eden (bright violet creme), Mackenzie (sour apple green metallic), and Abbie (sunshine yellow creme). As a fun little treat, this month's boxes also come with a piece of rock candy. I'll have some swatches and reviews of the colors in my upcoming posts.

If you are wondering about Julep Maven, it is a subscription program that normally retails for $19.99 monthly with free shipping. Over at Julep.com, you can take a style quiz to determine your personal style. Every month, you will receive a Maven box that best fits your style filled with over $40 worth of Julep goodness. The program is flexible, allowing you to skip any month free of charge, send a box to someone else, or switch your box to a different style. And you can cancel anytime.

To join and get your introductory Julep Maven box for FREE (!), just click HERE, select the Become a Maven tab, and use code FREEBOX at checkout. The code is available for a limited time.

** This post contains my referral link. If you click on the link and sign up, I will earn credit towards free Maven boxes.

Glossybox US December 2012

If you guys remember, I was lucky enough to have gotten the inaugural US Glossybox back in May. While I loved that box, I knew there would not be as many full-sized items in the regular boxes and at $21 a month, I ultimately did not end up subscribing.

Fast forward to earlier this month and the Glossybox subscription's first box was on sale for only $12.60! I could not resist and as fast as my little fingers could click, I signed up. :-) I finally got my box, and I wanted to show you guys all that I got.

Everything came in the signature pink box with the Glossybox logo. I'm a huge fan of the box itself. It's so sturdy and well-made, and is perfect for storing random trinkets, pictures, and loose odds and ends. This month's theme is "Glamour, Glitz, and Gloss". Here are the items in my box:

• Heartland Fragrance Epsom bath salts in White Ginger - 5.5 oz. (retails for $10 for 30 oz.)
• This is for bath or shower, but since I rarely take baths, I will probably use this to exfoliate in the shower as the instructions recommend—if I can get over the smell. It's so strong that the whole Glossybox reeks with it. I don't like the smell as is, but maybe it will mellow out once mixed with water.
• Forest Essentials Madurai Jasmine & Mogra Bath & Shower Oil  - 3.38 fl oz. (retails for $22 for 6.8 fl oz.)
• This is another bath/shower item in the box. For me, I will be using it as a moisturizer after showering. This is scented, and I'm liking the smell quite a bit. It's flowery and feminine while still being light and clean so that it's not overpowering. 
• mark. Lipclick Luxe Lipstick in m.powerment petal - full size of 0.106 oz. (retails for $12) 
• This is probably my favorite item in the box. The lipstick packaging is so cute, with the shiny pink casing that clicks when you close it. The shade is a neutral pink with some mauve undertones. I'm so happy that Glossybox decided to include a wearable shade instead of something like orange or brown that may not work for everyone. I'm just super happy with this item. :-)

• Pleats Please by Issey Miyake - 0.03 fl oz. vial (retails for $92 for 3.3 oz.)
• Eh, I don't like this scent. It's really strong and makes my nose twitch. It went into the trash immediately. Then I had to go fish it out because I realized I hadn't written about it yet lol. But scents are always so personal, so my experience may not match yours.
• Wella Velvet Amplifier - 0.05 oz foil packet (retails for $16 for 1.9 oz.)
• This is a styling primer, but since I don't style my hair at all, I don't have anything useful to say.
• Zoya Nail Lacquer in Ziv - full size of 0.5 fl oz (retails for $8)
• I love nail polish (as you guys know lol) and I love Zoya, so I'm quite happy with this. Ziv is a gorgeous gold, in fact one of my favorite golds. Since I already have this color, I will probably give this bottle away as a gift. Here's a swatch from my post on Ziv.

• Jewelmint jewelry - Madison Avenue Ring (retails for $29.99)
• This was my most anticipated item of the box and the most disappointing. I had seen other's boxes with cute earrings and necklaces, so I was eagerly awaiting mine. As soon as I saw that my item was a ring, I knew it would not work for me. My fingers are tiny, so the ring is too comically large for me. Although I know not every jewelry item can satisfy everyone, I'm not sure why rings would be sent out at all. Ring sizing is so specific that the majority of people who got rings probably could not wear them.

Overall, I'm satisfied with this box considering I only paid $12.60 for it. My favorites are the mark lipstick and the Zoya nail polish, and I'm looking forward to trying out the Jasmine shower oil. However, this isn't worth the full price of $21 per month to me, so I have already cancelled my subscription. I will be keeping my eyes open though. If Glossybox should go on sale again, I will definitely jump in and get another box. :-)

What do you guys think of this month's box? Do you subscribe to Glossybox yourself? Let me know what you got in your box.

Julep Maven December 2012

Hi you guys! Hope your holiday season has been festive and fun so far. I'm currently off from work and that mood of relaxation has seeped into all I do, making me extremely lazy. As a result, I'm falling a little behind on my blog posts. Let's see if I can catch up a bit. :-)

Today, I'm excited to show you my December Julep Maven box. This month's theme is glitter and glow, perfect for this time of the year. For this month, I went with the It Girl box instead of my default Boho Glam because I wanted the extra polish instead of the warming foot scrub.

Everything arrived nicely wrapped in the usual black Julep box. The nail polishes for It Girl this month are Harper (full coverage mermaid blue glitter), Ivy (sapphire micro-glitter metallic), and Vivien (full coverage champagne gold glitter). As a bonus, this month's boxes also comes with a create-your-own cabochon ring and a peppermint candy. I'll have some swatches and reviews of my favorite of the three colors up shortly.

If you are wondering about Julep Maven, it is a subscription program that normally retails for $19.99 monthly with free shipping. Over at Julep.com, you can take a style quiz to determine your personal style. Every month, you will receive a Maven box that best fits your style filled with over $40 worth of Julep goodness. The program is flexible, allowing you to skip any month free of charge, send a box to someone else, or switch your box to a different style. And you can cancel anytime.

To join and get your introductory Julep Maven box for only ONE CENT, just click HERE, select the Become a Maven tab, and use code PENNY at checkout. The code is available for a limited time.

** This post contains my referral link. If you click on the link and sign up, I will earn credit towards free Maven boxes.

Julep Maven November 2012

Hi, lovely readers! Hope you guys are having a great holiday weekend! I'm a little behind on my posts. I thought I would get a chance to work on the blog over the long weekend, but I should have known better. I could not concentrate in the midst of so much turkey and shopping. :-)

Today, I'm excited to show you my November Julep Maven box. This month's theme is suede polishes. I've been hoping Julep would include their suede polishes as part of their Maven boxes ever since they introduced them to Sephora a few months ago, and I'm happy they finally did. This month, I chose the Classic With A Twist box instead of my usual Boho Glam.

As usual, everything came nicely wrapped in their signature black Julep box. The nail polishes for Classic With A Twist this month are Minka (a copper red suede) and Brit (a graphite silver suede). This profile also came with a jar of Pink Grapefruit Body Frosting. It smells lovely and fresh, and I can't wait to try it. As a bonus, this box also contains three individually wrapped polish-remover pads, which will be super useful when traveling. I've already tried one of the polishes and will have swatches and reviews of that up shortly (assuming I don't get side-tracked with more shopping lol).

If you are wondering about Julep Maven, it is a subscription program that normally retails for $19.99 monthly with free shipping. Over at Julep.com, you can take a style quiz to determine your personal style. Every month, you will receive a Maven box that best fits your style filled with over $40 worth of Julep goodness. The program is flexible, allowing you to skip any month free of charge, send a box to someone else, or switch your box to a different style. And you can cancel anytime.

To join and get your introductory Julep Maven box for only ONE CENT, just click HERE, select the Become a Maven tab, and use code PENNY at checkout. The code is available for a limited time.

** This post contains my referral link. If you click on the link and sign up, I will earn credit towards free Maven boxes.

Julep Maven October 2012

I'm excited to have received my October Julep Maven box in the mail last week. I had a bit of trouble deciding which box to get this month. This month's theme is Halloween-inspired, and many of the boxes had crackle polishes. I'm not a big fan of crackles, but I finally settled on the It Girl box because even though it has a crackle polish, the other two polishes that came in the box are beautiful.

Everything came nicely wrapped in the usual black Julep box. The nail polishes for It Girl this month are Caroline (a burgundy shimmer), Leslie (black and silver specked shimmer), and Glenda (a silver crackle). The box also contains two pots of glitter and a small bag of candy corns in the spirit of Halloween. I'll be trying out the colors and will have swatches and reviews for you guys coming up.

If you are wondering about Julep Maven, it is a subscription program that normally retails for $19.99 monthly with free shipping. Over at Julep.com, you can take a style quiz to determine your personal style. Every month, you will receive a Maven box that best fits your style filled with over $40 worth of Julep goodness. The advantage of the Julep Maven subscription program is its flexibility. It allows you to skip any month free of charge, to send a box to someone else, or to switch your box to a different style. And of course, you can cancel anytime.

To join and get your introductory Julep Maven box for only ONE CENT, just click HERE and use code COLORS4ONE at checkout. The code is available for a limited time.

** This post contains my referral link. If you click on the link and sign up, I will earn credit towards free Maven boxes.

Julep Maven July 2012

I was so excited to receive my July Julep Maven box in the mail this month. When I first saw the previews this month for my Boho Glam profile, I felt like the colors were made for me! And they certainly did not disappoint when I saw them in person. :-)

Everything came nicely wrapped in the usual black Julep box. The nail polishes for Boho Glam this month are Georgia (a golden coral shimmer) and Mischa (cherry scarlet shimmer). The box also contains a matching peachy coral lip gloss in color Poppy. To celebrate Canada Day and Fourth of July this month, Julep also included a bonus polish—depending on your location—in color O Canada or America (which I received). I am looking forward to trying all the colors and will have swatches and reviews for you in the upcoming days.

If you are wondering about Julep Maven, it is a subscription program that normally retails for $19.99 monthly with free shipping. Over at Julep.com, you can take a style quiz to determine your personal style. Every month, you will receive a Maven box that best fits your style filled with over $40 worth of Julep goodness. The advantage of the Julep Maven subscription program is its flexibility. It allows you to skip any month free of charge, to send a box to someone else, or to switch your box to a different style. And of course, you can cancel anytime.

To join and get your introductory Julep Maven box for only ONE CENT, just click HERE and use code COLORS4ONE at checkout. The code is available for a limited time.

** This post contains my referral link. If you click on the link and sign up, I will earn credit towards free Maven boxes.

Julep Maven June 2012

I was really excited last week to receive my June Julep Maven box in the mail. For my June box, I didn't need the SPF 30 cream that was being offered with my usual Boho Glam profile, so I switched to It Girl to receive an extra polish instead.

Everything came nicely wrapped in a black Julep box. The nail polishes for It Girl this month are Sasha (a cantaloupe cream), Sandra (a magenta pink metallic), and Morgan (a grape purple metallic). I am looking forward to trying all the colors and having the swatches for you guys. The box also includes some replacement brushes, a SPF 15 lip balm, and two Pixy Stix. :-)

If you are wondering about Julep Maven, it is a subscription program that normally retails for $19.99 monthly with free shipping. Over at Julep.com, you can take a style quiz to determine your personal style. Every month, you will receive a Maven box that best fits your style filled with over $40 worth of Julep goodness. The advantage of the Julep Maven subscription program is its flexibility. It allows you to skip any month free of charge, to send a box to someone else, or to switch your box to a different style. And of course, you can cancel anytime.

To join and get your introductory Julep Maven box for only ONE CENT, just click HERE and use code COLORS4ONE at checkout. The code is available for a limited time.

** This post contains my referral link. If you click on the link and sign up, I will earn credit towards free Maven boxes. 

Glossybox US Inaugural Box

Beauty subscriptions have become quite popular in the last few years, and the latest to join the ranks in the US is Glossybox. Glossybox has already been available at a number of other countries, and anticipation has been high for their arrival in the US.

As far as I know, the inaugural Glossybox is not for sale, but given only to select press and beauty bloggers. Glossybox was also having giveaways where you could win a box, and that is how I got mine. I'm super happy I won and now I'll show you guys what I got. :-)

Everything came nicely packaged in a pink box with the glossybox logo. I really love this pink box. It's sturdy and well-made, and would make a perfect little memory box to hold pictures, cards, and little trinkets. Here's what came in the box:

• C.O. Bigelow Lavendar & Peppermint Shampoo - 5.2oz, retail for $12
• BASQ Cucumber Tea Eye Gel - 0.5oz, retail for $24
• OPI Kiss Me on My Tulips - 0.5oz, retail for $8.50
• Cargo EyeBronzer - 0.035oz, retail for $22
• Kryolan High Gloss Brilliant Lip Shine in Toffee - 0.135oz, retail for $18.10
• Erno Laszlo Hollywood Collection - sample pack of 5 various creams (no size listed on samples)

This is an absolutely amazing box. It contains five full-size items (!) and a sample item. I love everything in the box, although I am most partial to the OPI polish (no surprise there :P).

Even though this inaugural box contains five full-sized items, it looks like the regular subscription will not. Glossybox US's website states that every month, you will get five "travel-sized" beauty products. The other unfortunate thing is that subscriptions will be a somewhat costly $21 a month. That is more than twice the cost of some other existing beauty subscriptions (such as Birchbox and MyGlam).

If you are interested in Glossybox, regular subscriptions will start sometime this month and you can sign up at Glossybox.com to inform you of exactly when. Due to the higher subscription cost and the unknown amount of products you will receive, I recommend waiting a month or two to see how things shape up.

What do you guys think? Will you be signing up for Glossybox? If you do, will it replace or augment your current beauty subscriptions? Or is the cost just too high to take a gamble on a mystery selection every month?

Don't forget to enter my current giveaway for a chance to win the entire Zoya Surf Collection containing 6 brand new bottles of polish! <3

Julep Maven May 2012

I am so excited that I just got my May Julep Maven box in the mail. For my May box, I switched from my usual Boho Glam profile to It Girl.

As usual, everything came nicely wrapped in a black Julep box. The nail polishes for It Girl this month are Nessa (a light yellow shimmer), Ashley (an orange shimmer), and Kylie (a purple shimmer that is also a magnetic polish). I can't wait to try all the colors and I will definitely have swatches for you guys. The box also include the magnetic to use with Kylie and a small packet sample of the pedi cream.

If you are wondering about Julep Maven, it is a subscription program that normally retails for $19.99 monthly with free shipping. Over at Julep.com, you can take a style quiz to determine your personal style. Every month, you will receive a Maven box that best fits your style filled with over $40 worth of Julep goodness. The advantage of the Julep Maven subscription program is its flexibility. It allows you to skip any month free of charge, to send a box to someone else, or to switch your box to a different style. And of course, you can cancel anytime.

To join and get your introductory Julep Maven box for only ONE CENT, just click HERE and use code COLORS4ONE at checkout. The code is available for a limited time.

** This post contains my referral link. If you click on the link and sign up, I will earn credit towards free Maven boxes.

Julep Maven March 2012

I just got my March Julep Maven box in the mail, and I am so excited to share it with you! I joined Julep Maven last month when I saw that I could get my introductory box for only ONE CENT! Then this month, thanks to two lovely people who signed up using my referral link, I was able to get my March box totally free! If you think that sounds like an awesome program, read down a bit further to see how you can get your intro box for ONE CENT, too. :)

For my March box, I kept to my profile of Boho Glam. Everything came nicely wrapped in a black Julep box. The nail polishes for Boho Glam this month are Alicia (a pinkish salmon cream) and Portia (a sheer blue sparkle). There is also a bottle of organic argan oil. I have heard so many wonderful things about argan oil, and I can't wait to try this on my face and hair. Julep also included a bonus nail file in the box.

If you are wondering about Julep Maven, it is a subscription program that normally retails for $19.99 monthly with free shipping. Over at Julep.com, you can take a style quiz to determine your personal style. Every month, you will receive a Maven box that best fits your style filled with over $40 worth of Julep goodness. The one advantage of the Julep Maven subscription program is its flexibility. It allows you to skip any month free of charge, to send a box to someone else, or to switch your box to a different style. And of course, you can cancel anytime. Julep Maven also has a lovely referral program. If you refer two friends, your next month's Maven box is complimentary.

To join and get your introductory Julep Maven box for only ONE CENT, just click HERE and use code COLOR2012 at checkout. The code is available for a limited time.

** This post contains my referral link. If you click on the link and sign up, I will earn credit towards free Maven boxes.

MyGlam February 2012

Hope everyone is having a relaxing and fun-filled weekend! :)

Today, I thought I'd share a non-polish related blurb with you. I recently signed up for a monthly beauty subscription service called MyGlam, and I just received my very first bag. If you have not heard of MyGlam, it is a monthly $10 subscription service that delivers 4 or 5 full-size or deluxe-sized beauty items to your door. What you will get every month is a surprise, and the idea is that it allows you to try beauty items that you may not otherwise have thought to try. It is quite similar to a few other beauty subscription services out there, such as Birchbox.

My beauty items this month arrived in a bright pink bubble wrap envelope, with the following items inside:

• Pink with black hearts makeup bag 
• NYX Roll On Shimmer in color Sea Foam (0.052oz) 
• X Out Shine Control (0.75 fl oz) 
• Freeman Hydration Mask in Goji Berry (.5 fl oz packet) 
• Dead Sea Premier Eye Cream and Revitalizing Mask samples 
• Ghirardelli chocolates (2 pieces) 
• NuMe $100 gift certificate (for use towards styling tools & hair extensions only) 

I think the makeup bag is super cute, and I am excited to try out the NYX shimmer and the Freeman mask. The X Out Shine Control's second listed ingredient (after water) is alcohol, and I think putting alcohol on oily skin only dries out your skin and then makes your skin produce more oil in the long run to compensate. As for the $100 NuMe gift certificate, it looks great at first glance, but unfortunately all the items you can buy on the NuMe website with this gift certificate is way over $100.

Overall, I do feel pretty disappointed with this month's bag. I originally signed up for MyGlam because their first bag--the December bag--was filled with mostly full sized makeup items from the likes of Urban Decay, Tarte, and Mai Couture. This bag only had one makeup item, and most of the other items feel quite cheap and gimmicky to me. For me personally, I think MyGlam and I are not a good fit at the moment, and I have cancelled my subscription. However, I will continue to follow MyGlam and I may re-sign up in the future if they shift their focus to makeup again.

Are you subscribed to MyGlam? What did you think of this month's items? What other beauty subscriptions do you subscribe to? Do you feel they are worth the price and the surprise?

Julep Maven February 2012

I am so excited to share with you that I am finally a Julep Maven! I joined Julep Maven a few days ago when I saw that I could get my introductory box for only ONE CENT! I could not pass up a deal like that, and today I received my first box.

My intro box was the Boho Glam February box, and it comes nicely wrapped in a black Julep box. The nail polishes in this box are Oscar (a gold sparkly glitter) and Marisa (a rich cobalt blue shimmer). There is also a bottle of cuticle oil, perfect for my dry winter cuticles. Since this month's theme is the Oscars, my box also contains a chocolate Oscar, which my husband has already claimed as his treat. :)

Julep Maven is a subscription program that normally retails for $19.99 monthly with free shipping. Over at Julep.com, you can take a style quiz to determine your personal style. Every month, you will receive a Maven box that best fits your style filled with over $40 worth of Julep goodness. The one advantage of the Julep Maven subscription program is its flexibility. It allows you to skip any month free of charge, to send a box to someone else, or to switch your box to a different style. And of course, you can cancel anytime.

You can get your introductory Julep Maven box for only ONE CENT, too! To get started, just click HERE and use code COLOR2012 at checkout. The code is available for a limited time.

** This post contains my referral link. If you click on the link and sign up, I will earn credit towards free Maven boxes.