Hello everyone!
With all of the December subscriptions out of the way, I am officially ready to start a fresh batch of 2014 reviews! The first box to arrive this month was from Julep. Julep consistently ships out their boxes on the 27th, so this is usually the first subscription to arrive each month.
The January assortment of nail polishes and beauty products was called, The Boudoir Collection: fancy finishes & top-drawer products. Fancy, indeed! In a surprising twist of fate, I decided that instead of gravitating towards my go-to style, Classic With a Twist, this month I was going to go with my first ever Modern Beauty box. I also chose Margot and the Swatch Me Stickers (which Julep has delayed the shipping of) as an add-on. If you'd like to see how that worked out for me, please read further...
In terms of nail polishes, the Boudoir Collection featured various finishes:
Let me give you a quick back story to why I went with the style profile that I did this month. Around the time of the January Maven selections, Julep started advertising the Vanish Cuticle Softener & Remover and the Cuticle Pusher on their Facebook page.
 |
| Product card for this month. |
Initially, I didn't think too much of Vanish and it didn't bother me that this wouldn't be the main product. I did want to give it a fair chance, so I checked out the official Julep blog and saw the video that they have for this product. I have included it below:
Again, I didn't think I was missing out all that much. That is, until I heard at the end of the video that this can actually remove the small bits of colour left behind by a previous nail polish. What?!?! It doesn't seem like much, but I was so impressed when I heard this because I constantly have a problem where I'm removing a nail colour and a bit of it gets left behind - especially at the edges of my cuticles. I resolved to get the Modern Beauty box, which unlike the last few months, impressed me very much this time around.
 |
| Modern Beauty Box for January 2014 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Product 1 || Vanish Cuticle Softener & Remover || $18.00 (Non-Maven) / $14.40 (Maven)
Ironically, I have yet to see if this product removes nail polish bits. I have tried this on my cuticles and I do agree that Vanish helps soften them, which in turn makes it easier to push them back.
Product 2 || Ta Da! Quick Dry Drops || $14.00 (Non-Maven) / $11.20 (Maven)
I know a some people weren't happy that this was going to be the main product in almost every box because this was a featured product sometime ago. Apparently whole reason that Julep brought it back was people voted to bring it back. Hmm. In any case, I've wanted to try this product out for a while now but have never gotten the chance to...until now.
I actually like these drops very much! I tried this on a recent manicure where I tried out the dotting technique just before going to sleep. The individual dots would have taken forever to perfectly dry if I hadn't used the Quick Dry Drops. After putting 1-2 drops on each nail, I could actually touch the manicure without affecting it at all! I ended up waking up the next morning with my manicure intact. Quite impressive in my opinion!
 |
| Features: Julep's Maya and Fiore |
A note about the smell - the scent of the Quick Dry Drops is of lavender and ylang ylang (Cananga odorata), which can be overwhelming for some people. I didn't find the smell bothersome.
Product 3 || Julep Essential Cuticle Oil || $18.00 (Non-Maven) / $14.40 (Maven)
Love, love, love this cuticle oil! I purchased a few of these during Julep's Cyber Monday Sale, so I am definitely familiar with this product. It's works well and I love the roller-ball application. It's also fairly small, so you can convieniently take it anywhere with you (I usually keep one in my purse). I definitely recommend this cuticle oil to anyone who is thinking of purchasing it. Get it - but wait until you can buy it at a cheaper price. The regular price is a bit steep; besides, I've seen this product available for cheaper price a few times now.
Add-On || Margot || $14.00 (Non-Maven) / $11.20 (Maven)
Julep describes this as "Old Hollywood gold shimmer." I was initially attracted to this colour because it looked like gold foil in the Julep swatches and I thought this would be an awesome gold nail polish. I like the colour, but I'm a bit disappointed because it's not really how I expected it to be. I found that the formula is similar to Celia from December. I haven't tried Margot on my nail yet, so many I will like it better then? I'll let you guys know how it goes!
Edit (20/09/14):
Julep got in touch with me a little while ago to see if I wouldn't
mind putting up a link to their brand new nail polish page. Check out that link to see what other exciting nail colours Julep offers - there have been some excellent ones since this post!
Bonus Gift || Julep Buffing Blocks
This was a pretty sweet bonus product! At first I didn't know what these were. I had a feeling that these were buffing blocks, but they seemed a bit too rough to be that. After checking out a few reviews (there were people who were just as confused!) I confirmed that these were, indeed, buffing blocks. :)
Conclusion
Overall, I have no regrets whatsoever with this box! I'm excited that I get to try Vanish and the Quick Dry Drops, both of which are woking out well for me so far. I'm happy to receive another cuticle oil, which will simply mean that I wont have to purchase it again anytime soon. I'll keep experimenting with Margot, and the buffer blocks, well, they were a pleasant surprise. Typically I see the Modern Beauty box feature only two products, but this time around I'm happy that Julep featured three. Because of an error on Julep's part (from what I understand), the Swatch Me stickers that I added on to my order haven't arrived at my door yet...I really hope I (and everyone else) gets them soon!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Julep - Basic Info:
- - Frequency & Cost: $19.99/a month (price increases with add-ons) (referral link)
- - Promo Code: use code FREEBOX to get your first box free! (small shipping fee applies)
- - Products: at least two nail polishes and one beauty product
- - Shipping Cost: FREE (7 - 10 days)
If you'd like to know more about Julep, you can also check out this post.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What style profile did you guys choose for January? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Thank you kindly for reading! -A.~
No comments:
Post a Comment