July Julep Maven Box

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope everyone survived the weekend, I did :D

I have been blogging for a week, so far so good :D  I am really enjoying blogging even though Tyler (my fiancé for those of you who haven't checked out my Get to Know Me page) thinks I'm crazy and obsessed :P  I know he still loves me, he just doesn't understand the obsession and facination with nail polish ;)  I think of that as a good thing, lol!

Just a fore-warning, this is going to be a lengthy post :)

So when I got home yesterday from staying over at Tyler's mom's house for the weekend, I discovered that my July Maven Box from Julep was waiting for me in the mail box :D  I was super excited and a little sad that I had already scheduled a blog for yesterday because I was going to be away for the morning.  Ah well, just gives me something to jibber about today ;)

So "what the heck is a Julep Maven Box?!" you may be asking.  Well, my dears, Julep is a company based out of Washington State in the USA.  This company offers a Maven program where, when you sign up you complete a Style Quiz to find out what style you are.  You can either order the style they come up with based on your answers, or choose another style from the other style options (American Beauty, Boho Glam, Bombshell, Classic with a Twist, and It Girl).  By using this link and the promo code COLOR2012 upon check-out you can get your Intro Box for only $0.01 (Canadians will have to pay $3.99 shipping).  Then, on the 20th every month you will get an e-mail introducing you to your new box for the month.  At this time, between the 20th and the 24th, you can review your box and change it to another of the options if you don't like what you will be getting, or you can skip the month if there is nothing that suits your fancy.  You can also add on to your monthly box, if you want a polish or product from another box, for an additional cost.  The monthly boxes are $19.99 USD and contain over $40.00 of product.  Let's see what I unwrapped for July! :)

First off, the Julep Maven boxes come in black cardboard boxes and come by standard post.  When it's coming from the States, Maven Boxes normally take about 2 weeks to get, so it's like being on pins and needles from the time they ship out your box (the 27th of every month) and the time you get it :)  July's box took about 1-1/2 weeks rather than 2, AND that included both the Canada Day and Independence Day holidays -- not too shabby ;)

When you open it everything is wrapped so nicely, it's like opening a Birthday or Christmas present every month :)  There is always shredded crinkle paper in the bottom, usually in a "theme".  The theme for the July Box was July 4th (because it's American-based).  So the paper was red and white and the nail polishes were wrapped in white tissue paper with little silver stars on it, and all tied up with a red ribbon!

So what all did I get?

I chose the American Beauty box for July, I am ususally Classic with a Twist, but didn't want the brighter pinks that were in the Classic with a Twist box this month.

My nail polish colours were:

• Yumi (pink glitter polish) that was named after the daughter of Julep's founder, Jane Park.  I love this polish, though it could be interesting for removal.  Value: $14.00



• Lynn - sheer and pearl-y light pink (they call it blush on the Julep website).  Value:  $14.00

• O Canada - now this is a fun one!  In July, Julep included a FREE polish for all Mavens.  If you live in Canada you received the polish called O Canada, and if you live in the States you received America - The Beautiful.  Both of these polishes are glitter polishes.  I am proud to be Canadian so I was really impressed that Julep came up with something like this a) for the July Box because both Canada Day and Independence Day are so close together and both are in July and b) the Olympics are coming up so we are able to show some national pride while watching.  I'm not a big Summer Olympics fan, I am a winter person at heart so I prefer the Winter Olympics.  Value:  $14.00

Also in the July Boxes (American Beauty, Boho Glam, Bombshell, and Classic with a Twist), Julep included their newest line Lip Vernis which is a tinted lip gloss.  I say tinted because they aren't overly bold in colour.  The Lip Vernis I received is called Peony.  The idea behind including the Lip Vernis in the July Box was that it is the latest trend to have your nails and lips match.  I'm not sure about this trend... if I have green nail polish on I don't think I will be rocking a green lipstick or lip gloss ;P  When you look at the different boxes for the month, you can see where the colours match (Peony and Lynn) but when I put it on, it's extremely sheer, there isn't much colour to it.  One thing that helped me decide which box to get this month was the colour of the Lip Vernis because I can't pull off darker shades of lipstick or lipgloss, so for me it works, but I wish there was a touch more pigment in it so you would be able to see that it is actually light pink.  Value:  $18.00

Keeping with the July celebratory theme, Julep included 3 "fireballs" in the Maven Boxes as well.  Now, I have never had a fireball before but I understood it was a lot like cinnamon hearts, which I like.  As soon as I opened the box (and finished taking pictures ;)) I popped one in my mouth and holy-ay-carumba they are hot/spicy!  I am not one for spicy foods, so this was a shock to the system.  However, I was able to stick it out till the end, but I don't think I will be eating the other 2, lol!

So the value of July's Maven Box is $60.00 all for $19.99 USD (which worked out to just under $22.00 with the exchange).  As a Maven you also get free shipping (you just pay for shipping on the Intro Box).

Left to Right:  Lynn, Yumi, O Canada (2 coats each)

Left to Right:  O Canada, Yumi, Lynn (2 coats each)

So, after all my excitement of opening my July Maven Box I had to re-do my nails (naturally).  I chose to paint them with Yumi, and oh my, it's "yummy"!  :D  I love this glitter polish.  I don't wear glitter polishes a lot because to be honest I hate taking it off.  I know about the tinfoil method (if you don't, click here to see Ms. Lizard's how-to guide) so we will see how well this goes.  I have only used the foil method to remove those 7-day temporary acrilyc nails I got from WalMart, and it seemed to take forever, but the remover also has to "eat" through the plastic of the false nail.  Here are my nails with Yummy.. er I mean Yumi ;)

Let me know what you think of my July Box, or any of the polishes in particular!  I love getting comments on my blog, I like to connect with everyone that reads it.