Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Julep August Mystery Box

In my previous Julep post, I mentioned that the only reason I would order from Julep again would be for the mystery boxes. Now I'm not too sure, but I think that Julep has mystery box sales every month. In the middle of August, they sent an email saying there was a mystery box sale. Seeing that I received a free polish coupon, and the fact that the box is a 'mystery', I decided to order the it girl box (because really, I want more polish than other items)!

The only gripes I had was that I was not given the "free shipping" option that is offered to Julep mavens, and the receipt I received in my email did not show details of what I ordered, and instead it showed the total amount that I paid (which included the price for the free polish I had a coupon for).
Slightly annoyed that I ended up paying for my free polish, I called customer service and asked whether or not I was charged. Fortunately, Julep customer service was surprisingly good, as she answered my question, she then proceeded to tell me that I could get free shipping and she was able to refund the charge on my credit card. 
Great! It was going ok, and then two weeks later my package came.... and I was disappointed. After looking up mystery boxes on the internet, I saw that I received the EXACT same box as other bloggers who ordered the same box. Not much of a surprise, and I was slightly disappointed in the fact that I received the minimum $60 box. 
From top to bottom: Sandra, Rachel, Megan, Jessica, Base coat
My general opinions on the polish, I'll use the base coat because of the convenience factor (it's so small, I can carry it anywhere), but other than that I have a bunch of base coats that I still need to use up, and would have preferred a top coat.
The only other polish that I tried so far was Jessica, sadly it was rather 'gloopy' and hard to apply. The brush was also odd, and overall the polish just... didn't wow me. I added some nail polish thinner, but I haven't tried it since.

Colour above: Taylor
For my add-on free polish, I chose Taylor. In my small collection, I don't own many blue polishes. Once I saw a periwinkle blue, I fell in love! Although for some reason, I pictured it to be a lighter shade of blue, but this one is quite pretty and I do enjoy it. 
Formula wise it applies nicely, the brush is decent, and I do like the colour! 

Overall, I think this will be my last julep purchase for a while. I'm done with the colours, as well as the odd bottles and I've noticed that the consistency of the polish gets thicker after each usage. 
I don't even find the mystery boxes to be worth your money. Unless you're lucky and get a better box, the chances you're taking with the small amount of polish contained in each bottle is not worth the $3 - $4 I spend with the box. 
Did anybody else get a mystery julep box before? Let me know your thoughts on the polish!