After reading and seeing several beauty bloggers and youtubers talk about Julep, I was curious and checked out the site. I'm not interested in subscription beauty boxes, I was signed up in the Canadian version of birchbox (Luxe Box) and I found myself hoarding the samples instead of trying them out weekly. Therefore signing up for a subscription nail polish box is not only costly to my wallet (at $20 a box), but to my already small growing nail polish collection.
However after seeing the promotion for a 1 cent box, I figured why not! No shipping fees to incur (even to Canada! That is NEVER the case), and it was cheap.
I took the test and was recommended the classic with a twist box. Now, given that it was my first time navigating the site, I settled on whatever my "quiz" suggested I get. I didn't know you were able to switch boxes and decide on different colours. If I was to do this again, I'd probably go for the 'It girl' box, since it's a better bang for your buck.
From what I've noticed, all the other boxes usually include 2 polishes and another small item freebie, whereas the 'It girl' box contains 3 polishes. I'd rather pay less for polish than get a sample of something else that I may, or may not use.
Without further ado, lets begin with the pictures!
Nicely packaged, I enjoyed the small box it came in and the toe separators (I don't have any, haha) and the pedi creme. Not that I need a foot cream (I have others that I use), but it was a nice addition and it smells quite nice.
The two nail polish colours I received were rose (top) and robin (bottom). I must say I quite like the colours. I'm not a fan of pinks or fuchsias, since I don't think they look good on my hands, but I have yet to try this colour and I am looking forward to putting it on. Both are nice creme colours, and the formula is really good. I've only tried robin so far but it goes completely opaque in 2 coats, and I'm sure you could do it in one coat but I like evening it out with two.
For me, robin wears a really long time. I usually get bored with my nails after 3 - 4 days, and my nail polish usually starts to peel off in the same time frame so I just take my nail polish off. However robin was kept on for around a week before I got bored of it.
My major complaint would be the bottle design. It looks nice, but I'm clumsy when it comes to painting my nails and I'm always paranoid that I'll accidentally knock over the bottle and it'll spill.
Onto the July box! After seeing that you get a free Canada or America polish, I jumped on that and got the (again), classic with a twist box. Once again I would have preferred the 'it girl', but I will explain that later on.
Julep sends a free polish voucher on your first full priced box you order.
The lip gloss that was included! I forget the name but it's a incredibly pale pink gloss that makes me look..... ghastly. It doesn't compliment my current lip colour, and just makes my whole face look... weird! This was the main reason I wanted the it girl box, first off I don't even like lip gloss (I only own a handful compared to the rest of my makeup collection), and second off it's a pale pink colour that I know I won't look good in. But I figured it wasn't worth the hassle of mailing it back to Julep (since it IS from Canada, I don't want to pay shipping fees!), I kept the box.
I've never had (or even heard of!) these candies but it's a nice addition.
The polishes I received. From top to bottom, O Canada, Freida, Audrey
Closer look at the colours.
The only colour I've tried is Audrey, and I can't say it's my favourite.
As previously mentioned, I don't like pink on my nails. I have yet to find the perfect pink for my nails, and I think if it wasn't so shimmery it might look better on my nails, but alas it doesn't.
Overall my thoughts on Julep:
It's an ok service. If you have the money to spend, go right ahead. Otherwise I would wait for the mystery boxes (which I have heard are worth the money) and any other specials they might have.
I would highly recommend getting the 1 cent box, since it's a penny, you don't get that deal elsewhere! Just google for the code and check if it's still working.
Otherwise I'm still disappointed with the regular boxes, if I got 4 polishes, it only takes the cost down to $5 per polish, which is cheaper than OPI or China glaze (at least in Canada), but then when you look at the amount you get compared to other polishes, I just don't think it's worth it.
I have used robin twice (so 2 coats for each finger = I've used 20 coats of the polish overall) and I've already used up 1/4 of the bottle. I've been using several Revlon polishes over and over again and I still have a ton left.
In my opinion, it's just not worth your money. Especially when you can get other polishes for cheaper that will last you longer and that come in a better bottle design, save your money and buy those instead.
If you do decide to sign up, please use my referral link (
CLICK HERE)!
I am in no way affiliated with Julep, I just get credits for every referral I get which eventually would lead to a free box. I am not forcing you to use my link, it is totally up to you whether or not you want to use my link or not!
