Julep Maven January 2014 Review and Promo Code

My first Julep Maven monthly box arrived today! It was January's 2014 Boudoir Collection box. I got my first Intro box, last month in December, and so this was the first one where I got to pick which polishes and products I would get. The base box is $20 a month, but for 4 days each month, 20-24th, you get to go in a pick which box you get, add add-on polishes/products, theoretically making your box $20+. For January 2014, the theme was the Boudoir Collection, including fancy finishes and lingerie inspired colors. They are all mostly neutral colors, but despite that I upgraded my box to the Ultimate Collection and added on some "Swatch Me" stickers.

The "Swatch Me" stickers were delayed but Julep has assured me they will be sent out separately. The Resort Collection was also sent to me in a separate box, which I thought was so they could ship the stickers with it to reduce sending too many separate boxes, but they weren't in there. They could have fit in the regular main box I got, so who knows what the reasoning was behind that.

Here's how the box is packaged when you open it up.

How everything looks packaged.

Julep sends a little bonus with your monthly subscription box, and this month I received 2 little mini orange buffers.

These were the products for this month, which were the main reason I upgraded to the entire collection.

• Ta Da! Quick Dry Drops: ($14) These little drops are meant to be added after the final coat of polish to help it dry in just a few minutes. I was really looking forward to this product because I can't keeps my hands still for more than a few minutes while waiting for my polish to dry. It smells amazing too, it has a wonderful lavender scent.
• Vanish Cuticle Softener and Remover: ($18) These do just what the name of them says they'll do, but they also help reduces regrowth of your cuticles, and removes nail polish stains which I totally need.
• Essential Cuticle Oil: This is supposed to strengthen your nails and prolong the life of your manicure. More benefits I totally need.

Here are the colors included in my box, from left to right, top to bottom:

• Hope: ($14) This is the second white color I've received, and with white there's not many shades you can get so I don't know how I feel about this color. It is a Satin Finish so we'll see how it looks.
• Annemarie: ($14) This color is described as a "Warm cocoa creme" which I don't know how that will look on my extremely fair colored skin, but we'll see.
• Farrah: ($14) It's a Lilac silk finish color, which looks like a sparkly pale lilac.
• Noelle: ($14) This is a Sandy beach silk color. Very similar to Abigail.
• Hannah: ($14) A sage creme color that's another one I'm hesitant about.
• Mae: ($14) This is a lavender satin finish color.
• Margot: ($14) This is a Hollywood gold shimmer color, that I kind of wish I'd had for the holidays/NYE, but I can't wait to try it nonetheless.
• Abigail: ($14) This is a light peony silk color, which is another that'll be interesting to see how it looks on my light skin.
• Mona: ($14) This was my favorite color from the whole collection and I can't wait to try this storm cloud gray creme color.

Some nail art I did with Mona, Mae, and Abigail.

Here's the Resort Collection in it's cute packaging.

And the bright colors in all their glory! They are from left to right, Lani, Anita, Malia, and the Freedom Polymer Top Coat. As of now the Resort Collection was only available through January 2014's Maven box, but the Freedom Polymer Top Coat is on Julep for purchase separately.


Now that I have the colors, looking at them most of them are very similar. There are two lilac colors and two light pinks that I actually mixed up writing this post. I will admit I mostly upgraded to the entire collection mostly for the Resort Collection and the products, and not necessarily for the polishes. I figured if I absolutely hated some, I could gift them or give them to someone they looked better on than me. Plus as a new Julep subscriber I'm trying to build up my collection so I have plenty of colors to chose from. Maybe I'll change my mind about them once I try them all out.

Updated 4/21: New Julep Mavens can customize their box as much (or as little) as they like. Sign up for 1 month and pay $24.99/month, or sign up for 3 months and pay only $19.99/month! Take the style quiz and enter FREEBOX at checkout to get your first box free, just pay $2.99 for shipping!

What do you think of this months box? Which collection did you pick? Did you get any add ons? Let me know in the comments!

For all other Julep Maven reviews click here.

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