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Julep Maven Subscription Box Review + Coupon– August 2016

Chris Acree
ByChris AcreeAug 18, 2016 | 34 comments

julep_box_august

Julep Maven
3.8 overall rating
176 Ratings | 76 Reviews

Julep Maven is a monthly nail polish and beauty subscription box. They make all their own products, so subscribers get a good value each month – over $40 retail worth of product for $24.99 a month.

And, if you sign up for 3-months up front, you get the $19.99 rate.

Each month Julep releases a new collection on the 20th, and you can decide which box you want, you can upgrade to the entire collection, or you can skip that month.

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).

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The Subscription Box: Julep Maven

The Cost: $24.99 a month ($19.99 a month with a 3-month subscription)

If you haven’t signed up for Julep Maven yet:

ACTIVE DEAL: Get a 12-piece Polish Gift ($160+ Value) with your first box!
CODE: POLISHGIFT

OR

Use this link and coupon code HEYSUMMER for a free Summer Brights 6-piece gift set with your first box!

OR

Use this link and coupon code COLOR8 at checkout to get the 8 piece Beauty Set pictured here FREE with a new subscription.

The Products: Nail polish plus beauty items.

Ships to: US and Canada

Check out all of our Julep Maven reviews and the Beauty Subscription Box Directory!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your Wish List or Subscription List!

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Julep always includes a quote of some sort.

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This month there was an informational card telling subscribers about Julep’s launch at select Ulta Beauty locations and offering 20% off an entire Julep purchase in-store or online.

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Here is what I selected this month. Looks good!

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I first want to mention my add-on this month. It is one of my favorite Julep products of all time. Somehow my previous bottle managed to vanish (no joke) over the July 4th holiday so I grabbed another one this month.

Vanish Cuticle Softener & Remover – Retail Value $18

Julep has used this in over a quarter of a million manicures in their salons. I use it regularly myself. It is amazing. Julep says it instantly loosens overgrown cuticles, removes stubborn color stains from nails, and reduces regrowth with regular use. I can vouch for that.

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To use it, you put a couple of drops on your bare nails at the cuticle, wait a few seconds, and then gently push back your cuticles with Julep’s Cuticle Pusher or an orange stick. I want to mention that if you wait too long—for example, a couple of minutes after putting the drops on—you may think it doesn’t work. This is what happened to me the first time I tried it. If this happens, just add a couple more drops and try it again. One bottle lasts a really long time. (Side note, I also recommend the Cuticle Pusher, but an orange stick works as well.)

That is enough talk. Let’s see it work.

BEFORE using Vanish: (Fair warning! I purposely did not touch my cuticles for a couple of weeks in order to get an effective before shot.)

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AFTER using Vanish:

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Okay! Let’s get back to the box itself!

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After seeing these colors in person at a recent Julep Maven LA Meetup, I decided I could not just pick a couple this month. I went with the Polish Lover Upgrade which cost an additional $20 on top of my regular monthly subscription box price. (Side note, if you want to see swatches for the Julep 5th Anniversary items coming up in the September box, you can see some of those here, too.)

This may be my favorite month of Julep colors to date. I am not sure, but I love it SO MUCH.

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In order:

Julep Nail Color in Stephanie – Retail Value $14 (juicy cherry holographic)

Julep Nail Color in Adeline – Retail Value $14 (azalea blossom multidimensional shimmer)

Julep Nail Color in Pam – Retail Value $14 (tigerlily holographic)

Julep Nail Color in Zori – Retail Value $14 (cotton candy holographic jelly)

Julep Nail Color in Dominique – Retail Value $14 (hummingbird teal holographic)

Julep Nail Color in Eliza – Retail Value $14 (infinite ocean holographic)

Julep Nail Color in Alysha – Retail Value $14 (vivid pansy holographic)

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With the sun shining through. (I may have gone a bit overboard with all these pictures.)

Here are swatches the nail colors:

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The upgrade also came with these nail decals that are popular right now.

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Gold Triangle Nail Decals – Retail Value $6

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Following the instructions worked perfectly.

Here are the colors on me in the sun:

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(Please forgive the less than perfect focus. I am trying to show the holographic effects.)

And some final additional shots because it is difficult to take pictures of both of your hands at once (and my husband is a keeper).

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Value: This subscription box cost $24.99 + my $20 upgrade + Vanish (1 add-on at $9.99) for a total of $54.98. Based on my selected options, it includes $122 worth of beauty items and polish at retail value (or $97.60 if you are a Julep Maven and can enjoy the pricing discount) + the candy. Either way, I think this is a great value! 

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Verdict: I’m so happy with my selections this month. What do you think of the August 2016 Julep Maven box? Which items did you pick?

Starting at $24.99
Active Deal
Get a 12-piece Polish Gift ($160+ Value) with your first box!
Use Coupon Code POLISHGIFT
Subscribe Now
Julep Maven is a nail polish and beauty subscription service. Each month you can choose one of five boxes, skip that month, or upgrade to the entire collection of beauty and nail polish products for an additional $30.
Chris Acree
Chris Acree
Chris is a moderator on the MSA forum. Her current favorite subscription boxes are Box of Style, RawSpiceBar, Julep, and My Pretend Place although the list changes frequently. She cannot resist a spoiler.

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34 comments

Kyla

So, I have a question, I got my first Julep Maven box today and I didn’t have any candy in mine. I’m not sure if all boxes come with it or if it’s something special for certain customers. I know it isn’t a big deal, but I had planned on giving that to my daughter since she is always wanting something out of my sub boxes. Lol Should I be receiving that in my box each month or do I need to order extras or do something else in order to receive it next month? I like being able to incorporate something for her each time so that she feels special just like I do each time I receive one of my subs! 🙂 Any advice would be appreciated! And thank you in advance!

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Randi

Usually there is a small piece of candy… but something is up with this month bc we were all supposed to get a small bag too, but obviously we didn’t get that either

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Kyla

Thank you, Randi!

Nichelle

OMG, that cuticle remover product is awesome!!! How can I purchase separately from the Julep subscription? Is it at Ulta? Great review, Chris

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chris

Thanks, Nichelle! I think the cuticle remover is only available through Julep itself right now as far as I can tell. I looked through the list of Julep items on Ulta’s website, http://bit.ly/2bqccZQ, and I don’t see it there. You can purchase items directly from Julep itself without a subscription though. Hope this helps! 🙂

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Kristin

Anyone know where I can get extra “swatch me” stickers? Not all the polishes have them on there already and I haven’t been able to find them for sale on the Julep site.

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Sylvia

Wow. No wonder I have so much nail polish. I did not realize I’d been a Maven for nearly 5 years until the mention of the Anniversary box made me checked my account. It looks like I joined (or at least I put in my first order) in December 2011. I used to upgrade and get every polish (it used to only be polish!), every single time. Insane – but a pretty, sparkly, colorful and fun insane. I will do that again for the anniversary box, as anniversaries are all about love and I do love my Julep polish (it’s great for water marbling, too). 🙂

Chris, great review and I love your Maven Meetup write-up and the peek at the eyeliner set. Gotta have that. Your daughters are adorable. What fun they must have had, hanging out with all the big girls! That’s something they’ll definitely remember for a very long time. Awesome. 🙂

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chris

Thanks, Sylvia!

Glad to hear Julep works well for water marbling! I am going to try this myself very soon.

The eyeliner colors are so pretty in real life. You will love it.

My daughters love Julep so I decided to bring them along. They did have a blast and they adored Jane. 🙂

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Cristal

Those colors definitely piqued my interest. Just FYI: I kept getting a message saying that the “color8” code was not valid when I tried it this evening. Odd, because it showed the set when I clicked on your link. However, when I clicked join now, it automatically put the summer brights in my cart. Tried removing that set and entering the color promo code but was unsuccessful.

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chris

I just tried it now and it is working. I think you might be clicking on a different link that points to the Summer Brights set.

If you want the COLOR8 (8 Piece Beauty Set), make sure you click on the word “link” first where it says “Use this link” in the following words above:
Use this link and coupon code COLOR8 at checkout to get the 8 piece Beauty Set pictured here FREE with a new subscription.

If you click on a different link, it may bring you to the other offer.

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Cristal

Just tired again. Clicked on “this link” and again, shows it on the landing page but won’t take the code when I try to join. Oh, well. I’ll take it as a sign lol.

Christina

Chris, Great review! Have you tried or had anyone comment about experiences trying to make their own nail polish decals,wraps or strips with julep? Or the water marble? If it works I would def want to start being a customer of their subscription. It seems I would be able to get a greater amount of product with them.

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chris

I have not tried any of these, but they sound awesome and now I am definitely going to! I will report back here. 🙂

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chris

UPDATE: I tried making polish decals and strips today with some of the Julep colors from this month by putting a thick layer of polish on a plastic ziplock bag that was laying flat. I let it dry for a few hours and it peeled right off after that so I could easily cut it into whatever shape I wanted. So easy and it worked great! That is pretty cool! It would definitely work well for nail art. Thanks! 🙂

Christina

That would be great. Just an FYI I purchased this mat and it works awesome. There are a few diff ones but I love this one. It’s really fun to make your own. Especially with glitter polish too. Use a base coat and when your ready to take off the whole things just peel off you nail. It’s fun to make tie die and marbled nails and swirls. Water marble is best with room temp bottled water
https://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Decal-Maker-Workspace-Sheet/dp/B01BYWUYAS/ref=sr_1_8_a_it/151-3861410-6372045?ie=UTF8&qid=1471640700&sr=8-8&keywords=Nail+polish+mat

Wendy

Seems like excessive packaging and waste to use a huge box to just send a box with an additional item.

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chris

I actually added a few extra polishes for gifts to my box this month that I left out of the review. But it definitely still seemed like excessive packaging to me as well. I have ordered a lot from Julep and this happens every once in a while. I think it’s because they seem to only have a few standard size boxes. Personally, I don’t mind because I just reuse the extra sizzle paper for mailing boxes or in gifts, but I agree it does not seem like it is efficient for Julep to do that.

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Wendy

That makes sense, thanks for the clarification 🙂

Zo

Great review! Such dedication to not touch your cuticles for a few weeks.

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chris

Thanks! It was actually more difficult than I thought it would be because once you are not supposed to do something you think about it more often than normal, but it was worth it.

We really want to make reviews as helpful as possible for everyone so I wanted to put Vanish to the test. 🙂

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Chau

Lovely pictures in this review!

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chris

Thank you, Chau!

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Heidi

I got the whole shebang this month because I LOVE ask the colors and I was really excited to try the new sunscreen. Sadly, the new sunscreen didn’t make it into the box for anyone, but Julep made it up to me in a very nice way. I haven’t seen anyone else mention the issue with the sunscreen.

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Loba

I had an issue with the sunscreen as well (which was frustrating since the SPF lipsticks last month were delayed). Julep did make it up by offering a credit; as others have mentioned.
I really like how proactive they were with this. They first alerted me of the delay (in both instances). Then they rushed shipped the remainder of my order and once the sunscreens weren’t going to see the light of day they offered the credit. I have had to deal with customer service for a couple if other subs and I appreciate Julep’s handling of this. Plus, I ususally love all of their products.

The one thing that I don’t like is that I always do add ins and I always get a gigantic box with a ton of packing material. It feels so wasteful. I know that yoy can save the items and reuse them but how many are just throwing all if that into the trash? Plus… My husband sees this giant box and thinks I orders a crap load if make up. Not helping, Julep. Not helping…

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Jessica T

I was given a $50 credit for not receiving the sunscreen, so I was impressed with that instead of just being told to choose another item

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wendy

$50 credit! That is amazing, they seem to be really on the mark with treating members really well and with their rewards program. It seems some subscriptions are scaling back on benefits and cutting corners, but Julep has been very good with actually enhancing everything that they offer. Going to have to cut some of my other subs and switch to them!

Beth

$50??? Augh. That makes me wish I had ordered the sunscreen!!

Zo

I received the same. I was already a huge Julep fan but that made me love them even more.

Carolann

Oooh, beautiful! I wish I’d upgraded to the Polish Lovers!

I opted for the Pam polish, Dominique polish, and a Skip the Brush in Moonlit Sand. I also added on three items: Bronze Shimmer Gel Eyeliner, Tali polish, and Francine polish. I had a bizarre experience this month with my Maven order. I received a small box with my eyeliner and a nail polish I didn’t recognize (along with a note that the box included my free gift). I figured this was my free gift polish but that was it for the contents of my box. I waited a few days to see if the remaining items would arrive but they never did so I sent a message to customer service. They were very nice but I couldn’t provide them their requested info. (a packing slip) since I didn’t receive one. I eventually received the remaining items but it was still a little bit of a bummer to get them piece mailed (literally!). I also didn’t get my candy, which I understand is minimal but still, my experience this month was definitely diminished.

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chris

Sorry to hear this happened to you! It definitely sounds like they were interrupted or distracted somehow while packing your box. I am glad you were able to get it straightened out!

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